Review: Final Space “The Hidden Light”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Gary, Quinn, KVN, and HUE touch down on Earth, now a wasteland full of ruins of civilization. But it is not completely lifeless, as they soon meet a whole army of KVNs and the creator of the line, Kevin Van Newton. He and his odd creations seem oddly familiar with Gary and Quinn, mainly from picking up the transmissions that Gary sent Quinn during his five years imprisoned on the Galaxy One. He’s also apparently been making a ship FOR Quinn, though it’s revealed that he was met by Nightfall many years ago. They name the ship the Galaxy Two, with HUE taking over as the ship’s AI, and Kevin leaving to finish an interdimensional gate that could get them out of Final Space.

Meanwhile, after Tribore and his son leave them for “paternity leave”, Avocato, Little Cato, Fox, Ash, and Sheryl are captured by some Arachnitects who survived being trapped in Final Space, only to be then killed by a newly revived Lord Commander.

Elsewhere, Bolo and Mooncake continue their own search for a Titan killing weapon against Oreskis, which Bolo forges from a dying star and Mooncake’s laser.

OUR TAKE

Season 3 is officially in gear, with our huge cast branched out into three, possibly four, storylines to cover just about everything, and a lot of it involving getting back to a Season 1 sort of vibe. Gary and Quinn’s plot takes focus this time, with us finally getting a look at what happened to the Earth when it was pulled into Final Space. Although, as I noted when I reviewed Season 1 years ago (in what seems like a whole other life), its weird that Earth itself was valuable enough to be pulled in. It’s not even like they needed the people, since most had been evacuated by the time the portal to Final Space opened, and Earth itself didn’t seem to have anything super important on it. Also worth pointing out that barely any time was spent on Earth in Season 1, so it’s not like there’s much here to call back to. They also kinda play into the idea that Earth’s fate is somehow Gary’s fault when really he had nothing to do with it. But we do get to meet a couple new characters, specifically the creator of the KVNs (who Gary instantly hates for obvious reasons) and a little tiger boy who seems to be stowing away next week.

Still, I’m glad that we aren’t making too many new additions to the cast, as it’s already pretty bloated as it is. Ash, Fox, and Sheryl feel like leftovers from Season 2’s plots so hopefully they find things for them to do so they contribute. And as much as I dislike how Avocato was revived, it should be interesting to see him and Little Cato get to have some more time to interact together. Lord Commander is back as well, which I am mixed about. On one hand, I love David Tennant in just about everything he’s in, with him even managing to bring some life to the wooden blocks that were the Gen:Lock cast (when is that coming back again?), but I also have not really cared for him in this role, mainly because it feels like it almost restrains him in the evil mastermind voice. I hope this season gives a chance to get to know him as Jack a little better, since otherwise he’s a pretty hollow character. But all that plus Mooncake becoming more in tune with his cosmic powers does make things feel more like Season 1 again, which would make sense considering Olan Rogers has apparently gotten more creative control on this season than he did for Season 2. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.