The Reel Rejects - SKELETON CREW Episode 5, 6, & 7 - Star Wars Breakdown & Review

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

TIME TO CATCH UP FOR THE FINALE!! Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew Full Series Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/thereelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Now that Christmas & the New Year have passed, Michael Tessler & John Humphrey RETURN for their inaugural series together, giving their FIRST TIME Reaction, Commentary, Analysis, Easter Eggs, Breakdown, & Full Spoiler Review for Episodes 5, 6, and 7 ("You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates", "Zero Friends Again", & "We're Gonna Be in So Much Trouble") of the latest Disney+ series from Showrunners Christopher Ford & John Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming / Far From Home / No way Home, Clown, Cop Car). After the revelation on At Achrann, things take a turn as allegiances shift, the kids make a break for home, and Jod Na Nawood takes a turn toward his dark side... The Skeleton Crew features Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Robert Timothy Smith, & Kyriana Kratter as our surrogate Goonies along with appearances from Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), Kerry Condon (Captain America: Civil War, The Banshees of Inisherin), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Attack the Block), Tunde Adebimpe (Twisters, TV on the Radio), & MORE! With its Stand By Me, Stranger Things, & Pirates of the Caribbean vibes, can the Skeleton Crew this much-needed shot of swashbuckling, heart, & good will for the Star Wars universe stick the landing in next week's season finale?? Follow Michael Tesslerr:https://www.instagram.com/mjtessler/ Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We're going to watch, yeah, episode 5 and 6 from the past two weeks, Christmas and New Year's, and then we're going to cap it all off with the new episode, the penultimate episode. Math. Math! Lee Isaac Chung, eh? All right. interesting how is this going to end

john i don't know this music man i was wondering at the very top if they're if they've been remember and or they added to the little opening music sting each time i'm wondering if they've done anything like that here

but uh interesting yeah i don't know man i'm fascinated like it it it's cool to start off in a place where you feel like, okay, I know what kind of story this is and I know what kind of adventure we're going on. And certainly it has all those, you know, tropes of the, you know, coming of age adventure genre. However, the further we've gotten and the more they do start to peel back this onion, the less I feel like I know. And the more I feel like, what, yeah, how the hell are we going to wrap this up next week? A series of endless surprises,

twist and turns, all of which have felt earned, all of which have felt spontaneous, but also thoughtful and considerate in the writing. And the character, I mean, to like, you know, not to dis-child actors or anything, but like to have a cast of children perform consistently in such a way to where they're so.

lovely they're so compelling there's never been an episode where i'm like god can we just not you know as the staunchest proponent of a parents only episode yet that we've not yet gotten it hasn't been a begrudging return to the kids only because i find them to also be really compelling yeah but not that i don't find the kids compelling the kids are yeah compelling enough to at least assuage your burning desire yeah for the parents i felt like that i felt like that i felt like the parents had this sort of devolution into becoming children again in order to save their kids they all needed to like step out of their like very strict way of life the information that they know and and they had to embrace the qualities in each of their children that they probably

actively scolded their children for yeah and i found that really uh compelling and again like this show is such a great family watch that kids of course are going to put themselves in the you know the roles of the children in the show the parents being able to put themselves and think about like yeah I would absolutely

well that's that's the thing is like it and it would be a good argument for having a little bit more of the parents stuff but either way with what they have here yeah it's like it's a nifty you know there's that element of any one of these kid adventures that like oh the parents are

worried. But like here in particular, it feels like there is this element of, yeah, they are now being thrust into the unknown, you know, as we all are as children, you know, thrust into the unknown, forced to learn, forced to discover that the world as they know it isn't quite what they know it to be. And yeah, like that's a nice, it's a very conscientious, you know, mechanism to employ for a story like this. And like I do appreciate it. It does kind of feel like you're flipping through like a cereal or like a comic book because it's it's like you check in with the parents once an episode pretty much at the beginning just have a little and uh and which is very grounding yeah and it's kind of like as much as part of me would welcome like the sole

solely parents episode the other part of me is like but i do like this other distinct choice to make it yeah like a thread that we check in with alongside you know each part of the episode and and you know or his installment of the show and also these go to somewhat contribute beyond character to just the growing mystery and revealing of

things around at Aten but yeah we go let's let's uh want to dive in let's dive deeper we got to let's see through the barrier let's go through the barrier there right Miguel I should say

Matt Michael Teskel Jedi Master. What did you think of these three episodes? We've just binged essentially, you know, three episodes more normally than we would have. I'm interested already to watch this again, just because we've watched who we did two in a day, and then we did one week for two installments,

and then we've run three right now. So like just the pace at which we have consumed this show as just the two of us is a little bit lurched, but not that that's, you know, necessarily any sort of big thing to unpack. I'm just curious because the people have been out there digesting these in a more normal

weekly fashion. But what did you think, sir? Did you have a favorite among these three? What are you feeling going into the finale? Lay it on us. Obie John Canobey. Hey. I, for one, I have to say.

