5 Predictions for the Skeleton Crew S1 Finale

The real treasure was the growing up we did on along the way.

[SPOILER WARNING: This review has been designed for a reader who has watched Skeleton Crew through Season 1, Episode 7, “We’re Gonna Be in So Much Trouble.”]

Image Credit: StarWars.com

As I anticipate the Skeleton Crew finale this evening, and, because I can’t help myself, I begin to speculate about what we might see in that finale and how this season might wrap up, I find myself thinking of emotional beats or character resolutions more than fantastical plot points, cameos, or lore reveals. And that says a lot about this series’ strengths and what kind of show it very confidently has been since the beginning.

The kids have never been an accessory, or a hollow means to a bigger, flashier Star Wars end. Even next to a huge movie star like Jude Law, playing a Force-wielding pirate who threatens people with a lightsaber (allow me a moment to pause and consider how outlandish and yet edgy that really is), they have held their own as main characters. And considering how challenging it can be to convince viewers to take child characters and child actors seriously, that’s an achievement unto itself.

And so, none of the predictions below will focus on who someone might secretly be (though one comes dangerously close) or which beloved Star Wars characters we already know may show up at the very end. They are primarily based on what narrative arcs remain unresolved in the heartful, focused story we have gotten so far. I think what we see is what we get with Skeleton Crew, and that is, in this case, a good thing.

Wim never has to take The Assessment.

Image Credit: Dexerto

If we think back to what the lives of these kids were like before they went on this adventure, the biggest hurdle, especially for Wim, was The Assessment. He was late, he didn’t take it, his dad had to convince the school to give him another chance, and then he still goofed off and chose adventure instead. And towards the end of last week’s episode, Wim very pointedly lamented the fact that once they did make it home, everything would go back to the way it was; he would still have to take The Assessment and find his place in The Great Work. He’d have to sell out and become a working stiff, essentially. So, to him, this oppositional binary between a quiet suburban life and adventure out in the Galaxy still tugs at him, even after he admitted to Joe that leaving At-Attin was way scarier and less wizard than he had anticipated.

There’s very little reason to remind us of Wim’s inner conflict in the penultimate episode if it doesn’t somehow relate to the resolution we will get in tonight’s finale. I think it would be downright depressing and somewhat wasteful to have the kids start back at square one and simply return to their lives exactly as planned. (Good) Adventures change heroes; they’re never the same afterwards. So if Wim can find some way to be safe with his family and have a newfound sense of adventure too, that would count as a happy ending for this series.

Heroes are forever changed by adventure, but I think At-Attin being forever changed will have as much to do with Wim getting out of taking the test and leading the dull, conformist life he dreads as his own exposure to the outside Galaxy. Now that Jod has discovered the Old Republic mint, it’s very likely that the other pirates find some way to break through The Barrier. He seems obsessed with contacting his other ship as he tarries with one of the droids, impersonating a Republic Emissary. That has to amount to something.

And it’s very unlikely that the series would show us Khymm meeting up with a New Republic pilot (though, note that it’s not Captain Carson Teva, avoiding those flashy cameos I mentioned earlier; also, he can’t be everywhere!) unless the New Republic would somehow lend an assist to At-Attin in the finale.

This is the closest we will get to a Mando-Verse connection. But it’s one they’ve set up, and it’s one that makes sense, as long as it doesn’t overtake the kids’ story. I could very well be wrong; this series may want to resist even a classic planetary battle so it really does stand on its own. Yet the pieces are there in a way that makes it possible. Either way, I suspect that after the finale, At-Attin will no longer be able to remain a time capsule planet, completely isolated from the rest of the Galaxy. It will have to acknowledge the outside world in some way.

We meet At-Attin’s supervisor.

Image Credit: CBR

I know I said I wasn’t going to discuss any major reveals or mysteries, but I don’t think The Supervisor is going to be anyone revelatory because, as I said earlier, this story is too focused on the kids and where they’re from to really reach into other pockets of Star Wars lore. At this point, I’ve completely let go of all my theories about Wim’s mom, Tak Rennod, and all that. I think we really are using the Goonies model of One-Eyed Willy as plot catalyst shadow figure rather than a known player in the narrative. As Qui-Gon tells Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace, “Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs.” Thinking about the future should not come at the expense of the present moment, and Skeleton Crew so far has demonstrated that it shares Qui-Gon’s philosophy. This show is about the kids going on an adventure, coming home, and fighting pirates along the way.

Thus, The Supervisor is either a droid or a new character who turns out to be somewhat underwhelming, allowing the kids and their parents to free At-Attin from the monotonous grind of the mint.

