This article contains spoilers for “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” episode 7, “We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble.”

The penultimate episode of “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” season 1, “We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble,” brings the action back to the planet of At Attin, with all of the show’s storylines and characters converging on the mysterious world of myth. As things get underway, the parents of the imperiled kids, Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), and KB (Kyriana Kritter), plot to send them a message, letting them know how to get past the lethal barrier that stands between them and their return home. Meanwhile, Captain Brutus (Fred Tatasciore), Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), and the rest of the pirates fight over the kids and their ship, the Onyx Cinder, when they realize it might hold the key to passing through the barrier. 

Eventually, Jod comes out on top, capturing the children by force, taking them hostage with cruel threats, and leaving his pirate crew behind. Reaching the surface, he locates the fabled treasure of At Attin and the kids are reunited with their parents. However, the actual episode ends just as the final conflict is about to begin.

Along the way, “We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble” samples everything from “Andor” to, once again, “Treasure Island” for ideas. However, one of its best scenes comes right from a Steven Spielberg classic.

“Skeleton Crew” creators Robert Watts and Christopher Ford have made no bones about the fact that they have been inspired by the work of Steven Spielberg, particularly his directing and producing output in the 1980s. “The Goonies” is often cited as a frequent inspiration, and it makes sense. “The Goonies” really cemented the “Kids on Bikes” genre in the hearts and minds of ’80s kids everywhere. But there was, of course, another film that really kicked the genre off in the first place: Spielberg’s 1982 hit “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.”

The seventh episode of “Skeleton Crew” starts off with a scene plucked right out of “E.T.” With the parents of the missing kids confident the droids and supervisors of At Attin will do nothing to help find their children, they’ve fashioned their own communications device, cobbled together from spare parts, to send a message out beyond the planet’s barrier. They gather together in the forest to launch their message. Unfortunately, the security droids of At Attin, bearing bright flashlights in the night, descend upon them and give chase, hoping to stop their message from getting out.

The scene feels like a direct send up of two specific, iconic moments in “E.T.” The first is the foot chase in “E.T.” that’s been referenced on the show before, where the eponymous alien is chased by government agents through the woods at night with flashlights. The other, though, is when E.T. has cobbled together his own communications device in order to contact his people and get picked up to go home. “E.T. phone home,” he tells his friends in one of the movie’s oft-quoted lines.

While “Skeleton Crew” episode 7 matches the shots and vibe of Spielberg’s classic with its own nighttime forest sequence, it also puts the adults in the position of running away from the authorities this time, which is a hilarious switch. Obviously, though, they just want to get their kids home safe and sound, and it makes one wonder if this is what it might’ve been like for the other extra-terrestrials trying to get ahold of E.T. on the other end of things in Spielberg’s movie.

If there’s anything we can learn from the example of the “Kids on Bikes” Spielberg movies of the 1980s, it’s that they always have a rousing climax with lots of action and, well, kids on bikes. Since this episode of “Skeleton Crew” ends with a huge cliffhanger after bringing its young heroes back home to At Attin, it stands to reason we’ll probably get back to see the children riding their hoverbikes as they try to save the day from Jod Na Nawood and his traitorous ways in the season 1 finale.

Will they fly into the sky and get silhouetted by the moon? That might be a little too much, but I’d still bet the hoverbikes figure into things. I’d likewise bet that Wim will get his hands on that lightsaber Jod absconded with, too. It would make a lot of sense for him to get to become the Jedi he’s dreamed of being since the very first episode. Also, hopefully the kids’ droid buddy SM-33 will be back, too. That’s just good storytelling in the Spielberg mode.

The “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” season 1 finale drops January 14, 2025, at 6pm PST on Disney+.