I have to. No, I have to say. Okay, okay. I have to. All right. I feel compelled. That's what someone with something to say that has to say it would say. This is undoubtedly and undoubtedly.

It's both. The second or third best Star Wars show yet, period. End statement. I might co-sign that. Are there a couple I haven't seen? But the competition in my mind, I mean, you know, I feel like everybody in the room it would probably, it's becoming

a meme now, and I'm sure some people hate it, but like Andor, it was probably everyone would say the top one. And then some season of the Mandalorian. One and two of Mando. Three, skeleton crew. Skeleton crew. Four. Soca.

That's right. Five. Bad batch. Okay. Six. Mandalorian Season three. Okay. What other shows? Obi-One Canobi?

Oh, I totally forgot Obi-Wan. It was very okay. Obi, you know, it's funny. I'm pretty okay. I really, I loved it, but for all the wrong reasons. Which reasons for those? Purely a wave of whimsy nostalgia. Sure.

That allowed me to write off, you know, like what I love about Skagit. Chelotin crew is take the Star Wars out of it. I think it's still a marvelous show. Yes, I would agree with that. Take the Star Wars out of Andor. It's still a marvelous show. Take the Star Wars out of the Mandalorian. It's a little confusing, but it's still a really wonderful show.

And I think that's sort of the recipe here. Is that a recipe for all of fiction is if you take the gimmick out, it should still be good. Well, it's sort of a, I think when Disney, first acquired Lucas, there was a healthy assumption that by slapping the name Star Wars on it and leaning into nostalgia, that you would somehow manage to have the ability to produce infinite credits. One might say they might be able to open up their own High Republic Mint. Old Mint. And I wonder if what was this a metaphor? No. Oh, definitively.

I can imagine this being that. Because what a great delivery system for that? What are they mining? They're mining old Star Wars where there's an unlimited amount of money to be made. I would have killed if instead of those little credits, it was just filled with like classic action figures. That's so funny. Like all of the, uh, the, the, the Boba Fett, uh, action figures that they had to recall because the, uh, all the shooting jet packs.

Yes. Um, this is the Star Wars I would write is they would, like, it would be. be exactly this show until they get to the vault and then it would be like this weird nexus point where they're like wait a minute all the things of our world of our galaxy yeah are our toys and

is that a jar jar binks pez dispenser is that a jar jar binks lollipop who hyper extends its jaws so you can lick its tongue yes which I had I sure and I lolliped it so

I agree though You know, I think what was really wonderful about this is that they were able to get back to basics. I think the way in which they delivered the series where, I mean, man, and I'll tell you, I came in burning hot as a hater, you know, like I really did. I really, really did. And I want to own that. I mean, like side of you. Like, did the, uh, acolyte really break you that hard? I really had such a, because I love the underlying premise of the acolyte.

I love the idea of exploring a different chapter of the galaxy, new characters, and, and instead what we got. Jedi Master Gehun. What instead of what we got was just a really poorly written series that somehow still managed to lean upon, like, nostalgia as its sole source of, you know. And it just didn't, it didn't, it didn't land the way. way I wanted it to, which is a shame, because I was, I was rooting for them. And coming into skeleton crew, I'll tell you what my assumption was. Let's hear this. This was, this is what I thought the show was going to be based on the trailers and the things

that I saw. A group of children who are the Goonies in space, yeah, somehow while traveling to a different planet, crash, and on a crashed planet that they're on, discover Jude Law whom opens the rise to the Jedi way. And he comes out of his shell after being a Jedi hermit who has sort of been living in obscurity for a long time and rediscovers his love of the force and adventures

while all the children come of age. But it's all on like one planet and it's scary and there's like horror element. It has like sort of a little bit of like more of a stranger things vibe. Sure. I can see that. What I did not have, which makes a lot more sense. Because when I heard skeleton crew, I was like, oh, like, it's cool.

Maybe, like, they, you know, the ship crashes and, like, you know, they find, like, shipwrecks and there's, like, skeletons in it. I really, I was taking it very literal. What I wasn't expecting that it was a pirate show. And, I mean, the skeleton crew is great because as a title, it functions in multiple ways. Because part of you does think, like, oh, you're going to find, yes, some old ruin of a ship with the bunch of skeletons, but also. Which they technically did. Which they technically did. And they are also technically a skeleton crew

because they're just a tiny crew. You know, just charting a course haphazardly. And also, you know, you do get your spooky skeletons. Yeah, no. I think what was fun about it is it was similar to OG Star Wars, it wasn't afraid to genre hop. And it used the setting of Star Wars in a way that empowered the story and created sort of like a mystique of history and lore that for like those that are really into

that sort of thing like there was that really weird moment when you're like I've never heard of this planet um it seems a little too shiny you know and then when when they're like well it's actually an old republic planet I'm like oh that's so cool and the way it's got to be a nice treat for you as a more red to star wars fan well well it sort of creates this like something's off here. What is off? And as you start to peel back the layers, and the same thing with Jod,

