Unlike in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, where The New Republic was depicted as being littered with red tape, corruption and barely recovering from the poison of the former Imperial regime to the point where it often seemed as if t it never had enough resources to help its own people, Skeleton Crew at least shows the Republic fighters coming in to save a planet. 

There’s still some issues with that, though. For one, At Attin is essentially a goldmine. And the citizens are basically shut off from the outside world and are very wealthy. They live in a literal bubble. It also felt as if they were brainwashed into believing that the only world worth living in was their own home planet. I actually really loved that worldbuilding. 

On the surface, the kids’ and their families live a life of genuine socioeconomic privilege, but there were a lot of little (and honestly, not so little) hints that this life came at a very serious sacrifice to their own freedom. Really awful, but nicely written catch-22 there.

What makes At Attin’s rescue so interesting to me is that I keep thinking of other planets that don’t have valuable resources. Would the New Republic be so quick to assist citizens from some distant ‘backwater’ planet that had no valuables on it? 

It’s already been stated over and over that the past, pre-Imperial Republic suffered from the bureaucracy that prevented it from giving aid or fighting corruption on planets that were not legally attached to the Republic. And this New government sadly is no different. 

I’m really hoping that at some point we have tons more examples (besides Hera lol) of New Republic officials, Jedi (whoever is left), senators and pilots that are willing to cut the tape and help all kinds of people and planets in the galaxy, regardless of affiliation.

And Nawood? Really great characterization. I thought he was bullshitting when he made that plea to the other pilots about there never being enough credits. I thought he was just trying to get out of being killed. Turns out, he was speaking from the direct experience of growing up in poverty. 

I wish some other scenes were cut and we got little flashbacks to his childhood. The Mandalorian and Andor both had flashbacks to Din and Cassian’s childhood that helped to contextualize their relationship to their adopted parents and tribes. Wish we got that here. 

Speaking of which, his Jedi background… FINALLY confirmed. Again, so many things about him that I wasn’t quite expecting. I did keep thinking ‘how do you fake using The Force???’ And because he’s a pirate, I really didn’t believe him. Yeah, there were subtle indications that he COULD be a Jedi or at least some kinda Force user, but I just ignored those because he’s sketchy as hell. I felt for him when he mentioned losing his master. That’s almost the same backstory Kanan Jarrus had. 

Technically the little montage during the credits (which was cute and I did love) that showed a kid Nawood with his Jedi master counts as a flashback, but again, why was this not shown in live action? 🫠