With eight episodes in the bag, Skelton Crew comes to an end with an exciting, action-packed finale that feels essential. Sometimes, entertainment puts a big action scene at the end of their story because they feel they’re mandated to do so, and while sometimes it works, just as often it doesn’t. Skeleton Crew hit that balance of action but also had stakes and character growth, delivering a well-balanced finale.

With Jod face to face with the parents, he flourishes his lightsaber and introduces himself as the Emissary for the Republic. Due to the kids’ reckless behaviour in space, he orders the droids to escort the families away and keep them under guard as he goes to meet the Supervisor and get his secondary ship down on the surface. Fern, of course, has something to say about that which earns her and her mother a visit to the Supervisor as well. And lo and behold, the Supervisor is simply an antique of a droid, a massive one at that. His glowing red “eye” was very reminiscent of HAL from 2001, and he was voiced by Stephen Fry.

I guess my theory about the supervisor being Captain Rennod was unfounded, which makes me wonder why did they conceal his face in the hologram? Inconsequential, or were they planning something for a second season and opted not to cast that individual now, kind of like Moriarty in the first Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes? Due to the incredibly low viewership that said, I doubt we’ll be getting a second season sadly.

Jod is quickly called out as an imposter, which earns the Supervisor a meeting with his lightsaber, which results in the whole city falling into a state of blackout. With the barrier shut down by Jod after this, the pirates swoop in and it’s up to the kids, now not under the supervision of the droids, to save the day. Their task: get the Onyx Cinder up to the atmosphere and send a message to Khym from episode three to call in the X-wings to help them. With the kids teaming up and each bringing their moment (Neel getting the big gun was great), KB ends up flying with the help of SM-33, who as I predicted, is thankfully safe and just needs some reattachment.

The finale was a low-stakes finale in that it wasn’t about the larger Star Wars story and I really enjoyed it because of that. I didn’t need Luke showing up in the end to help the Republic out or to duel with Jod. This was a local problem and honestly, we need more stories like Skelton Crew, that could be about anything; they just so happen to take place in a galaxy far, far away, rather than being dictated by it.

We also got just enough backstory on Jod to fill in a few much-needed blanks after Wim rips into him for not upholding the Jedi values. Jod reveals that he was a starving street kid who was brought in by the Jedi Order and was given some training but it was cut off too quickly due to Order 66. So with his new skills, he vowed not to go hungry again so to speak. Interestingly, we got no definitive conclusion for Jod. He stays in the tower alone, despite a brief protest from Wim who sees the good in him (“I never wanted to hurt anyone”, muttered Jod), but we don’t know if the Republic arrested him or if he escaped. I think there were a few doors open for a second season that may remain hanging open, unfortunately. I do wish the ending had a few extra minutes at the closing moments to wrap up some plot points, as I feel it kind of just ended without a sense of closure, that said.

Despite some minor bumps along the way, I thought Skeleton Crew was awesome. It was a fun adventure that riffed on the Amblin films of yesteryear. This story could’ve been told outside of the Star Wars lore and it would’ve worked just as well, but I’m glad it was told within this universe. The child actors all did a fantastic job, SM-33 is now one of my all-time favourite characters, and Jod was one of the most interesting villains in a long time. If you’ve been sleeping on Skelton Crew, and enjoyed things like E.T., The Goonies, and Pirates of the Caribbean when growing up, I would definitely recommend this show to you. It’s the most fun I’ve had with Star Wars in quite some time and, despite being made with kids in mind, isn’t a “kiddie show”. It tapped into the child in me and brought a smile to my face as I joined the kids on their adventure in space, crossing paths with nefarious pirates and all sorts of bizarre allies along the way. As far as I’m concerned, Skeleton Crew’s creators understood the assignment and delivered.