This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Season 1 Episode 4 "Can't Say I Remember No Attin."

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who are alternatively known as the directing duo "The Daniels," received their golden Oscars for Best Picture for the 2022 sci-fi masterpiece. Everything Everywhere All At Once (read / movie review for more on that). In the realm of feature film, they also got some laughs in 2016's bizarre, off-kilter Swiss Army Man , starring Daniel Radcliffe as a bloated corpse that Paul Dano can ride to safety like a jet ski.

To say that Daniels thinks differently than most directors is an understatement. When it was announced that they would be tackling an episode of the Star Wars Skeleton Crew show, there was palpable excitement about what they could bring to the table. Would you deliver your signature, off the wall comedy? Or will the duo hold back and retool their efforts after the established Skeleton Crew co-creators Christopher Ford and Jon Watts (along with the rest of their production team) set in the show's first few episodes? The answer, as evidenced by this week's installment, "I Can't Say I Don't Remember Athens," titled "Daniels," is a little bit of both.

There's definitely some trademark Daniels flourishes in this episode. "Can't Say I Remember No Attin" brings a level of absurdist humor to the idea of ​​child soldiers on At Achrann, a planet that looks exactly like the idyllic, peaceful world the young heroes of the Skeleton Crew call home. aka Athens. It even has the feel of a multiverse story like Everything Everywhere at Once, with sets and locations that are pretty much the same, yet tweaked in certain ways. Like we're seeing a slightly different version of how things could have been, where Neal (Robert Timothy Smith) could be happy doing laundry and taxes with Hyna Strix (Hala Finlay), the child soldier the heroes meet and leads them . much of their journey on this new planet. Indeed, as they arrive at the Sanctuary of Knowledge and discover that Aten's coordinates have been taken away, they discover a multiverse of similarly named planets to their own, e.g. Ahran and Atin. Who knows what other amazing "alternate" realities we would encounter by going to these other planets?

It's no wonder Daniels was tapped to direct an episode that raised such questions, given their history spanning one of the biggest Oscar winners in recent times.

The other important moment where the director's style really comes through in the filmmaking is when Captain Fern (Ryan Kiera Armonstrong) removes the block from SM-33's (Nick Frost) programming and allows him to regain his memories of the location of Atin. and what his previous captain had ordered him to do if anyone came looking for him. His directive was to rip anyone asking for coordinates off a limb, so he proceeds to go after the Nile in a mildly terrifying sequence with some SnorriCam-style footage of the droid going on a rampage. This whole unfolding of events has a visual style that stretches what we're used to from Star Wars and feels more at home in something Daniels would have come up with on his own.

While Daniels announces his involvement in both the episode's story and visuals, "Can't Say I Remember No Attin" otherwise plays much like other Skeleton Crew episodes before it. For those who were hoping that Daniels would get their directorial stamp all over the episode, this may be a disappointment. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. If nothing else, it's a testament to their competence as directors that they can be chameleons and are able to fully appropriate the show's established style while deviating enough to create moments and themes that reflect their personal touch (but without paint too much outside the lines in the process). In the end, they brought us a perfectly competent, fun, adventure-filled episode of Skeleton Crew that completely matched everything we've seen so far.

Some might be disappointed by that, but it also seems to be exactly the job Daniels was hired to do. last year, Daniel Kwan even spoke out against claims that the duo "sold out" on Star Wars. confirming that the pair were approached to work on Skeleton Crew even before Everything Everywhere All At Once opened in theaters. Obviously, they were hired because they were competent, not to rock the boat too much. Still, that's really how television works, even in the streaming age.

"Can't Say I Remember No Attin" is utterly charming and, like "Everything Everywhere All In Ily," even gives us a bit of an unlikely love story in a place we didn't think we'd find it. The episode, as stated earlier, focuses heavily on Neal - the alien alien member of Skeleton and Hayna Strix, a member of Akran's Trojan Clan. She is also the daughter of a general, while Neal is a rather dedicated pacifist. Fortunately, the two are able to discuss the competing philosophies of their worldviews and the differences between their planets and come to an understanding, culminating in the purest and sweetest kiss in Star Wars history.

Mind you, that doesn't mean the episode is devoid of adventure or laughs; The Daniels are able to pack the Can't Say I Remember No Attin smoke full of them. In particular, the moments when SM-33 can't remember Atin take on an increasingly sinister yet somehow funny tone as the episode progresses in what turns out to be a masterclass in direction. Whether Daniels will ever get another chance to make his mark on the Star Wars universe in a lead role or as a pair of guns for hire remains to be seen. However, this episode certainly proves that they know how to nail the sensibilities of a galaxy far, far away in the context of Skeleton Crew, and that's a great thing to see.

New episodes of Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew air Tuesdays at 6pm PST on Disney+.