where it's, yeah, he theoretically could be a Jedi because he's kind of that perfect age where he would have been a young person during Order 66. And so that all of these different components add these different interesting layers that when you,

when you peel it back, it takes the lore and the mythos, and I think a lot of what they sometimes lean too heavy on, and it uses it as a tool to propel the story forward and to reward those that are familiar with it while also not denying somebody who's not familiar with it the ability to enjoy the story. And I think what's really cool about it

is that this somehow runs exactly parallel to the Mandalorian and Bukubova, which was very bottom on the list. Which we did not rank. I was thinking of it. Actually, no, I said she won above the accolade. Maybe. I got to think about it.

Now, it's below the end. Accolite. Justice for the shiny bikes. Yeah, God, you know, it's fine. Anyway, so we can discuss the, we can discuss the, I don't know what word I'm looking for, the less successful installments later. Yeah, this was fun. And I was able to at like a very stressful time of year and a very stressful, like to come

and to watch this show. and to like watch it with a friend who we're finally friends no Greg has just been standing over there this he watches us well I mean of course friends yeah no but I feel no with friends where we're you know it was very easy to just like suspend disbelief and to go on this wonderful emotional magical roller coaster and I never really knew what was going to happen next in a like yeah it could go that way but they continue to subvert expectation um while never veering so far from something that was believable um and uh and i give them a lot of credit because number one i think a lot of people especially post acolyte were coming into this with a very sour

taste in their mouth yep um i think even the like the visuals of like star war suburbia like pissed people off and threw them off and then they managed to it's a loaded visual in a fun way well it's loaded but it also they gave such a great canonical explanation of it yeah that makes me be like yeah of course this like hidden away planet whose sole function is to like meant old republic credits is going to have this sort of like Norman Rockwell but Secret's going to be like Epcot. It's exactly it's experimental prototype community of tomorrow. Yeah.

You know, and I'm like, yeah. Everyone just works at the bank. We just live and work at the bank. We live and work for the mouse. I actually lived in the Disney town of Celebration. Did you know that, John? What? Yeah.

A town of celebration. I'm not a shell. Well, you don't live there no more. Oh, boy. I can't say anything bad about it. I think that's in the public domain now. So. Try to sue me.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Good luck. We got that steamboat Willie horror movie coming up. But this year, the normal Mickey Mouse is. Wow. Oh, boy. Oh, we just got Popeye, too, but not Popeye's spinach fixation. That was added later.

Was it? So, yeah. Yeah, I watched a video about Copyright Day. Buck Rogers, also in the public department. Rogers. And some other stuff that I need to go back and finish the video to remember. ember um but yes what did you think buck i mean i feel like we should i i wanted to hear the end of of where you were going but i'll pick it up and we can and we can tie it all together because yeah

like this has been really fun show i think partly because of where we are geographically in time for the journey of this phase of star wars and i think it's a fun show to have an expert and a noob uh you know uh because i like that we've been able to share a lot of things as much as there are things where I can be like hey what is what's that and like I have to imagine that for somebody like me who's

often seeing a Star War and is going like oh wow this is all kind of discovery provided whatever thing we're taking in has some inspiration to it whereas you know you I hadn't thought so much about that I think that's something that they've been smart to do here and that

they would be smart to do in the future which is obviously kind of ineffable and hard to orchestrate as a science but yeah that idea of like let's give people who know this intimately to the roots some little things to wonder about and to kind of throw you off because then everyone's having i think just the more you throw people off in entertainment the more potential there is for people to have fun and to get charmed by it and so like yeah i think it's funny and interesting and i wonder what level of intent was brought in when it comes to like yeah you see that promo image of like cookie cutter suburbs of the star wars universe and you're like that's a great

representation of the sort of grim image of what people associate with star wars now this sort of yeah this manufactured only comprised of its original elements and nothing really that new like you know it feels like a cookie cutter town if you're looking at it through that particular you know pov and then also it's coming at you with not only is this Star Wars, which has just become a nostalgia thing anyway, but also it's another prolific, nostalgic, resourged genre of, again, the kids on bikes with flashlights, stranger things, stand by me, goonies, whatever you want to say genre. And like, while I think it's struck a really nice balance and kind of growth, like,

it's arced in its like storytelling formatting because like, yeah, there are things that are very much of the genres and, you know, motifs that they're trying to homage and trope. But as it's gone, there have been more, yeah, like strange little twists and turns and developments that you just didn't really expect. And so, like, there are times when kind of predicting, it's like when you're listening to a song. Sometimes it's really satisfying when you can kind of hear what the resolve is going to be

before it comes and it comes. And it's the resolve that you thought of. But other times it's fun to, like, see a chord coming and then, oh, there's a left turn. And I think this show has done both in pretty well-tuned, you know, proportions because, yeah, like, I don't know. It seems like it's not resting on the idea of like, oh, people love stranger things, so we got to do that. This is like filling the voice, like, in the culture for a while, they've been like, what's the next Pirates movie going to be? Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a hugely successful franchise.

