– Spoiler Review –
Did Kh’ymm’s coordinates lead the kids home or somewhere far more surprising? In Skeleton Crew’s fourth episode, “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin,” despite a tonal shift it can’t quite support, the mystery of their home world broadens, a friend might not be a friend after all, and Neel really shines!
While I was overall satisfied with Skeleton Crew’s “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin,” the shorter length lessens several aspects of its interesting swerve. When the Crew lands on the planet Kh’ymm sent them to, we quickly learn it’s not At Attin, rather At Achrann, and something went terribly wrong there to the point a civil war engulfs the planet and its inhabitants, which are split between the Troik and Hattans. Which side is right? Which is wrong? Is one better than the other? Should the one the kids get wrapped up with be considered the noble ones because they run a community in a school, yet put their kids in service? Why does the other side only have adults in the war and is it because they don’t have any kids? Without the show bothering to say who started what and why, beyond a current skirmish over eopies, the silence leaves this rather intriguing development as a fancy set dressing, but not much else. It recalled to me the recent film Civil War, an interesting glimpse at a futuristic civil war in the United States through the lens of photographers, with our kids being the photographers in this case, but because the film never makes a political comment one way or another, especially during such a politically charged time for the country, it ends up losing any relevance and feels hollow. While this leaves the material malleable to how the watcher would want to interpret, when one side is fascist and the other isn’t, it’s not worth pandering to them or trying to avoid making any comment for the sake of views or money (though a corporation would beg to argue). It’s not always the point to know the why of a conflict though, it can truly be lost to time and memories, but “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” doesn’t attempt to paint a deeper picture of the struggle on At Achrann and its point about the strength in peace and the struggle for it, especially when dealing with generational conflict, ends up with less bite than it could’ve, as without something to reveal the conflict’s structure, there’s little to no bones to hold up any points.
Hayna (Hala Finley), the daughter of the Troik’s leader, and Neel spend some considerable and memorable time together throughout the episode, showing why he’s the series’ beating heart, a very good friend, and needs to be protected at all costs. Hayna’s initial desire to lead their clan to victory after her father dies speaks to a potentially engaging look at how the sins of the father are passed down, a problem much of our world deals with due to an old guard of opinions which can’t imagine giving up power to a younger generation, thinking instead with how things used to be and how they want it to remain, instead of what it could be or what others might want. It’s a selfish thing, being unable to let go, and Hayna is what can happen to those who are brought up in a world where their parents/guardians feel the need to pass on their own troubles rather than trying to fix them, making it their children’s problems instead. Having her teamed up with Neel, who wants everything to be peaceful and devoid of conflict, who is willing to let go of food if it means helping those who can’t help themselves, allows her to see another way forward. They part with a kiss, as she points out she considers his ‘weakness’ something which makes him kind, and hopefully one she’ll act on it when her time comes. The episode ends with the Crew still on At Achrann, so it’s possible the following episode could better explore the conflict here and give Hayna a chance to follow through on what she’s learned from Neel, but given how “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” tried to have its cake and eat it too with this storyline, I’m worried they won’t commit to making it anything more than what we got here.
I was already a Neel fan, but “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” really hammered home, like I said earlier, how much of the heart he is for the series. Robert Timothy Smith, even through the combined effects situation to bring the character to life, really inhabits Neel’s nervousness but also his compassion in such a way, it’s hard not to see the galaxy as idealistically as he does. At Attin is peaceful and he looks forward to the Supervisor giving him a job at his mom’s work when he gets older, so every step of the way on this journey has been a nightmare for him, unlike Wim and his eagerness for adventure and something less mundane. But in this episode, he seems to come out of his shell somewhat, as once he feels emboldened by his new friend, he ends up being the one to accidentally lead his friends into the fight, albeit in the slowest, least threatening way possible, which is when Jod Na Nawood shows up to somehow save the day. Seeing how Neel reacts when the truth of whatever At Attin, and its fellow planets, is revealed should be quite an interesting development, as will he have come to terms with a life which isn’t as mundane as he always hoped, or will he double down, as it’s what he’s always meant for to be at peace? Know who also isn’t at peace? It’s Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), who sees her inability to get them out of participating in the war here and SM-33’s constant refrain about not remembering their home planet as signs she truly doesn’t know what she’s doing. Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) does his best to point out she’s their captain for a reason, but what he ends up saying she takes the wrong way, but she at least finds her confidence again after a light bulb turning on due to their conversation. Given how Fern was to him for at least the first two episodes, it’s nice to see they’re growing a little, with Fern being less sarcastic and rude and Wim being less ‘press every button’ and thinking things through instead, while also learning to trust and rely on one another.
