Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Very Interesting, As An Astrogation Problem

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Season 1 Episode 3, “Very Insteresting, As An Astrogration Problem,” brings us to the next stage of the titular crew’s adventure: finding a way home to a planet that is a mystery to everyone else in the galaxy.

This episode relies on the intrigue of At Attin and the kids’ chemistry. However, it drags when explaining Jod Na Nawood’s connection to the story.

Skeleton Crew has succeeded in keeping the story focused almost entirely on the kids — especially Wim, whose aspiration for adventure beyond his serenely boring planet draws the rest of the characters into a bigger story than they expected. 

Episode 3 opens with a striking moment of silence as Wendle, Wim’s father, stares into space, overcome with despair at the thought of losing his son. He and the parents of the other children are in utter distress over the kids’ disappearance.

It is a heartfelt moment that allows the story to focus on the kids and their search for home, which becomes necessary considering where the rest of the episode takes us.

The outing struggles to keep the story focused on its younger characters. The show feels it necessary to explain too much about Jude Law’s character at once.

We learn that Jod is not who he says he is, and Law plays this swaggering, duplicitous pirate quite well.

He focuses on charming the kids into believing he is there to help so he can get to the mythical treasure planet At Attin.

Jod collects a couple of names throughout the episode, with the biggest reveal being that he is Captain Silvo. So, Silvo (for the sake of avoiding confusion) leads the kids away from the pirates. Wim and Fern use the ship’s guns, and both Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Ryan Kiera Armstrong are particularly convincing in their childlike thrill.

David Lowery’s direction throughout the episode, especially amid all the action, is very strong. It keeps the audience in wonder, along with the kids, as they journey to yet another new planet.

This episode also has an all-too-brief introduction to a new character, Kh’ymm (delightfully voiced by Alia Shawkat), who is an old friend (frenemy?) of Silvo and takes pity on the kids to help them find their home. 

One of the attractions of Star Wars is the imagination involved in introducing new alien species, new worlds, or adding to the existing lore. 

Each project has to walk a delicate line between adding to Star Wars lore and developing its characters. This episode caters to those looking for lore tastefully through Kh’ymm.

The mystery of At Attin links to the Old Republic, an era that has yet to properly make an appearance in live-action properties.

This mystery about which Republic the kids are aware of is also more intriguing when the audience realizes that the children have no idea of the war that tore the galaxy just prior to the events of Skeleton Crew.

They don’t even know that Alderaan has been destroyed, raising further questions about why they know so little about the planets and galaxies around them. 

Unfortunately, we don’t see any of the parents again, which would have been a good way to ground the stakes of the kids going missing. The parents also don’t seem to want to do anything more than sit and worry, so hopefully, we will see more from them in future episodes. 

Perhaps the most brilliant move the show has made is to keep this mystery of At Attin crucial to the kids’ journey to finding their place in the world (and the galaxy).

The kids are raising questions about why they know so little about their world and all the rest, which will make for interesting reveals during future episodes. 

This installment veers dangerously close to a lore dump by focusing on Silvo’s story.

But it rescues itself when focused on the kids just being kids involved in petty fights with each other and rebelling against authority, whether it’s their parents or more powerful people they come across.

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New episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew air Tuesdays at 9/8c on Disney+.

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