Episode 8 of Skeleton Crew reveals a connection to Palpatine

This article contains Spoilers For Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Episode VIII, “The Real Good Guys”.

The final episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Season 1 (There’s no definite word yet on whether or not season 2 will happen) ends this story. The pirates have arrived at Atin and Jude Nawood (Jude Law). Able to meet the Superintendent (voiced by Stephen Fry) In the main tower of Atin. With Fern (Ryan Keira Armstrong) and her mother Fara (Kerry Condon) hostage, Judd is able to bring down the barrier and give Fyne and the other pirates access to Attain, who are collecting civilians to use as stevedores. Even all their Republican appropriations.

Fortunately, each of the show’s young leads brings their own talent to the table and are able to work together to turn the tables against Judd. Thanks to his sympathy for Atachrann, Neal (Robert Timothy Smith) learns about the turbolaser batteries on the roof of the school, which he uses to fire on the pirate ships just in time to allow Onyx Cinder to escape and call for help. KB (Kyriana Kratter) and her ability to memorize information, coupled with her sangfroid, are then able to pilot the ship out of the barrier and deliver a message to Kh’ymm (Alia Shawkat). Meanwhile, Fern is able to use her powers of persuasion to help convince her tough mother to join the cause, and Wim (Raffi Cabot Conyers) is able to overcome his idealism to become a hero.

Together, the kids can stop Jude, but not without learning a few things along the way. In fact, after Judd introduces himself as a Jedi to the Overseer, there’s a big revelation that changes our understanding of Attin and reveals a major connection to Sheev Palpatine.

After Judd brandishes his lightsaber and declares himself a Republic envoy and Jedi Knight, the Overseer is immediately suspicious. That’s because, as he told them, the last transmission he received from the Republic declared the Jedi to be traitors. Although this does not appear to be common knowledge to the people of Attain, the Overseer certainly knows this and has been transported to the planet. This means that Sheev Palpatine, who was the Supreme Chancellor-turned-Emperor at the time, was the one who declared the Jedi enemies and would be responsible for sending this message across the galaxy.

Since getting messages across the barrier to Attin was no easy feat, that meant the Republic and Palpatine himself needed to figure out how to get those messages to the legendary planet as well. Attin leaving a deep secret to only the most important elements of the Republic makes sense. But this also means that Palpatine had more secrets than we knew about him, which shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. His plans have always been complex and contain secrets within secrets, extending to places people might not expect. After all, who could have guessed that the opening step in his grand plan to eliminate the Jedi would include taxing trade routes to distant star systems and blockading his home planet? He may have had other plans for Attin had he survived (or could have used them to fund further operations).

Seeing “Skeleton Crew” fit into the events of the larger fabric of the “Star Wars” universe was a much-needed tie to the show. Although some have felt that the big strength of this series was how disconnected it was from the rest of the galaxy, it really needed something more to feel connected to the broader events of the rest of the series. There were references in Season 1 about how out of touch the kids were with galactic events, even going so far as to point out that they hadn’t even heard about the destruction of Alderaan and missed that news of a galactic civil war (not to mention the fall of the Old Republic). Seeing that little thread being pulled in a slanted, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion way was just the right approach. We didn’t actually need that See Communication, just a little bit of dialogue to help us conjure up images and spin stories in our minds about how it fits and why it can work.

However, the Season 1 finale leaves us wondering: What will happen to the planet now that the barrier has lowered and Atin has been exposed to the entire galaxy? Will more pirates come? Will Aten join the New Republic? Will they fund the next war against Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen)? In “Ahsoka” season two Or some other future “Star Wars” title? As Master Yoda says, “Movement is always the future.”

“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” is now available in full on Disney+.