Greg

and

Greg McLaughlin

on The Rebel Base Card Podcast astutely tried to map The Wizard of Oz characters onto the kids, and while they wavered and gave into self-doubt towards the end, I think they’re really on to something. The Supervisor has been referenced so many times throughout the series that it seems the only place he can go after building him up so much is…down. So he’ll either be a droid that makes everyone feel silly for following his orders or a humanoid being who has been projecting a sense of authority but, to invoke Elphaba from Wicked (sorry/not sorry), has “no real power.” And then the kids (and their parents) will learn that they possessed the strength and independence they’ve been told they can’t have and don’t deserve all along. (And, if you’re wondering, I think Fern needs a heart like the Tin Man, KB needs a brain because she relies on servos and has that compartment that pops out of her head, Neel and everyone else thinks he lacks courage (but never change, Neel!), and Wim is clearly Dorothy, who has no idea what’s going on and ends up in space, I mean Oz, by accident.)

Wim reconnects with his dad.

Image Credit: Collider

Aside from his dread of The Assessment, Wim’s other big hangup established at the beginning of the season was his strained relationship with his father, who seems to have buried himself in his work in order to avoid Wim and therefore the grief over the loss of his wife. So many of us pointed to Wendle denying Wim a bedtime story as a very cold, cruel act. I think we’ll finally get an emotional reconnection and reckoning between these two characters by the time the finale ends, resulting in Wendle committing to being there for Wim more. We already got the reunion hug between the two, but I think there’s still more of an emotional climax to be had.

This idea of the kids and parents coming to a better, more loving understanding of each other applies to all the other kids as well. I think Fern will be a little bit less rebellious and Fara will put a little less pressure on her to achieve. KB’s parents will learn to fuss over her health issues a little less while KB will be able to advocate for herself more. And Neel will just continue to be the best. No notes! Just kidding; I think he’ll have learned that there’s more to the Galaxy than the domestic bliss he has experienced, and maybe will aspire to be more than an analyst just like his dad. He has already learned he can be brave and bold without sacrificing his gentle kindness and empathy. Maybe he takes on less of a caretaker role in his family and can do something for himself for a change? I may now be pushing up against the limits of what is possible within a 40-50 minute finale, but hopefully you see what I’m getting at. Each kid will hopefully come out of all this with some kind of self-actualization and new-found understanding of their place in the Galaxy. They’ll have matured in their own eyes and in the eyes of their parents.

Jod gets what’s coming to him.

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What a charisma roller coaster we have been on with Jod the Pirate of Many Names. I liked him but didn’t trust him, I let myself trust him, and then didn’t like him, and now I just want him to come to some kind of just desserts end in pure villain fashion. The series has done an excellent job of establishing that no matter how we feel about Jod or to what degree we have trusted him in each episode, he has always had his eye on the literal prize and makes no apologies for it. With how over-the-top sinister Jude Law played him in the penultimate episode, I think we’re in for a delicious “be careful what you wish for because the gold will be your undoing” kind of end. Think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Indy pleads with Elsa, “Give me your other hand, honey. I can't hold you!” Instead of accepting his help and saving herself, she looks over at the treasure and says, “I can reach it…” Jod’s inability to let go of his lust for treasure (and restoring his pride in the eyes of the other pirates) has to undermine him by the finale’s conclusion. If we just cart him off to space jail, I’m not sure I’ll be satisfied, frankly.

Will we get a final monologue from him in which he explains his entire backstory? That’s possible, considering how the hints the series has dropped about his potential Jedi Palawan past, but I don’t think the series as written necessarily needs it, and, again, our need to focus on the here and now would indicate that we shouldn’t expect a lot of answers about Jod’s past.

The kids save the day.

Image Credit: Collider

This, above all else, is the prediction I am most confident in because the series has been extremely consistent utilizing tropes from Amblin Entertainment films and more specifically The Goonies. And while I have appreciated that the series has been realistic in the kids’ abilities, portraying them as plausible kids rather than kids who inexplicably act like adults, the whole spirit of something like The Goonies is that the kids find a sense of autonomy and agency when the world tells them they shouldn’t concern themselves with grownup problems and they feel helpless as a result. They go from annoying nuisances their parents ignore and dismiss to undeniable heroes their parents have no choice but to pay attention to. In the eleventh hour of The Goonies, Mikey’s hunt for the treasure comes through and his dad is able to avoid foreclosing on their house. The kids come back to reality from their adventure actually able to help. So my hope is that with the Onyx Cinder floating off into the space sunset, these four kids, whom I’ve really become quite fond of over these seven episodes, get their moment to make a difference at home too.