Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Wherein the story of the week and the series arc come together in beautiful harmony

Spoiler Warning for You Have A Lot To Learn About Pirates

As the crew’s journey home continues, the fifth episode is a good demonstration of how to tie an arc together with the adventure of the week as the storyline in turn demonstrates to the kids the true reality of dealing with a pirate – the duplicity, danger, and deadliness.

I loved the storytelling in this episode. Here the main arc and the adventure of the week are knitted together well – possibly in the best way since the opening episode. The overall aim of the episode is still to get the elusive At Attin coordinates. Having determined that SM-33 has the knowledge, the murderous droid is rebooted to help them, taking them to his old captain’s lair and revealing more about the ship and its captain.

It’s a great set-up, enhanced by the twist that the lair has since become a hotel retreat for the rich. The set design and creativity in the different settings continues to be fabulous. Here the rich sumptuousness of the hotel with its gold, bright and warm colours is a great contrast to the dark dinginess of the ship. It is also a complete contrast with the previous grimness of At Achrann.

The adventure to find and enter the lair would be complicated by itself given the hotel security, but here the story adds in another series layer with Silvo’s past once again catching up the crew as a previous acquaintance recognises him and sets the pirates from Jod’s old crew upon them. There is a huge plot niggle in that travel from the pirate port to Lanupa seems completely instantaneous with our intrepid kids barely getting any kind of a head-start before the pirates arrive to chase them through the tunnels. Yet ignoring this, the main denouement as Jod turns on them is brilliant.

It is well set-up through the initial conversation that Jod has with Wim on the ship. When Wim wonders out loud that if Jod has Force powers and is not a Jedi than what is he, the show reintroduces the idea that if Jod is not one of the good guys than perhaps he is one of the bad. There are reminders throughout from the vengeful Pokkit to the Cthallops’ sniff test that Jod is untrustworthy. It is seeded in that Jod keeps one of the credits for himself and so has it for the sacrifice. And it is signposted heavily when he orders SM-33 to refill the chamber outside with acid, killing the pirates who are after them.

The moment where he turns on the kids is very well done. He waits until he has the confirmation that he needs that At Attin really does have treasure. Once he knows that it is real and he has the opportunity for the score of a lifetime, it trumps his deal with the kids to get them home and get a fair reward – he’s a pirate, why would he settle? Jude Law’s performance is stellar. He plays that shift in Jod very, very well.

The kids’ reactions are also well done in particular by the two leads, Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Both play very scared but trying to be brave so very well in this scene. And it is a truly heartbreaking moment for the kids because regardless of all the warnings they’ve had, Jod has saved them, has helped them. He has awkwardly and ineptly looked after them.   

I loved the moment with the lightsabre and Wim. The scene at the beginning does show Wim’s development; he’s realising that it’s not all a grand adventure and he misses his parents and home. It makes the moment when he picks the lightsabre up to try and help Fern, to save her like a Jedi would do, a touch more poignant. Yet the moment where he is just so completely unable to use it is fabulous and so against the trope where everyone in the franchise seems automatically able to use a lightsabre from the off (I’m looking at you, Star Wars movies).

I also liked how KB’s takedown of the guards by the pipes during their initial search also helped to set-up the tension in this showdown with Jod. She managed to overcome the guards with her resourcefulness and there is a moment when Fern is responding to Jod’s challenge, when Wim has the lightsabre, that the audience might hope and feel that the kids might just win and…reality asserts itself because the kids are kids facing an adult and once the challenge is lost, the loyalty of SM-33. Yet that final desperate move by Wim to take them away from Jod and SM-33 is great and gives hope.  This episode’s primary storyline was fantastic – kudos.

I will also say that I liked the secondary briefer storyline where we took a look back to At Attin where the parents are trying to find a way to get a message out to save their children. Nice acting and it layers in that sense of all not being well on At Attin.

In conclusion

I’m really enjoying the series so far, and this episode definitely delivered not just from the acting, direction, and production design this week, but also on the storytelling content. There was character development, plot, and more of the mysteries revealed about the ship and about At Attin, but there are also enough remaining hooks to keep the audience enthralled and wondering what next. I can’t wait for next week.

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