We don't know what to do with it. We've got to change the guard somehow. This person can start it. That person can start with it. It's been hard to get a pirates going. And I'm like, this is a great vacuum of entertainment to fill because, like, yeah, as you said, I think part of the thing that charm people so much about the Mandalorian at first was like, oh, hey, this is like overtly turning up the levels on stuff that was originally inspiring Star Wars. And here, you know, as opposed to something like, you know, samurai stories or, you know, old Westerns. Not that this doesn't also have that.

But yeah, this is like, oh, yeah, coming of age. It's a new thing we can throw into Star Wars. Star Wars that is, you know, just a category unto itself. And oh, hey, pirate thing. That's another thing that we haven't in the main entertainment. We have Han. We have smugglers. We have pirate stuff.

But this is so pirate-centric and it's using all the tropes of a pirate story also. And I feel like they found the right blend of familiar genre choices to make like a cool new thing in Star Wars that also, again, captures, yeah, that element of nostalgia that has always been there. Because what was George Lucas doing at the beginning? He was finding a new fun way to incorporate the stuff he grew up loving, which is what most artists are doing in a lot of ways. But, yeah, this, I feel like they really thought about how to have all the fun of a few genres.

And then also, he said something about just the pacing of the story. It's like they allow for these intimate moments to arise where you didn't think they would necessarily. And as much as I might, a way to see all this ends up, but I do want to watch this again in like a normal fashion because like the kids I really like and I enjoy their ensemble

a part of me still feels like there's maybe like a bit of an episode missing to help me like love them it's taking me a while to like learn their names which is you know

a metric you can put on anyone's effort but also I feel like if a show is really punching it with the characters you'll probably learn their names pretty quick or quicker unless their names

are Jodd Nanawan or whatever has like that I don't know Something about it, that name in particular just like confounds my, my processor. Jadanaway? Jod Nanawood. That's what I said. Jadnaway.

He's a king shark because that's all I think of. What I think, something mysterious has occurred in the Star Wars universe, I don't think it's a setting anymore. I think it's a genre in of itself. Oh, that's a good way to put. that. That's a really good way to put that. And I think the challenge that Disney has had is that they've, they continue to play stories in the setting, but they have yet to identify what the core genre DNA of Star Wars is.

And for a moment, I think they deceived themselves into thinking that it was a space western. Which, sure, that is a component of it. Yeah. But I think why this series succeeded. so much and I also think if you look at it from a slightly

different point of view no pun intended every Star Wars story is a coming of age story every great Star Wars story is a coming of age story from the moment we met Luke we found a protagonist

who was going to confront a galaxy that they were not yet prepared to face and they had a thought, a whimsy about what it may be like, and the reality was different. And that coming of age can take a lot of different shapes. It can be, you know, a small, you know, slave boy from Tatouine that, you know, ends up joining the Jedi order. And his idea of what the Jedi are

is completely different from what the experience is. And his coming of age doesn't necessarily have the ending that you want, but, but he still came of age. And I'd even argue for, for Andor, and for some of these like really compelling characters just because you're not 13 doesn't mean you can't come of age you can't have one of those you can't have like a profound growth of character and rise to a call of some kind yeah and and a lot of that means like confronting the vastness of the galaxy and accepting it for for what it is and coming to terms with your place in it and ideally owning that And throughout sort of the Star Wars, you know, like I look at like Asoka. Did you watch Asoka?

Yes. Did we watch Asoka together? Yes. That's so awkward. I was. It's okay. It's okay. They all run together.

It's all right. Asoka, I think, struggled because it wasn't a coming of age in any sense. Like you had a character, you had two characters in the form of Asoka and Sabine. Yeah. Like, Asoka, in so many ways at that point in the series had come of age, and they were trying to, like, force this sort of interesting dynamic between the Padawan and Master that just, it didn't quite translate. And Sabine never really had that arc. And I think part of why they struggled with that is because they did such a beautiful job of those arcs in the Clone Wars and Rebels, respectively, where both of those characters are fan favorites. You know, so it's sort of an interesting, I think that's why we love Star Wars, like, at its

core is like, God, you know, even Obi-Wan stepping up to the mantle of becoming a master to Anakin and how uncum, how viscerally uncomfortable that makes him because he's unprepared. I mean, I think that's sort of like the gift of George Lucas, right? And, like, the settings, you know, the type of vibes and feelings that you get, yes, it changes. But that overall genre of Star Wars, this idea that, like, a farm boy from Tatooine can go on to take on an empire, that is self-evident in the most compelling characters in the franchise. And it's why we hold on to them. And for me, this was just wonderful because I think that it wasn't just the kids who were experienced. and seeing that coming of age.

