In Skeleton Crew, What’s Less Than Death Among Friends?

The Skeleton Crewchildren get their first taste of a star Wars the bottom line last week when they found out that not everyone around them wants the best for themselves. So naturally, this week probably a few of them looked less at the bonds they saw do for, and to put them to a great test. What just happened to involve a giant garbage crab?
“Zero Friends Again” sees Fern, KB, Neel, and Wim thrown into the rubble after barely surviving as Jod adds “doing Anakin Skywalker to other kids” to his list of crimes — and of course, kids, the first thing they have to do is argue about what to do next. . But there’s something different here than the usual little spats this quartet has gotten into all along The Skeleton Crew until now: Jod’s betrayal of them, and the harsh reality of their situation when they find themselves truly abandoned as Brutus and his team drag ‘Silvo’ to earth to be judged, begin to show the tension in their connection. . This is especially the case with Fern and KB, with the latter struggling to talk to the former about why they can’t agree to a dangerous plan to scale a ridiculous cliff face to get back to their ship.
Why he can’t is clear as KB decides to go after Wim–who quickly decides that the nearest combination of junk crabs definitely lead them to someone who can help—one way, as Fern and Neel head toward the cliffs. The addition of KB was consumed by his time in such a humid environment, partially closing the performance of his car. star Wars It has long had an interesting history with its portrayal of cyborgs and the disabilities that accompany them, and often that history has been full, from when Darth Vader was called “more machine than man,” to unfounded extermination. Skywalker’s limbs usually seem like that. But in a wonderfully tender scene—assisted by Kyriana Kratter and Ravi Cabot-Conyers—as a watery KB guides Wim through the process of installing his rusty fuses, perhaps we find out what star Wars‘ better understanding of disability and chronic disease.

Not only do we see the reality of KB’s experience living through his upbringing—not just the immediate threat that the only way out is death—but his frustration with the people in his life, Fern in particular, trying to treat him as competent. to do anything even when he clearly needs an accommodation and understanding of his abilities as a person with a disability. It treads the fine line that all disability narratives should, and avoids many of the pitfalls that stories tend to fall into. It’s not always that KB is bitter about his augs, or that other people have told him what he should and shouldn’t be able to do: it’s about him saying those words himself, and having people listen to him. Fern’s desire to accept her best friend by telling her that she can do anything any other child can do (including dangerous rock climbing!) is no match for the fact that KB needs help and space to limit herself, and her struggle. a connection that perfectly suits Wim’s sensitive nature, allowing him to tap into that understanding as he tries to fix his augments.
It is not the so-called “very special episode” but the real bond between KB and Wim, which is interestingly similar to other groups among children. It’s telling that we’ve cut to this frank conversation about KB imposing his limits on Fern and Neel, and the former had decided that the only answer to Neel’s complaints about not being able to climb as fast as him was to get a rope and a tie. together to pull him at his pace. And there is a parallel to the arrangement of Jod’s plot in the episode as well – he was released to face the judgment of Brutus and was given time to be authorized by the pirate code to appeal against the decision of execution, which Jod offers instead of selling about Attin, than anything. honest or beneficial communication with his former team, which offers promises of loot and dreams that they have always dreamed of. The “zero friends” of the title may be a line from KB, afraid that if he is faithful to Fern he will lose his best friend, but it is actually Jod: a lonely artist who plays one last trick after another, while the children. he abandoned on the way and they found themselves more united than before.

That, after they were almost eaten by a large crab again a giant junk-slagging droid. It’s a little awkward going from one big episode to another right at the end of the episode, but it’s the spark that allows these kids to shine together as a unit (especially after KB and Fern get a nice little reunion. ). Together, and understanding each other’s strengths, they can accomplish the impossible–and they do so not only when Fern and Neel save KB and Wim from the trash crabs, but when they all board the Onyx Cinder and manage to free it from captivity. of a junkyard droid. Maybe it wouldn’t be star Wars if their reward for strengthening these bonds was simply a better understanding, of course: to escape the droid they all had to trust that Fern knew what he was doing when he hit a button on the Cinder SM-33’s controls and told them to touch it, exploding the ship’s haggard plating to reveal a sleek ship, the glitter that hides beneath its ugly exterior.
Now they have a chance to come home (thanks to the links to KB’s augs, of course), even Jod and the upcoming Pirates. But they can face it with a better understanding, which will encourage them to feel like they can take over the entire galaxy… which they may have to conquer at the end of it all.
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