Wellington Paranormal Season 4 Episode 4 Review: Skeleton Crew
Wellington Paranormal Season 4 Episode 4, “Skeleton Crew,” is a rip-roaring romp, complete with ghostly possessions, bad dad jokes, and Parker’s vocal warmups. At face value, it’s a zany half-hour of slapstick comedy with airtight line deliveries. However, it’s also a thoughtful, creative examination of colonialism and its perpetual stranglehold on the globe.
Comedy is an excellent medium for social reflection and thematic exploration. You can delve deeper into these topics without thwacking audiences over the head with ham-fisted presentations. There’s room for nuance and subtlety. Simultaneously, you have the narrative freedom to drive a crucial point home when necessary.
MAAKA: Pakeha will take over everything if given the chance.
“Skeleton Crew” does just that — it’s a hilarious display of comedy and astute observation with an important message.
The show dissects this message with its signature panache, dry humor, and an eccentric cast of characters. Ultimately, it feels wonderfully gratifying to watch Sergeant Maaka, a Māori man, tell the Pakeha (white New Zealander) ghosts to get off his land.
That said, “Skeleton Crew” isn’t all profundity and philosophical messaging. The gags and slapstick are top-notch in this outing, particularly Maaka Pohatu’s performance. He exerts 200 percent into being possessed, and it pays off.
PARKER: I know it’s like scary what we’re going through and stuff, but is there any way we could speed it up?
The one-liners and dialogue are sharp in “Skeleton Crew,” with genuinely laugh-out-loud bits. The episode’s mind-warping moment, wherein O’Leary, Minogue, and Parker find themselves locked in a neverending corridor, feels like we’re on a drug-fueled trip.
One of the best decisions Wellington Paranormal ever made was featuring more of the hilarious Thomas Sainsbury. His adorably neurotic and “chatty” (Minogue’s words) Constable Parker adds another facet to our core group’s dynamic. He gels well with the other leads, and their chemistry only heightens the humor.
“Skeleton Crew” also gives us a glimpse into the day-to-day inner workings of the Wellington police, from O’Leary performing administrative work and Minogue watching work-related cat videos to Parker taking selfies with items confiscated from criminals to sell online. That scene is one of the best in the series thus far. It showcases the force’s bumbling ineptitude, yet it only makes our crew more lovable.
MINOGUE: Sarge has been possessed by someone making really bad jokes.
Overall, “Skeleton Crew” is a solid Wellington Paranormal installment, brimming with humor, thoughtfulness, horror movie-inspired escapades, and slapstick from start to finish. If there’s one thing we can take away from this episode, it’s this: Don’t let potty-mouthed, racist, bad-joke-spewing ghosts try to possess you.
Stray Observations:
- It’s always a treasure trove of fun reading the dry-erase board during the police briefings. For example, there were only two taser incidents that week — two less than the week before. In addition, 9-1-1 isn’t a joke in this town!
- If you look next to the dry-erase board, you’ll see a poster featuring O’Leary, Maaka, and Minogue and the text, “We now have four more tasers.” If that’s not an incentive to join the Wellington police force, then what is?
- We need at least an episodic B-plot with Parker trying to sell the force’s confiscated items online. The fact that the police are selling a briefcase chock full of cash feels like a missed story opportunity.
- Maaka’s line about white people trying to take over everything is painfully apropos.
- Minogue designating cat videos as “work-related” is a universally shared truth. They are work-related!
- “Skeleton Crew” borrows from The Shining with Maaka’s “Here’s Whitey!” bit, and it’s glorious.
What did you think of this episode of Wellington Paranormal? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Wellington Paranormal airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW, with next-day streaming on HBO Max.
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Melody McCune
Melody loves TV. Maybe too much. Besides being a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV, she's the Managing Editor for Geek Girl Authority, an Independent Contractor for Sideshow Collectibles, and a Senior Writer for Eulalie Magazine. Additionally, she has bylines in Culturess, Widget, and inkMend on Medium. To top it all off, she's a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and CherryPicks.