Review: Final Space “The Closer You Get”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Ash has a plan to bring back Avocato’s memories. She wants to whip him. But guess what, it doesn’t work because that is a ridiculous plan. Just kidding, it kind of works because this is Final Space; it doesn’t need to make sense. Also, Tribore returns to the Crimson Light to help whip Avocato and to show everyone a transmission he intercepted that shows a brief video-hologram of Quinn.

Avocado seems to only remember his evil memories which piss off Little Cato. But one of those seedy memories recalls a time when the Lord Commander found a way to contact Final Space. Upon closer inspection, AVA finds a waterfall on that very planet that matches the signal on Quinn’s mysterious message.

Gary, Avocato, and Little Cato soar down to the planet and over the waterfall. In the valley below, they find pools of Liquid Space-time. Avocato tells Gary to drink it which he does even though it is super gross. In the Space-time realm, Gary encounters a bunch of creepy shadow creatures who instruct him to climb a tree made of corpses. At the top, the creepiest shadow creature—Phil—gives Gary a creepy map from his creepy pocket that leads him to Quinn.

Back on the Crimson Light, Shannon Thunder—a character from season one who’s in love with Tribore—boards the ship. She fights for the Rebellion which has slightly different yet very hard to distinguish differences from Tribore’s Resistance. They argue about it for a while even though neither group really exists because they all became inconsequential when the Earth got sucked into Final Space.

Shannon then confesses her love for Tribore who rejects her with the absurd excuse that he’s in love with himself. Not himself-himself, rather a female version of himself that he turns into every six months. Shannon helps Tribore live out his impossible self-loving relationship by strapping a mirror to her face and the former colleagues act out a date until it stops being fun.

Quinn begs Gary to leave Liquid Space-time, claiming that it’s a place of death. When he won’t listen, a being named Invictus possesses Gary’s body. Using this new vessel, the being attempts to kill Little Cato and his dad, both of whom hold him off just as Avocato regains all his memories. But fate is cruel, and at that moment Invictus leaps from Gary’s body into Avocato’s. The evil presence shoots Gary twice and disowns Little Cato right before he abandons him. The episode ends in uncertainty with Gary in a coma.

 

Our Take

The nuts and bolts of this episode were strong and followed a logical but not predictable path. It even required information from Tribore so his random reappearance didn’t feel quite as random as it could have. Gary’s desire to reconnect with Quinn was true to the character and realistically superseded his concern over his “best friend’s” memory struggles. I was surprised that Nightfall didn’t have much to say regarding Quinn’s resurgence, especially since we know she remains obsessed with her Gary.

HUE really stepped it up in this episode. It’s been a long time since the former ship computer has shown any semblance of the confidence that once flowed through him so effortlessly. And all it took was Clarence acting like a horse’s ass one time too many. The way he handled those Tasers as he zapped the crap out of that gooey little space worm even impressed AVA. And AVA is not the easiest AI to impress. Keep up the good work, HUE, and don’t give up just because you’re not living your best life at the moment.

You guys, what are we even doing with Tribore? While he’s not as loathsome as Clarence, he is twice as unnecessary. When he left a few weeks ago, I thought the character would do some soul-searching and return as an enlightened alien. Instead, he returned in the exact same condition as when he left. Dare I ask: what was the point of his departure?

It’s very hard to believe another character can be so hopelessly in love with this weirdo. Of course, I’m talking about Tribore’s female persona. What does she even see in her male counterpart? I can’t speak to how realistic it is for Tribore to have fallen in love with her, we haven’t met her yet. She could be the loveliest woman.

As I feared last week, the Avocato resurrection lacked the emotional weight it deserved. Sometimes, dead is better. His memory hurdle didn’t last and was brushed aside in such a silly way. While it’s not an awful move to set him up as a primary villain, getting there didn’t seem like the best use of time. It would’ve been a stronger emotional arc to save the possessed Avocato for a shocking reveal later in the season. It is, however, good to have the Lord Commander back and I’m sure we’ll enjoy seeing him and Avocato fall back into their evil ways.