REVIEWED: SEASON 2 (ALL EPISODES) | WHERE TO WATCH: NETFLIX
Final Space’s sophomore season has just landed and, if you enjoyed the first ten episodes, you’ll know pretty well what kind of zany adventures to expect. If you’ve not heard of it, let us catch you up.
Gary Goodspeed is a prisoner aboard the Galaxy One, working off his sentence alone with the ship’s AI, HUE, a few sentry droids and KVN, who wants desperately to be his friend, but Gary can’t stand him. When a cute little green alien literally lands in his face, Gary names him Mooncake and takes him onboard, little knowing that the evil Lord Commander is after Mooncake due to his abilities to be a planet destroyer. So begins an adventure where Gary tries to protect his new buddy against others trying to steal him back as well as win over Quinn, who he thinks is the love of his life. We won’t spoil the season for you, but suffice to say that we were left on more than a cliffhanger, with the fate of most of the characters unclear in the last few seconds of episode ten as they either try to complete missions, thwart them or even make huge sacrifices for the greater good.
This second season picks up exactly where we left off and almost everyone has had to undergo some pretty major setbacks or changes as a result of the previous season’s climax. Quinn is adrift in Final Space, HUE now finds himself in a robot body, Gary and his remaining crew members are forlorn and wondering what to do next and how to save Quinn.
One of the Titans (basically giant space monsters who can rip dimensional portals), Bolo, promises Gary he can help save Quinn if he gathers the five dimensional keys and frees him from his prison and so the crew crack on, shooting around the universe to locate the keys. In the process they encounter a race to the death, a happy spacecraft that is not all that it initially appears to be, a collision with a time rift and a planet being sucked into the Dark Zone. Mostly importantly, however, Gary is managing to connect with his estranged mother in a story arc that is both surprising and heart-breaking.
This second season has been increased to thirteen episodes and the usual voice talent has returned, including show creator, Olan Rogers. Add in Fred Armisen, Steven Yeun, Alan Tudyk, Keith David and David Tennant among others and you’ve got a Starburster’s dream cast!
Sure, there are usual cliches about finding yourself and working with the family you have, rather than the one you want and the events within the storylines, especially how some of the characters react (Gary, in particular) are as irreverent as usual, but the overall arcs reveal some really dark moments. You genuinely feel for these cartoon characters as they suffer loss, there is not always a happy ending and, sometimes, you can even understand the actions of the bad guys. There are more grey areas here than you’d expect, compared to clear cut black and white scenarios, and that’s what makes this show so fascinating. There are moments that you will find yourself laughing your head off, others (sometimes within seconds) where you will either be shocked by the outcome or really feeling for the characters as events unfold.
Unsurprisingly, this season also ends on a cliffhanger, albeit a more upbeat one and the third season has already been greenlit. It seems that we may have not yet seen the end of one of the main villains and we can’t wait.
As Mooncake would say – Chookity!