I think it was also the parents, as I mentioned earlier, who were going through their own sort of coming of D-age in order to find the part of themselves required to muster the courage to break out of their day-to-day lives in order to save their kids. And I think it's also Jod.

I think Jod is going through a really interesting sort of this, like, where do I fit in in this galaxy? And we've seen these ebbs and flows, but behind the, the clear desire for treasure and all of that, there definitely has been some form of growth. And whenever you have growth,

there is that tremendous amount of pressure where you almost sort of double down on all the bad behaviors and all the things that you're evolving from. And I'm hoping that that's where he's at. But like, you know. Yeah. And two with Jack, jawed, whatever is, Silvo.

uh his many names i think yeah the more he develops i i like that you have the mystery of where he'll land but you also have just this greater sense of like these past couple episodes especially i'm like i can see the rage and like there's i can see all the questions i have what i can see coming off of the performance and the writing anyway are are pinging off all those things and going like what happened to you man like who who are you why why can you be so warm and avuncular and rascally at times Like in the first half of the series He does have not

I've heard some people compare him to Jack Sparrow And like in a sense But like he's way more present Than Jack obviously But he's got that in him And he has like that tender moment With Wim or anything Yeah

He's got that like kind of fatherly moment With Wim at one point And he's like empowered and helped The kids at points When it's obviously been working for him But like he's really been a bastard These last couple episodes and really ruthless.

And I like that the show A doesn't have to have him as the lead so that he can have that latitude and longitude to do that. But it just, yeah, it makes me wonder like, oh, what really happened to you as a person? Have you ever, like, do you have, like, any, like, relatives that, like, escaped a war in a different country or something like that? Goodness, not very close and not probably alive anymore.

So, like, not close range. The vibe, the vibe that I get, um, is sort of a, there is a, a warmness and a familiarness, right? Um, where, and in those moments, in all of those moments, he was quoting different Jedi masters. Mm. All of those. There are little nuggets of, of, of, of, of quotes.

Watching a group of kids, when you are an older person that has experienced trauma, and war and survived if he is a Jedi, a Jedi genocide, you know, like, and then watching these privileged kids who take everything for granted. Yeah. Who like overly romanticize what has been like the most trepidacious and awful thing of his life. I mean, they're throwing around these credits with no idea what they're even worth, you know? Yeah. And they made me wonder. And they've never been hungry. Yeah. During this episode, I thought to myself, what if he was like a kid who, lived through Order 66. That's definitively what happened. Like, yeah, he's got, yeah, the tutelage, it would come out in the lessons, you would understand how he's able to access that within

himself. And yet, especially as of these couple episodes, you could see why, yeah, I, as a head canon, again, just reacting to this, it really does feel like, yeah, this guy is, he probably turned to a life of piracy. He still has whatever training he had up to that point. There's probably suddenly, suddenly he found an iteration of family. suddenly he found an iteration of safety. He has never been able to hold the name. Yeah. You know,

which, you know, and even how he communicates about attachments and how dangerous attachments are is so typical of the Jedi way. And I think it's sort of the great irony of the Jedi way, right? Is that that unwielding desire to remove yourself from all attachments to avoid the path to the dark side inadvertently that repression of emotion with no attachment. Well, that's exactly, you know, but that's sort of the larger folly of the Jedi. And it's, I love that.

It's an interesting debate. Luke is the one, well, there's no, I don't even think there's the debate. I think that the minute that Luke threw his lightsaber down and said, no, that's my dad, that was it. Because his attachment, his love for his father, overcame the anger and the, frustration if he had had no attachments if he had kept going Vader would have never been redeemed and Luke would have never become the Jedi that he was meant to

become and you know and I think that's something that Star Wars and very cleverly George Lucas you know I don't say retcon but created sort of the yeah here are these really strict guidelines that no person with a heart can live by and every Jedi is not only tempted by it but gives into it in the same way that like, you were my brother, Anakin. You were my brother.

That's attachment. Of course. That's attachment, you know. And so this, in my mind, is Jodd is pushing further and further back from the children. Yeah. Because every time he has given into attachment, which the Jedi have taught him not to believe in, it has left him wrought and in heartbreak. And weirdly enough, I think that's him holding on to this element of his Jedi teachings in order to protect himself.

