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.
Emily Lane is a self-described socially awkward, caffeine-obsessed cat lady. She owns the year-round Christmas store, Under the Mistletoe, in Fletcher’s Grove. And for the most part—other than her love of coffee and Christmas, that is—she’s just your average, unassuming, small-town store owner who leads a perfectly ordinary life.
Or so she would have everyone in Fletcher’s Grove believe.
You see, Emily used to be a private investigator. But after her most recent mystery went awry, she decided to leave it all behind and start over in a small town where nobody knows her name.
Unfortunately for Emily, the past often has a way of catching up to you.
When Marcus, the fiancé of local veterinarian June Hubble (and Emily’s only true friend in town), is found murdered, June gets arrested.
Det. Sam Wilner lets it slip to Emily that Marcus was poisoned. And soon after, Emily deduces that the poison used to kill Marcus is the same chemical used in animal euthanasia—which June would have had access to, given her profession.
Emily does not believe that June is guilty though. June is the sort of person who would sacrifice her own needs to save the life of a complete stranger’s pet cat. (Which is exactly how Emily and June met.) She’s certainly not the sort to kill the man she loves.
But Sam isn’t so sure. For starters, June and Marcus are actually divorced. They’d been apart for three years before giving their marriage a second chance. On top of that, Marcus had been acting strangely before his untimely demise. He’d emptied his savings account and given his notice at the bank (where he’d recently been offered a promotion).
Emily still isn’t convinced, so she “temporarily” falls back on some of her old sleuthing habits. But snooping around just might put Emily back in the same danger that brought her to Fletcher’s Grove to begin with.
Hallmark+’s Mistletoe Murders is based on the Audible original series of the same name. It’s free of the crude language, sex scenes and substance abuse that we find in so many shows on other streaming platforms these days.
However, that isn’t to say it’s your usual Hallmark fare. It is a murder mystery, after all.
For example, we see pictures of Marcus’ body on Sam’s computer as he investigates. Flashbacks show Emily racing to beat a countdown just before a bomb explodes behind her. (The show seems to promise more hints about this bombing and Emily’s past as the series continues.) And prior to the end of the first episode, a second victim is poisoned.
The show also deals with unplanned pregnancies. We’re told that just before Marcus and June got back together, he was dating a woman named Lizzy. Lizzy is now pregnant and dating Marcus’ boss. And Emily finds a picture of an ultrasound hidden in Marcus’ house.
Could Lizzy’s baby really be Marcus’ child? Or is June secretly pregnant too?
It’s a lot of drama for a small town, but Emily is determined to solve all these mysteries and save Fletcher’s Grove.
(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.)
When June is arrested for the murder of her fiancé, Emily sets out to solve the mystery and prove her best friend’s innocence.
A few couples kiss. At least one unmarried couple is expecting a baby, but a hidden ultrasound picture reveals that a second unmarried couple may be also. We learn that June and Marcus divorced a few years before because he prioritized his work ahead of her. They both dated other people during their time apart, but eventually realized they wanted to give their marriage another chance. We hear about another divorced couple that remained on good terms for their daughter’s sake. Women say their book club is reading something “steamy.” Someone else calls it a “bodice buster.”
We hear a man was poisoned and later see pictures of his dead body. Another guy is also subsequently poisoned, but someone calls an ambulance for him since he’s still breathing. Emily survives an explosion. Someone sports a black eye, allegedly from tripping. There’s a mention of animal euthanasia.
Emily jokes that her shop “worships at the shrine of Christmas,” since it’s open year-round. She also talks about the influence of the “universe.”
A man is spotted carrying a flask in several scenes. He’s hungover in one conversation, and we hear about his drinking problems from other characters.
Emily breaks a few laws as she snoops around for clues. She gets information from a man who conducts business on the black market. Characters lie. Sam can be a bit curt with Emily, but Emily also interferes with his investigation. Emily makes a few incorrect assumptions about people. We hear a man is in debt from gambling at poker games.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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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