Skeleton Crew Finally Shows What It Means To Be An Augment
44 years after the release of The Empire Strikes Back, the Star Wars franchise has paid tribute to one of the movie’s most underrated characters in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, helping us to understand more about this fan-favorite Star Wars “background” character. Among Skeleton Crew’s young cast is KB (Kyriana Kratter), one of the quieter yet dependable members of the four-person friend group. So far, she’s been seen leading herself with her instincts, while also proving to have a knack for technology and data – seemingly linked to her cybernetic implant.
In Skeleton Crew episode 6, KB’s struggle with her augment is on full display, particularly because of the toll her adventures have taken on her and her cybernetic implant. She not only has a hard time confessing to Fern and the others that she’s not capable of doing everything they can because of it, but also has to talk Wim through helping her with a life-saving procedure on her implant when its dysfunction leaves her unable to move. It’s an extremely devastating yet also heartfelt and tender moment.
This episode of Skeleton Crew has thus shown in a perfectly vulnerable way the full truth of disability, 44 years after Lobot’s introduction in The Empire Strikes Back. KB’s story arc is not just the first major example of the impact of having a disability – but also the full truth of it. It wasn’t quite shown with the clone trooper Echo in Star Wars: The Bad Batch either, following the addition of heavy cybernetics and a removable implant that helped him embrace what the Techno Union had made him into.
KB mentions an “accident” to Wim in reference to her cybernetic implant, seemingly inferring that there was once a time when KB didn’t need, or have, the implant at all. KB continues to wrestle with the aftermath of the accident, citing that she had no friends after the changes made to her – paralyzing her with a fear that even Fern would turn her back on her if she realized that KB couldn’t do all the same things she could anymore.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew releases new episodes Tuesdays on Disney+.