The reason that he's become worse as the show has gone on is because he's become more and more attached to these kids. Yeah. You know, which has actually felt like a really beautiful kind of proportional thing. Like the interesting thing for me about this show, too, has been in the most. moment watching them they're so fun they're easy to digest they have all this flight and fancy and in and i don't mean this as a slight it's weird in the moment i'm having a good time and it's that thing of like this isn't like the deepest thing ever and i'm not really thinking about that and it seems fun and bouncy but then when when i'm done i get more out of it than i

thought i was getting while i was watching it like it does kind of fly by in a way that is like light in a way and it's not necessarily yeah like going big for like you know monologing and deconstruction of ideas or whatever but like I feel like just yeah in the conception of this and in the writing they've put a lot of flavor and a lot of rich stuff in there so that like yeah even if it's not bonky like I feel like with a lot of these shows there have been these structures where you know you'll kind of see the story coming and then they'll get to the end of six episodes and be like here's a big reveal which is what you've been expecting which is what it seemed like the story was always leading to and you know we've talked about how like sometimes the shows are

you could have done this in three episodes or sometimes it's like damn you really needed 10 this has felt like with his arc and the other things that have been happening again I would like to see how it feels in terms of smoothness on like a more consistently structured watch but from here at least it seems like this has been a conscientious this was conscientious in it's design and i got a credit you know everybody involved i mean you know john watson chris for being the showrunners like it's it's nice to see that this is possible and that you know in the grander disney scale of things with all these disney plus shows anyway there's a lottery of like how well thought out was this in advance and this feels like it was thought out in advance and

probably unencumbered by needing to be modulated by a bunch of other things there was no lord drop required like like this got back to you know uh I've done, like, extensive thinking, probably more than your, a normal human being would do in terms of like, why do the prequels work? Like, they really shouldn't. Like, they've aged, like, fine wine. But there are such a divergence from the original Star Wars, right? Like, it's hard to, for somebody that's never seen Star Wars to, like, watch four, five, and six and then go watch, like, episode two. you know it's like a jarring experience um but i i think there is a a certain level of beauty

in in balance that comes with at the heart of each of those films is this powerful personal story and we experienced the galaxy through the perspective of these characters that are compelling and that are interesting. And they allow us to understand the conditions of. So, like, for example, you find a desolate waste where you have to literally harvest moisture in order to survive. And you see somebody who consistently can't even leave,

can't even get out of that cycle because of the fear that the family has of what that will do if they don't have one extra hand on the farm. That makes the empire feel, definitively not like good guys, you know? Like they're up to, they're not delivering. There's not comfort.

There's not peace. There's not, you know, all those different experiences. And when you go into the world of the prekels, you sort of have this interesting, there is a tremendous amount of, and some of it's done in the form of politicking,

but there is this really powerful relationship between master and apprentice. and all these sort of really different personal, powerful dynamics that, like, yeah, you begin to, like, experience Annikin's distrust and hatred of the system of the political system through the perspective of him being in love with somebody who is just constantly in a state of frustration over how things are going. And it's sort of this like, like, well, yeah, he's at an exist point because he's dating somebody who's, he's with somebody on one hand who is involved in the, political machinations and he's also at the top of this order of you know monks essentially being primed to have the means to make it better theoretically yeah you know and but but we explore the institution of the republic and the institution of the jedi order through the personal experiences of the characters and like when they don't give him the rank of master and you're watching all

this like malarkey go on that's just like absolutely confounding it's hard not to be like yeah that's kind of messed the whole thing is just kind of messed up you know but but you do it in a way that you explore it through the lens and through the experiences of characters that you fall in love with

and I think that's something that this does really well at and sort of gets back to basics is that like I'm experiencing these children going through this journey and adventure and I am just as clueless as they are what they've been able to tell me

about their planet and their existence and the amount of lore that they've been able to build solely around how they interact in a completely opposite environment is to me like again it's it's a setting

but it's more than that it's a genre and that genre is it's extraordinary characters that are as fantastical and diverse and interesting as the galaxy itself exploring a galaxy of

limitless storytelling opportunities and it's nice to see them beginning to realize what they actually bought in the first place. Yeah. And I hope that this could continue it's again, I'm curious to see what will happen here because thankfully this has gone off with relatively little incident.

I feel like it's almost best when you're not hearing that much about a Star War and not that I'm on social media all the time But, like, I feel like I definitely heard about the acolyte and I didn't have to try. It always got back to me what people were saying about the acolyte. And at one point in time, that was the Mandalorian and people loving on it. But this seems like something I'm curious to see what happens here because the good positive reception from both critics and audiences is a nice thing. This does seem to be part of, again, their sort of big more is more campaign.

But yeah, I mean, I think something. like and or working despite how different it is kind of bolsters the potential success of something like this because look at what people might point to in recent Star Wars as some of the better things and they are these more isolated more curious more slightly off the beaten path again like Star Wars yeah it's a setting and George Lucas at first and the various directors who helped you know comprise the original three and then I'll even throw the prequel in there because that's kind of when you're still in pure territory I guess You know, it's like in that place, you know, there's not the context of like, well, Star Wars isn't the institution yet that it is now.

And, you know, certainly it was to some degree in the 90s. But even to then, you still have like the original authors and there's a sense of like, I'm just going to try stuff and I'm going to do things in my world. And I feel like it's harder to from both, I imagine, a producerial standpoint, as well as from a director standpoint or whoever to come in and be like, okay, we need the right amount of, of under. understanding of what this is, but also, like, enough non-reverance to, you know, allow somebody to actually, like, take it and... Do you remember when the Force Awakens trailer dropped on Thanksgiving of 2000? Yeah, what was that? Yeah. When we all found out that Stormtroopers could be black.

