TV Recap / Review – Families Team Up to Defend At Attin from Invading Pirates in the Thrilling “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” Finale

Will Jod's latest scheme come crashing down around him?

This evening saw the debut of the season (or is it series?) finale of Lucasfilm’s live-action series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+, entitled “The Real Good Guys.” Below are my brief recap and thoughts on this climactic installment.

“The Real Good Guys” begins with a fake-out anti-payoff to the cliffhanger of last week’s episode, with Jod Na Nawood (played by Jude Law) revealing that he had activated his lightsaber not to wipe out the kids’ parents, but to demonstrate that he is a Jedi emissary from the Republic. But thankfully that’s the most frustrating moment of a finale that is otherwise just a whole lot of action-packed fun. Jod orders the droids to take the families back to their homes and watch over the troublemaking children, except for Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and her mother Fara (Kerry Condon), who he requests take them to meet the Supervisor (voiced by Stephen Fry) so he can contact his ship outside At Attin’s barrier. When they get to the top of the tower in the center of the city, both Fern and Jod are surprised to find that the Supervisor is in fact a giant droid, though it’s clear that Fara has known this, declaring it to be part of the “Great Work.”

Meanwhile at Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) and Wendle’s (Tunde Adebimpe) home, Wim can’t tell his dad the truth about Jod being a pirate for fear of reprisal from the security droid, and a quick walkie-talkie conversation with Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) proves just as fruitless. In the tower, Jod uses his lightsaber to “kill” the Supervisor, after the droid mentions that the final message it received from the Republic– on the verge of its transformation into the Galactic Empire– was that the Jedi Order had turned traitor, effectively shutting down the power across the entire planet. And while this certainly seems like a poor design choice, it does help the kids evade the droids in their suburban neighborhood. So Wim and Neel meet up with KB (Kyriana Kratter) and take their still-working hoverbikes back toward the city, with Wendle reluctantly following along, having taken the bike belonging to local bully Bonjj Phalfa (Shane Almagor).

Taking a short cut through the hallways of At Attin’s middle school, Neel crashes his hoverbike but decides it’s best if he mans the anti-aircraft gun that he knows is on the school’s roof thanks to his recent adventure on At Achrann. The other bike riders get to the Onyx Cinder, with their plan being to fly outside the barrier and send a distress call to the New Republic. But when they arrive at the ship, they find it anchored to the ground with docking clamps, and the only way to release them is to restore power to the city. So Wim and Wendle head toward the Supervisor’s tower while KB works on repairing the pirate droid SM-33 (Nick Frost), who Jod had decapitated in the previous episode.

Next there’s a great showdown scene between Wim and Jod in the tower while Wendle uses the distraction to sneak around and turn the power back on, allowing KB and 33 to fly out through the barrier. Here’s where we also finally get details on Jod’s backstory: turns out he was taken in by a Jedi after Order 66 and told he had potential in the Force, but then after a brief period of training his mentor was executed (presumably by Inquisitors) in front of him. There’s a struggle between the two families in the tower and Jod, and it ends with Fara finally getting over her fear of losing the protection of the barrier and deactivating it completely, allowing New Republic starfighters– including B-wings(!!!)– to enter the atmosphere and blast away at the invading pirates.

The remainder of the episode is a fairly thrilling battle sequence, with the New Republic eventually gaining the upper hand. There is a moment where the families are led to believe that the Onyx Cinder may have crashed to its doom with KB and SM-33 inside, but at the end we discover that the ship is resting precariously through the roof of the middle school’s auditorium, and Wim is relieved that he may not have to take his assessment test there after all. There’s a charming moment with KB spilling out of the ship’s hold with thousands of Old Republic credits, Scrooge McDuck-style, and the finale ends with everyone happily reunited and Wim watching a New Republic blockade runner fly above the city with admiration. It’s clear that he wants to continue exploring the galaxy around him, but what’s less clear is the fate of Jod, who we last see contemplating the ruination of his latest scheme. On the whole, I thought this was a really satisfying finale, with my only complaint being that I really just want to see more of these characters and locations. And when it comes to Star Wars, wanting more is never a bad thing.

The full season of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is now available to stream, exclusively via Disney+.

Sign up for Disney+ or the Disney Streaming Bundle (Disney+, ESPN+, and ad-supported Hulu) now
Mike Celestino
Mike serves as Laughing Place's lead Southern California reporter, Editorial Director for Star Wars content, and host of the weekly "Who's the Bossk?" Star Wars podcast. He's been fascinated by Disney theme parks and storytelling in general all his life and resides in Burbank, California with his beloved wife and cats.