When I saw the runtime for the penultimate episode of Skeleton Crew, I was a bit worried. At thirty-six minutes including recap and credits, it seemed a little too short. I think my worries were justified and I have a feeling that this episode and the upcoming finale may have been conceived as one episode, only to be split in two, much like the first two episodes came off. A lot happened in episode 7, but it also felt a bit rushed due to that runtime and ended with such a strange cut considering the momentum.

We got some brief character moments thanks to Wim being down knowing the adventure is almost over, despite all the mayhem, but this episode wasn’t really about the kids: it was all about Jod and his determination to get his horde of infinite gold. The episode opens with him still being a prisoner of Brutus, who opts to toss him in the airlock upon seeing that At Attin is just a giant storm. Jod, electing not to use his Force powers, continues to talk his way out of his current predicament, criticizing Brutus over “seeing is believing”, then once the Onyx Cinder returns home, comes up with a story that the ship is the key to landing on the surface…which turns out to be exactly right, as the ship was apparently from At Attin originally. Which I think all but confirms that the supervisor is the old Captain we saw in episode five.

Jod was a real piece of work this week. After sweet-talking his way out of the airlock, he jumps on an opportunity when the kids grab Brutus in the mechanical claw of the Onyx Cinder that we saw in episode four. Jod uses this moment to use the Force to free himself from his shackles and proceeds to execute Brutus by shooting him in the head. I really like that, despite marketing the show as a more kid-friendly offering, Skeleton Crew can get pretty intense at times. Jod not only kills his former mutinous first-mate, but also decapitates SM-33 (no!) and threatens the kids’ parents in a pretty horrifying and graphic fashion. Jude Law may have been billed as the lead and the potential reluctant hero of this show at first, but he’s a real SOB and I like that he’s not what I thought he was going to be at the start of the show. That said, I do wish we got a bit more insight into his past, but at the same time, I’m grateful the show didn’t over-explain his character with poorly written exposition dialogue. Oh, and while I was pretty shocked about the “death” of SM-33, I’m sure he’ll come back by the end of next week’s episode, with his head reattached to his body and good as new.

Jod knows all about the kids’ parents due to a message they sent up at the start of the episode. What’s weird from a storytelling perspective is that the message was ultimately useless for the kids, as they just flew through the storm regardless. I feel that this should’ve been sent out much earlier in the season and would’ve acted as one piece of the puzzle for the kids, as the message mentioned that they couldn’t say where At Attin was for security reasons. The only real reason the message was sent then, was so Jod could put faces on each respective parent.

Under the guise of an emissary of the Republic, Jod is able to make his way into the At Attin print, where he maniacally laughs as gold credits fall all over him. It was pretty great, to be honest. (As was Fern saying that the Onyx Cinder is a ship only for kids, to which SM-33 said “good enough” before switching loyalties earlier on). The cliffhanger ending, that said, felt pretty frustrating. Due to the short runtime, I felt we could’ve kept going, as Jod drawing his saber on the families before cutting to black felt more annoying than it did anticipate. He has the gold, what’s the point of drawing? And what’s the point of cutting when we know they’re safe? It creates false tension and just makes the wait for next week feel longer and a bit trivial. It was just an odd and frustrating cliffhanger.

The penultimate episode, directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters) offered a lot of big moments, but I felt like it should’ve dedicated more runtime to the episode. That’s a constant criticism I’ve had of Star Wars Disney+ shows, is that they often feel too short. I know this is probably due to budgetary reasons, but half an hour just isn’t long enough sometimes for some of the stories being told and the midst of a high-stakes heist with hostages and a crew member down feels like it should’ve been granted even just ten-minutes more time. Let’s hope the finale offers such screen time to really wrap up its storylines and deliver where it counts!