Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Episodes Ranked (w/SPOILER Review)

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Episodes Ranked (w/SPOILER Review)

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has released all eight of its episodes, which means it’s time to rank them and talk about them. Also with a SPOILER REVIEW. Which episode was my favorite? Which one was my least favorite? Let’s talk about it! 

• SPOILER Review: I went into this show excited, yet curious about this show. I was excited about the initial idea of doing an Amblin inspired Star Wars show that feels like The Goonies in Star Wars. The trailers didn’t really hook me and my excitement for the show went down because of that. I watched the first two episodes and I enjoyed them. They were a solid set of the episodes. Week to week, I watched the new episode. This show never had a bad episode. I really dug the entire show and I’m excited for season two, if it happens. That initial hook about doing The Goonies set in Star Wars works really well in the show. It provides a fresh new flavor for Star Wars, it’s something new and different. We’re in an era where Star Wars is feeling a bit stale with their projects, they haven’t had a great track record. I think Skeleton Crew is a perfect example of what Star Wars can do. You can deliver something that has the Star Wars experience, but also something different with pulling in outside inspiration. I think these are things that Star Wars needs to do more of in the future. From there, the show built a good amount of mystery surrounding the home planet. That’s not something that I really expected going in. Every episode I was invested in what was going on and figuring out what the mystery was going to be. It provided a strong reason as to why it’s taking the kids so long to get back to the planet. That side of things worked a whole lot better than I thought it was going to. I wasn’t expecting to get super wrapped up in that mystery, wanting to learn more about what’s going on. From there, I really liked the characters in the show. They were all a lot of fun, the kids themselves fit those stereotypes that you’d expect in a project like this. They all bring a certain charm or skill to the group. All of them have a part to play in the season long story and the journey back home. For being child actors, they’re good in this show. You also have Jude Law’s character who once again built a lot of mystery surrounding him. At first, he’s presented as a Han Solo type character. He has that vibe and feeling that reminds you of Han Solo. But as the season goes along, they take his character in some very interesting directions. He essentially turns into the villain of the show. He’s the guy in the finale that our heroes are trying to stop. They give his backstory explaining why he is the way that he is. You feel bad for him in this one sense, you understand what he’s trying to do. But there’s better ways to go about it. He’s the hero in his own story. Those types of villains I think are the most interesting. When you have a villain that can be villainous and threatening, but also have a sympathetic side you get a great villain. I’m very curious what their plans are with these characters. As of right now, a season two hasn’t been announced. They leave a lot of dangling plot threads that we have to see them again. I’m curious if they’re going to tie into the Mandoverse movie that we’re getting. End of this year, we'll probably get a trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Are we going to see Jude Law show up? The final shot of the season is one of our kids looking up and seeing The New Republic help. Clearly, that character wants to do more and be a hero. Are the kids going to be the new generation of Jedi that Rey trains in her movie? I don’t know, there’s so much fun that could come with this. With all of that said, I do think the show left a bit too many dangling plot threads. The questions that I wanted answered, I got answered and I was satisfied. But there's a few too many things that didn’t feel wrapped up. We don't know what happened to Jod, I wish we got a little scene at the end showing what happened to him. Stuff like that kind of bothered me. Honestly, that’s really my only issue with this show. I really dug this show a whole lot more than I thought I was going to. If you’re skeptical about Star Wars. Maybe I haven't been the biggest fan of Star Wars lately. Give this show a chance, I think it’s a lot of fun and I hope we get a season two or confirmation that they’ll appear in an upcoming Star Wars project. 

8. Zero Friends Again (Episode 6): I didn’t hate this episode by any means. There’s still some enjoyment to be had in this episode. I don’t think the pieces of the episode fully came together. The big problem with this episode is it felt like the bridge episode. Episode one and two were the start of the adventure. Episode three through five was our characters on the adventure. The final two episodes close out the show. Episode six feels like a filler episode that’s there to get our character back on their adventure. Also, I didn’t feel like the characters were all that fun in the episode. There’s a lot of tension between them, which did provide for character growth. But I didn’t feel it was fully earned and some of the fun of the show was sucked out of it. I didn’t find the stuff with Jude Law’s character all that interesting. Like I said, it’s not a bad episode. It was fun when there’s a big monster in Star Wars that our characters have to fight. You do get a sense of victory when some of them save the day. Overall, a fine episode that didn’t draw out big emotions from me. 

7. This Could Be A Real Adventure (Episode 1):As this is the first episode, there is a lot of setup that has to take place. This isn’t a bad episode by any means, but it is ranked towards the bottom. The strong point about the episode is that it does a pretty solid job of setting up the tone and vibe of the movie. It’s a Star Wars that’s told from the perspective of kids therefore it provides something new and different for the Star Wars universe. A lot of people have said that this show feels like The Goonies in the world of Star Wars, that's very much true. What holds this episode back is, it’s not super interesting to see what the suburbs of Star Wars look like. Part of the fun and escapism of Star Wars is going off to these fantastical planets, when it’s the suburbs of Star Wars, that’s not interesting. Then some of the dialogue between Wim and Fern didn’t quite work for me. I get their kids and kids disagree with each other, but the dialogue between them specifically felt off from all of the other dialogue in the episode. Like I said, this isn’t a bad episode, it's just not one of my favorites.