We've always known that. What? I didn't know that. What we didn't know is that stormtroopers could take off their helmets. Oh. I'm kidding. No, we did do that. We knew that from episode before. I was going to say, they mugged those guys, they took their suits, their armor. But I remember watching that trailer over and over and over and over again.

And pausing it at every little interval to try to see all of the little things that I could pull from. Easter eggs and all of that. And, you know, I feel like there's sort of a, and you see it with Marvel, too, right? Like, there is this sort of over-dependence on that where at the time I had all of it in the galaxy, right? I remember when Easter eggs were literally things that were just for a couple people to catch maybe, and now it's like, they must be here. It's every little frame. It's the seeing. And they must be prominent.

And seeing the X-Wing in the sand on Jakku. I remember what Easter eggs were like, you had to mess with your DVD player and, like, push the buttons in ways they shouldn't go to find a secret option. Anyway, sorry. But they got up, they, I think they were thoroughly convinced

that they could just ride on that forever. And after end game, and I honestly, I think after the Force Awakens, like immediately after, there was just this sort of like, no, we want. more, but we don't know how to articulate it. And, you know, and I'm really interested.

Like, and or season two, I think, is going to be really interesting. You know, I know the plan was always two seasons, so that makes me feel a little bit better about it. But, like... But there's definitely got to be some level of interaction with the massive success of the show. Well, yes. And also, like, what does that mean for a show, like, skeleton crew? Like, I don't know what the numbers on this have been.

But if this was a huge commercial success, for Disney, are they capable of just letting the story be? Or will we see these characters again? In the next movie, they're all going to, everyone from every show is going to be the next movie. Well, listen, it wouldn't surprise me

if Jod is in the next movie. Like, timeline wise, it makes sense and all of that. And part of me is like, yeah, that would be really cool, but also part of me is like this was a really wonderful, isolated story. And I kind of love the idea of just letting it be. I think they should

resolved. I think we'll see how it works at DC, but I think the James Gunn principle rings true. I'm like, if we have a good script and a story to tell, then let's tell that. And hey, if that's a sequel maybe or involves some past characters, great. But like, it's not

the same thing as this at all, but like talking to the guys who made the new Wallace and Gromit movie. They were like, oh yeah, we were making a 30 minute short at first. It just wasn't working until we found out, until we figured out, oh, this other character from before who we had would be a perfect way to inject some actual stakes, and now we have a

full-ass feature movie. And I'm like, that sounded like, and in the experience of that movie, was like, oh, very organic. This makes sense. It's cool to see this character again, but also there's a reason. And I feel like one thing that has plagued so many of these shows is just that like the writing, it was watching

Loki, season two again, after so many other things from this stretch of Marvel, was like, oh, whoa, you can just tell that they had and ironed out a plan. And I'm sure that a plan got updated over time, but not in the same way it does when you're like conceiving something with the intent of changes and yeah modularity in mind and so uh yeah that's really that's well

said it's sort of a i think that we is a like consumer of content culture and even like have done to producers and creators that the only way that your series can be considered to success is if it achieves multiple seasons instead of being focused on telling a really great cohesive story. And that's sort of something that I love about like limited series, you know, or like, like they know what they are, so they're able to lean in that without worrying about what comes next. I think something that I've really enjoyed about this is that there is a pretty high probability that they can just close this story out in the next episode and that we'll feel satisfied um and like sure they could leave a thread but unlike uh the acolyte for instance which like

i've never you know and i don't this is no disrespect to you know anybody that worked on it but like i've never seen a show try so hard to get a second season um and it tried so hard that it failed to produce a good first season and you know and i think that's sort of i think that's the thing that a limited series allows you to do is is without the intent and knowledge of like we want this to be a million things you can just leave it all on the table and then if it does that well like squid game if it does that well you can come back and go well shit we left it all on the table now we got to work even harder and find a bit of inspiration and all for all intents and purposes it worked pretty well for them and certainly it can go very arrive don't mean on your merits you know

I think is what it comes down to is have a great story to tell um well final thoughts we'll do a quick rundown of everything that was good in these two episodes. I really loved Lanupa. Lanupa was magic. Like White Lotus Star Wars all day. Want the Spinoff series right this minute. The Onyx cinder really enjoyed

all the sort of like, ooh, the mystical ship stuff with that. The whole thing with the big bottom feeder lobster machine trying to eat them up was pretty sweet. Follow. Oh, the little trash droids, little hermit crab

droids. I really did appreciate to that episode, what was it, the Zero Friends episode, you know, with the kids having their own... That to me was the most important development episode. I wish that we had as much time with Bluey and Fern. It feels like the centerpiece was women in KB in that, which I loved those bits. And I loved the use of the augmentations and the cool future sci-fi body mods for something other than oh cool shit like it was it was a really

