Indiana Jones and the Skeleton Crew

Skeleton Crew Season 1 Episode 5 "You Have A Lot To Learn About Pirates"

SPOILERS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Our heroes are standing on the rim of an acid-filled pit. On the other side of that pit is buried treasure. Closing in behind them are foes in pursuit. They have narrowly avoided booby traps, but they’re not out of danger quite yet. They have to solve a riddle, left behind by the previous owner of the treasure, a dead pirate captain.

This is just one of many thrilling incidents in “You Have A Lot To Learn About Pirates,” the fifth episode of Skeleton Crew. What a ride. This episode is abundant.

The most prominent thing about this episode is the Indiana Jones vibes, replete with booby trapped caves hidden under seemingly glamorous environs. (This is, of course, also very Goonies.) When the Crew arrives at an adults-only spa on the planet of Lanupa, the search is on for the treasure hidden under Skull Ridge Mountain. Like Jod, this location has been known by more nefarious names in the past. There they meet cosplay-bait bounty hunter Pokkit (played by the ever distinctive and talented Kelly MacDonald), who recognizes Jod and alerts his former crew that she’s found him.

At every turn, this episode flitters between real danger and hilarity, from a Hutt eating its tiny server, to Jod yelling at the kids who are jumping on the bed. The episode doesn’t pull punches - characters are killed by spikes, nearly decapitated, blown up, mortally threated. But it’s all, for the most part, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. It’s that pendulum swing from death threat and spit-take that makes this episode feel most like Indiana Jones to me, and also, very Star Wars.

This episode also had one of my favorite scenes of the series, with credit to screenwriter Myung Joh Wesner, who did remarkable work with this episode. This scene not only establishes real emotional heft of the series as a whole, but gives us key clues to Jod’s history.

As the episode opens, Wim, who at the start of the series was definitely our dreamer, leaves the main cabin to have a cry. He’s homesick. He’s burying himself in his storybooks about the Jedi. It’s hard not to notice that Wim (who I painfully relate to) has not been the hero of the story so far. Fern’s the Captain, Wim keeps getting everyone into trouble, and now, he just misses his parents - even the one who he won’t see once he does find his way home, his mother. Wim says, he wanted an adventure, but it’s not like he thought. It’s scary.

Jod Na Nawood comes across him and winces at the tears, but upon hearing the boy cry over his lost mom, our rogue pirate begrudgingly sits with the boy and gives him advice. Some of that advice is quite beautiful, about Wim’s imagination and its power. But some of it is directly from the Jedi Order. He tells Wim to forget his parents and attachments. Then he tells Wim that his “focus determines his reality,” a direct quote from Qui-Gon Jinn. Considering just how far from the light Jod strays by the end of the episode, it’s clear that his experience with the Jedi Order was not idllyic, but it was substantial.

Is this more foreshadowing that when we do get a New Jedi Order, it will rethink some of the principles of detachment that the Jedi Order established? That we’re looking at a Second Vatican Council moment for the Jedi when Rey Skywalker returns?

This scene, which does so much, plays well into the end of the episode, where we get one of the most powerful scenes in all of Star Wars television so far. Jod, who the children have been warned not to trust, finally discovers what makes At Attin so valuable: it’s an Old Republic mint. And with this, we’re given a very effective dramatic pause before he frighteningly turns on the children. He threatens Fern, holds a knife to her throat until she ‘yields’ the captainship to him.

In that moment Fern declares that he’s a grown up and this isn’t fair. What a gut punch. We all remember that moment when we realized not every grown up is here to protect us. Ouch, as they say. Oof.

But we also get a moment that made me laugh and cringe in equal measure. Wim takes up a lightsaber, his greatest wish. He stands in front of Jod to reenact one of his own stories, and we think perhaps we’re getting to see his moment where adventure meets the fantasy. But, then, he has held the lightsaber upside down, it flitters from his grasp, and he goes scrambling to the safety of his friends.

I mean, come on, Skeleton Crew. This is perfect. Jod goes from the children’s greatest protector to their clearest foe, at least for now, and the cliffhanger is exquisite. What will happen next?

That’s just one great moment in a series of them. Cthallops the mudbathing sweetheart who just loves a good story. “The Elders.” The Banking Clan on spa retreat. KB being KB. Neel finding the data port. The incredible visual splendor of Star Wars luxury hotels!

This is top-level stuff, and I was so happy to watch it. 2024 has been an uphill battle in so many ways fir so many of us. What a Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Life Day gift for all Star Wars fans.

I hope you’re enjoying a happy holiday, whatever your faith! And if you’re not, hey, you’re not alone! It’s a tough day for many. I hope you’re doing things you enjoy. Like I am, writing about Star Wars!

Merry Everything, folks!