Stuck on the Onyx Cinder with SM-33 as his babysitter, it’s Jod Na Nawood who begins to understand the droid has a role in the mystery of At Attin, as the episode title is exactly what the droid always says, even since the beginning of the show, whenever someone mentions the planet’s name. In fact, it’s SM-33 who reveals this planet they are on now is named At Achrann, claiming it’s a dangerous place much like the kids have found out, but Jod doesn’t get to follow through on this revelation for long due to the Hattan clan surrounding him and the droid. With the kid’s spare Old Republic credits, which obviously are good here if At Attin and At Achrann are as connected as they look to be, Jod manages to broker peace between the two tribes, returning the eopies to the Troik and rescuing the kids from the planet’s struggles, for now. Because of the temporary peace, Hayna shows them to the Fallen Sanctum, which is the Supervisor’s headquarters back home on At Attin, where she says there are directions to other planets. In this sanctum, the kids find coordinates for planets with similar names to theirs and At Achrann’s: At Acoda, At Aravin, At Arissia, At Aytuu. There’s a spot for At Attin too, but the coordinates were torn out of the stone, forever lost, only for SM-33 to casually reveal his previous trip to this very spot and being the one who scratched out the numbers! This is where Fern grows frustrated and Wim chats with her, only to help her see a way forward by using her captain-ship to override SM-33’s previous command to forget At Attin, which leads him to reveal he not only watched his previous captain kill any of the crew who saw the coordinates, he was told to pull ’em apart!! This brings his programming back in time too, turning on the children, but thanks to Neel’s newfound bravery, he draws the droid away from his friends and nearly dies in the process, with Jod saving the day and shutting down SM-33 just in time. As Neel passes out due to the near-death experience, the episode ends, which felt like an awkward and too sudden spot to do so, which sorts of tracks with my earlier issues with the episode.
So what’s the story of the At A-something planets? They are clearly connected and part of similar purpose, which means my totally out there theory, first mentioned in my review of the premiere, relating At Attin to a development in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might not be that far off, as more now than ever, all 6 of the At A-something’s could feasible be like one large supercomputer system. Or was it a social experiment? Or some way to cover up what made them worthy of the designation as the Jewels of the Old Republic, though there are still three other Jewels unnamed? Could the other three not be connected to the At A-somethings? And then for SM-33…how long ago did his captain find their way to At Attin? Could they be the Supervisor, who crashed on her, left their remaining crewmates behind, and integrated themselves into the society to figure out the planet’s secrets? Or is the captain one of the skeletons still on the ship? It feels like we’re on the precipice of a much bigger reveal or answer, but with how Skeleton Crew delivers a little new piece of the puzzle nearly every episode so far, I’m not too worried when we’ll get the truth.
Here are a few other things:
- We’re back to how I felt about KB in the opening two episodes, like she has the least to do, so hopefully she’s the focus on the next episode after Neel got his chance to shine even more than normal.
- This episode was directed by the Daniels, the pair behind Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once and the “Turn Down for What” music video (love that for them!), and I feel like, because of the pacing and overall length of the episode, there wasn’t much room for them to leave a distinct impression. At least it seems like they had fun…hopefully they can come back to something in the future and provide more of their styling to a different project.
- Never would’ve caught this Pirates of the Caribbean Disney Parks reference!
- PSA: Since the next two episodes air on Xmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, between family events and nursing hangovers, my reviews for the fifth and sixth episode will be delayed, though should have each out before the episode after it!
Skeleton Crew’s “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” takes a swerve and doesn’t hit all the right notes, but it’s still a delightful episode that carries characters and the mysteries forward.
+ Neel’s time to really shine
+ More answers but even more mystery!
+ A taste of Fern and Wim growing
– Not taking a side leaves its tribal war as set dressing only
– Length and pacing only further hampered by its sudden ending
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.
SKELETON CREW REVIEWS:
Season One: 1.1/1.2 “This Could Be a Real Adventure” & “Way, Way Out Past the Barrier” | 1.3 “Very Interesting, As An Astrogation Problem”