as I said you know in real time like what a brilliant way to communicate disability in that experience in a way that like wasn't forced or wasn't like

so on the nose when it takes the moments to like articulate like that's the thing is like the kids have a really natural rapport together and like the fun stuff

and the perilous stuff all hits right but like they always strike me most when they take those brief like oh dang we're having like an

intimate sort of like how do you describe as a kid like you know uh I'm different now and she doesn't really like acknowledge that and like the different you can kind of see what's happening and it's it's the way that was articulated and conceived of in the writing as well just seemed like oh yeah that's a nice a really nice thing you did not have to do that goes all the like it is the mind of a child is like that's some of the best stuff you can do in a show like this and I hardly agree and yeah I really like the moment like the performance that moment all that stuff uh pocket fun little addition there bounty hunter oh that was yeah that was i i really enjoyed that entire like uh it's so funny because everything that i hated about

cantobite oh yeah you know like like they took so many of the similar beats if you think about like what it represents and what it is but it was just executed in like such a better uh just such a better way Um, and, you know, I really, I enjoyed like the Indiana Jones callbacks, like, and that is another instance. When Disney borrows from Doctor Who, they often come up with some gold because Lanupa is a doctor, is pretty much a Doctor Who episode. I've seen three versions of. Uh, and, and yeah, like, like, like, Loki is very Doctor Who, like, there are various things in Marvel that borrow from Dr. like when they when they yeah they they they lean in on it and and it was that episode was fun because the the easter eggs were subtle like so subtle i mean like even this sort of like antique lightsaber that was in even in like the hilt design very much like a high republic old republic

style i was like that's so cool like they're even setting like the the antiquity of of this and taking this feeling of Indiana Jones and history and applying it to the Star Wars Galaxy. And what a fun way to explore that. And putting them in appropriate places for those kinds of references to show up. Absolutely. Yeah.

And then it's just like the novel idea of like that it's underneath this luxury spa. It's just so. With a Cthulu guy. Funny. With like Catholic, my dude. Which like putting like not not beating around the bush calling him what he is.

You know? So good. And that's an instance where I'm like everybody, we're far enough along now that no one thinks you're cool because you know who H.B. Lovecraft is so that we can have fun with that and acknowledge outside of Star Wars in a fun, cheeky way. And, you know, she looks like Jorny. There's a celebration of. Even like Brutus being the one that like stabs Jodd in the back. Like, you know, it's not afraid to be a little bit on the nose, but it still delivers on all fronts. Yeah. Yeah, it's smartly constructed for all those things.

So when it's doing that stuff, it's having fun. I had a great thingy there that I could have capped us off with. So way before Brutus, who did you mention? You mentioned somebody else. Oh, that's what it is. I heard some advice once, and it's not anything mind-blowing. Basically, someone, I can't remember who. They asked like, hey, what would you tell, you know,

what's your advice for, like, people who want to write horror? Some horror person talking about this. and it was like read other stuff go out and read a bunch of or watch a bunch of other kinds of stuff and then bring that because if you're only reading horror you're going to limit yourself and i feel like this show has done a nice sort of example of that where it's like yeah it's got all the star war stuff because of course but like so many moments stand out where they're clearly nodding at other things and some of those are well within the lucasy sort of wheelhouse but other things are a little beyond that in ways that are fun and i feel like that keeps Star Wars feeling alive versus feeling like this thing we keep trying to plug in.

We talk about cinematic universes a lot. This is a whole freaking galaxy, man. And stuff like this, stuff like this that maybe isn't as like earth-shattering makes the map feel bigger, ironically. Alderan shattering?

That's right. Absolutely. I'm always thinking of Alderan. Rest in pieces. No, and just on a final note, there is something, something to be said, it doesn't always happen. They try sometimes, sometimes it's more effective than others.

When a ship becomes a character, there is something really, really wonderful. And it's something I think the pre- Even the ship comes in it. Yeah, no, but actually, it has its metamorphosis. You never pushed that button. And part of it is that the ship itself became like a younger version of itself, you know, which I think is genuinely at the heart of it. of this series.

And it's also, and this is, I think we should close it. It's also a call to action for the audience. It is, stop with all the grumpy, crumagony exterior

that we have. And let's go back to that inner child, that thing that made us fall in love of the galaxy far, far away in the first place. And let's not be afraid

to see where that adventure takes us. Yeah. Absolutely. Well said. Thanks, John. That is beautiful. Also, I hope they paste Smee's head back on. They will. Gang, what did you think of Skellington Crew episodes 5, 6, and 7? Leave your comments down below. There's a high probability that I will respond to them. And again, on behalf of myself, the host, and my associate here, Obi-John Canobee. We just want to say thank you for your patience as we enjoy the holiday season. And we hope that your new year is off to a phenomenal start.

And as always, use the force to leave a like. Hit that notification bell and remember, the force will be with you always. Wea are going to end the video now. Weista going on! Hey!