TV Review — ‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’ Episode 4 Stumbles Even As Neel Soars
by Austin Gorton
The fourth episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” is the weakest episode of the series yet. It is by no means a bad episode. There’s plenty to recommend, including a heartwarming focus on Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) and some intriguing new developments in the mystery surrounding At Attin. But all of that comes in service to an A-plot involving two warring factions which, once the initial “dark mirror” premise is established, wears thin quickly. The end result is an episode which feels more like a generic Star Trek episode or one of the lesser early season Mandalorian episodes than the series’ already well-established “Goonies in space” vibe.
The installment opens with the titular crew following the coordinates they received last episode from the hot new character find of 2024, Kh’ymm (Alia Shawkat). But it quickly becomes clear the world they’ve reached is a dark mirror of their actual homeworld: many of the same buildings are in the same place, including Neel’s home and the looming tower where, on At Attin, the ominous Supervisor resides. But this is At Achrann, another of the Jewels of the Old Republic, but one torn apart by a war between two factions, the Hattan and the Troik.
Once the kids are taken in by Hayna (Hala Finley), daughter of the Troik leader, “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” devolves into a standard “be careful what you wish for” tale, with a few dashes of Star Trek‘s “A Private Little War” thrown in. Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), who, at home, bristles against her mother’s expectations, and Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), who yearn for adventure, are presented with a world in which children are treated as near equals to adults and pressed into action at the cost of risking their lives in a war being fought over (from an outsider’s perspective) meager stakes. Given this episode is structured like one of the “done-in-one” episodes from The Mandalorian‘s initial season (in which the title character would arrive on a world, get caught up in an adventure, then leave by the end), there’s not a ton of room to explore these ideas in great detail or specificity.
The end result is a surface level examination of the themes, little more beyond the idea that the action, adventure, and adult responsibilities Fern and Wim yearn for aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Similarly, there’s simply not enough space in the episode to make the Hattan and Troik conflict feel more than half-baked. As is, it exists mostly just as a teaching tool for the younger members of the cast. Which isn’t bad in terms of character development, but makes the plot harder to care about.
Again, though, this is far from a bad episode. Neel, in particular, makes the most of his time on At Achrann. In addition to developing a bit of a crush on older girl Hayna (a staple character beat of 1980s era Amblin’-style stories), he goes through a small arc of his own, finding his inner courage while not only hanging onto his innate goodness, but managing to impart some of it to Hayna and her people. All of the material involving Neel is a delight.
The ongoing mystery surrounding At Attin also widens, to the episode’s benefit. The precise phrasing of SM-33 (Nick Frost)’s repeated denial of knowing anything about At Attin (aka the episode’s title) finally catches the ear of someone other than viewers, as Jod (Jude Law) and Fern get the droid to admit he’s been to At Acharan before, destroyed the coordinates to At Attin in At Acharan’s secret map room, and was forbade by his former captain from saying anything about At Attin. It rendered him unable to literally say that he remembered the planet. The repeated specificity of SM-33’s denial in the series’ previous two episodes (and throughout this one) was such that it suggested this very reveal; it is to the series’ benefit that the confirmation came here (technically at the series’ halfway point) rather than being held for later. Knowing when not to string the audience along and acknowledge something they’ve likely figured out is an important skill in any mystery-driven narrative.
The combination of the focus on Neel and the forward momentum of the series’ central mystery is enough to keep “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin” from being a complete wash. But it’s not enough to stand up to the previous three episodes, nor make up for a thin A-plot that leaves all the non-Neel characters stuck in an unexciting, undercooked premise.
New episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew air Tuesdays on Disney+.