Comedy
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
Disney+’s ‘Skeleton Crew’ has some problems, but overall it’s a return to form, when the galaxy far, far away was relatively safe for the family.
You might say that Satoru lives in the past. Literally.
It’s not like he jets back to ancient Rome or anything. For reasons unknown, the 29-year-old pizza delivery man will be walking along, minding his own business, when he’s suddenly flung a few minutes back in time. When it happens, he knows to be on the lookout—because a tragedy is about to occur, and he can stop it if he spots it.
Satoru doesn’t know where his power, which he calls “Revival,” comes from. He doesn’t even control when it triggers. But whether it’s preventing a truck from running over a child or saving a girl from being kidnapped, it’s a power Satoru intends to use for good.
That’s how Satoru’s life goes. He delivers pizzas. He prevents tragedies. Rinse and repeat.
But then Satoru comes home to a tragedy that wasn’t prevented: He finds his mother on the floor of his apartment, stabbed to death. The police come to investigate. And in the heat of the moment, Satoru flees the scene …
… all the way back to 5th grade.
It’s the furthest his Revival power has ever taken him. And that’s when the now-11-year-old Satoru remembers the string of kidnappings and murders which took place during this time.
Could those crimes be somehow related to saving his mom from dying in the future?
Satoru decides to stop them to find out.
Have you ever wanted to get into an anime only to find out that it’s, like, over 300 episodes long (and counting)?
Well, true to its name, Erased scratches that number down to a mere 12—quite short by animated standards.
Satoru spends those 12 episodes doing everything in his 11-year-old boy power to protect his classmates from an unknown adversary. And as he stumbles through this mystery thriller, we’ll encounter some difficult stuff alongside him.
At the center of the show’s plot is child kidnapping and murder—and parental child abuse appears onscreen, too. Children are sometimes beaten severely, and one parent dunks a child’s head in cold water to hide the bruises. We hear a reference to someone engaging in pedophilia (though this specific charge is shown to be untrue).
What’s more, as a 29-year-old man in his 11-year-old body, Satoru occasionally gets flustered due to a crush he had on a classmate back during that time—and each time, he reminds himself, “Dude, you’re 29” to push away the internal feelings.
Finally, language can be pretty harsh, including the s-word and “g-dd–n.”
Erased is an intense show for its brevity, one that tells a compelling mystery full of sacrifice. But because much of its problematic content is integral to its plot, you won’t be able to erase it away.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After Saturo’s mother is murdered and he’s blamed for it, Saturo panics and runs from the police—and Revival takes him 11 years into the past.
A man stabs a woman in the back, and she bleeds to death. A truck barrels toward a child, but Saturo stops it. We’re told that the driver died from a heart attack, and we see Saturo in the hospital, injured in the rescue attempt. Someone attempts to kidnap a child. A man is arrested for kidnapping and murder.
Saturo calls his power “Revival,” and he describes it “as if someone put me there with the order to prevent” bad things from happening.
A woman smokes and drinks beer.
“H—” is used twice, and “d–n” is used once. We also hear one use of “crap.” God’s name is used in vain twice.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Disney+’s ‘Skeleton Crew’ has some problems, but overall it’s a return to form, when the galaxy far, far away was relatively safe for the family.
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