6. You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates (Episode 5): After some very solid episodes with three and four. I was hoping episode five would continue that streak, unfortunately it didn’t. This episode is heavily focused on Jude Law’s character. They go to a planet and accidentally learn about his character and what he’s been hiding. Leading up to a cliffhanger that has him get a lightsaber. We see some of his darker sides shine through. Some of the mystery and intrigue of the show really worked for me. This episode focused a lot on that. There’s fun to be had. The episode as a whole was underwhelming. The environment of the planet felt a bit odd. Our characters going to a resort and going to a spa, isn’t something that I’m particularly interested in seeing in a Star Wars tv show. Recent Star Wars doesn’t always pick the best or most unique planets for our characters to travel to. I don’t like it when the Star Wars planets feel so Earth-like. Even some of the CGI in the episode didn’t look great. It looked very clear at points that the actors were on green screen. The environment of the episode wasn’t one of the strong points. As a whole, I don’t think the episode works as well. 

5. Way, Way Out Past the Barrier (Episode 2): This is the episode where they started the mission and central quest that our characters are on. There’s a lot of fun to be had here exploring new planets. One of the big things about this episode is that it starts to tease that the kid’s planet is very mysterious. Nobody that they talk to in this episode knows their home planet. In this episode, it catches your attention where you want to know what happened to their planet and why nobody remembers it. Once again, it’s just a fun episode where there’s some jokes and you get more of the fun character banter that you enjoy about this show. You of course get the tease of Jude Law’s character at the end of the episode. This episode has some of the same flaws that episode one had. Where the planet that our characters go isn't the most exciting, it looks like a pretty basic planet you’d see in a Star Wars project. I think that’s a weird choice that these last couple of Star Wars have made, that’s a fault of this episode and the show. Overall, this is a solid second episode that I found to be fun. 

4. Very Interesting, As An Astrogation Problem (Episode 3):What made this episode fun is we get to spend a lot of time with Jude Law and learn more about him. They create this interesting dynamic with the kids with his character where they don’t know whether or not they should trust him. And they’re all right for feeling that way, they found him in a unique spot that’s easy to draw suspicion to. With this episode, they set up enough things about his character and where things could go that it makes you very curious about where they’re going to take his character. Jude Law is a movie star, so he brings a fun energy and charisma to the show that I enjoy seeing on screen, because I enjoy him as an actor. Beyond that, this episode gives you that classic Star Wars feel with the action and a chase that feels very Star Wars like. As I mentioned in my review, I don’t feel like a lot of the recent Star Wars have captured that classic Star Wars experience, but the show does and it just feels fun and interesting and like you are going on an adventure with these characters. 

3. We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble (Episode 7): There was a lot to enjoy in this episode when it comes to the plot. This episode picks up where episode six left off and has a lot in there. We get Jod’s true colors shining through. We’ve all had suspicions about Jod over the episodes. In this episode, his true colors start to shine through. I was kind of shocked by just how far they went with some of that. He kills SM 33 in front of the kids. He even threatens to kill the kids if they go out of line. This episode is sort of like The Empire Strikes Back of the show. In this episode our heroes lose, there’s a sense of defeat here. In the next episode, they save the day and stop our villain. The stakes and tension of the episode is very high. Both on the kids and parents’ front, both of them are trying to help. They do break the law at points in order to either save their children or to get back home. All of this leads up to this cliffhanger where Jod wields his lightsaber in front of the kids and their parents. It ends on a great cliffhanger that makes you want to see the finale. I will say, the episode feels a bit rushed. I think this episode needed another 5-10 minutes to just flesh some of it. It definitely felt rushed at points. But overall, a very solid episode.  

2. Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin (Episode 4):This episode delivered a lot of what I enjoy about this show. This episode fleshes out the mystery of what’s going on with At Attin and why SM 33 is acting the way he is. The mystery stuff of the season is some of my favorite stuff. It makes you want to keep on coming back and seeing what’s going to happen next. The thing that really surprised me about this episode is that they give Neel this interesting character arc. Where in the first three episodes he’s presented as the scared one. He’s not one of our kids that’s in the action, he’s very scared and sort of just there to be with Wim. By giving Neel this female friend and that leaning into this choice in the final minutes of the episode was very interesting. It makes you care about Neel in this just new way and it’s a part of his character arc. The episode also has a lot of humor inside of it. There’s a lot of really solid jokes in here that did make me laugh. Especially with some of the dialogue with the kids bossing Jude Law around. This episode has mystery, it has heart, and it has the humor that I want from this show. 

1. The Real Good Guys (Episode 8): I was hoping that the show would land the ship. I would say this episode delivered what I hoped it would. These last two episodes did a really good job of making you hate Jude Law’s character and see the manipulation going on with him. Throughout the show, he’s able to be villainous and be charming. A lot of the secrets and mysteries surrounding the show are answered in this show. We learn a little bit of Jod's backstory. We learn about what’s been going on at At Attin. All of these questions and mysteries that were wanting answers to, were answered by the end of this show. Overall, I thought it was answered nicely. This is also maybe the most action packed episode of the show. It’s just a non-stop stream of action sequence after action sequence. Whether that’s chases or fights with Jod, there’s a lot of action in this episode. It’s a very easy to watch episode, it’s entertaining. One of the fun things about these final two episodes was that they really amp up the stakes. They keep on putting the kids in danger, wondering if they are going to kill them off? But you also think they’re not going to, because killing kids would be too much. They really do raise the stakes. I will say this, one negative I do have with the episode. I didn’t love the cliffhanger. It felt like a very weird cliffhanger. That was disappointing, but overall I dug this episode.