Final Space Review: The Toro Regatta

"Gary, may I speak in ironics? You're a prisoner, once again." "Wow, freakin... hilarious insight, H.U.E."

It's the dawn of a new season, and Final Space is shaking things up. Gone are the cold opens of Gary floating through space in the last 10 minutes of his life. Gone is the overproduced, CGI opening sequence, replaced with a qu⁠ick, to-the-point logo. Some new, exciting names line Final Space's post-intro crawl credits⁠—among them Ashly Burch, Ron Funches, Jane Lynch, and headline status for perennial bit-player Conan O'Brien—while others have gone away—Coty Galloway, most noticeably, for obvious reasons. Basically, this is a new era for the show, and it's time for it to really prove itself. Luckily, "The Toro Regatta" plays to the show's strengths, even if it's a low-key re-entry to the universe of Final Space.

That's almost surprising considering how intense the last episode was, the dramatic fight between Gary's ragtag crew and the Lord Commander that ended with the team fractured and otherwise presumably left for dead. "The Toro Regatta," though, is quick to fill us in on the questions "Chapter Ten" didn't answer: Gary's limp, near-dead body is sucked into a trash-collector spacecraft, and Lil Cato was similarly picked up, dropped at the feet of Clarence, a seemingly-minor character from Season 1 who now puts them into servitude with a brand-new, 20-year prison sentence. (H.U.E. also returns, now in the form of a bipedal robot, as does K.V.N., much to everyone's immediate dismay.)

Among my incorrect predictions about Season 2 based on the ending moments of last episode was that the garbage spacecraft's light was some sort of universal reset, and that this season would have Gary re-navigate the events of last season with new intel, but honestly, I'm happy that I was wrong. Even if "The Toro Regatta" is relatively simplistic and breezy by Final Space standards, there's a freshness to its storytelling that keeps it moving. New characters, like Clarence's two adoptive children, Fox (Funches)—a sensitive but destructive Tryfulian (?)—and Ash (Burch), a quirky but powerful creature with teenaged insecurities, round out the empty slots left over from last season's hitlist with a distinct sense of individuality, never coming across as some meager attempt to establish carbon copies.

The humor, too, is a vast improvement from last season's floundering around; while I never wrote about Final Space's comedic sensibilities, I was never too keen of them. I often found that their sophomoric nature downplayed the season's more dramatic moments, let alone that some just didn't really land. Perhaps it's due to the fact that the show is more secure with itself now than ever, but its joke-telling is a serious step-up, with the banter between Gary, Lil Cato, and H.U.E. being particularly sharp. Gary could be annoying at times (which the show jokingly acknowledges upfront), but he's deployed here wonderfully, and all of his idiosyncrasies find ways of contributing to the more lighthearted tone of the episode instead of jutting out like a sore thumb.

As for the episode itself... it's good! The occasional dramatic turn helps telegraph the rest of the season (most notably everything with the Lord Commander, who Nightfall successfully kills... or does she?), but the core of the story is Gary's struggle, teamed up with H.U.E. and Lil Cato, to escape from their new servitude to Clarence. He eventually reveals that he'll free them, and even give them the Crimson Light, a brand new light-runner spacecraft, if he can retrieve the Nymerian Cube (a massive star compressed into a little cube) during a race in the middle of the Toro Regatta, a fight-to-the-death over which racer can cross the finish line first.

The mid-race heist is a great opportunity to reintroduce us to the sort of high-speed, thrilling action Final Space can bring without diving too deep back into its narrative, and I appreciate that: it's sort of a primer before we get back into the nitty-gritty that, as Olan has discussed leading up to the premiere, gives time for the show's cast to develop at a calmer, less-alienating pace. Starting everything off by reeling it back and allowing more time to let its assets simmer is the smartest move the show could've made at this point in time, and while there's still plenty of development to be expected—especially with Fox and Ash—as far as being a season premiere goes, "The Toro Regatta" is pretty sturdy.

The bigger questions that loomed throughout Season 1 find contemporaries in what hangs over Gary's head this season, with his quest most largely defined by a drive to rescue Quinn from Final Space (revealed at the end of the episode to be achievable by Bolo, the occupant of the Nymerian Cube, through gathering keys), but there's more room to breathe here than ever, and when Final Space is truly in-the-moment and not just focused on organizing its narrative, it's at the top of its game.

Notes and Quotes:
-I'm back, even though you... probably don't know who I am. That's cool! I'm Matt, and I've been writing about Final Space from square one. It's gone really well, and I'm keeping it up, thanks in no small part to the generosity of Olan himself. I'm hoping to be more critical than ever without pulling any punches this time around... so let's hope that shows.
-I couldn't really find much room to write about what happens between Nightfall and the Lord Commander, though it's all very interesting, to say the least. Invictus, whoever that is, is looking to play an exciting role as an even more threatening being than the Lord Commander himself, and if him, at full power, led to the catastrophies of Season 1's finale, I can only be left to assume that Invictus is gonna be devastating.
-I would be remiss not to mention Final Space's continued use of obscure Balloonshop references which pretty much only exist to make people like me squeal. This time, in addition to another nod to Dart Juice, the episode squeezes out its most obscure reference yet, with H.U.E. blasting that stupid "Island Magic" music from one of my favorite underrated Balloonshop sketches, "When Blood Comes Home." We can only pray that Bob Trufant makes an appearance later...
-Jane Lynch also puts in fantastic work as Ava, the new A.I. replacing H.U.E. in response to his new, robotic form. She hasn't done too much yet, but her presence is a fun one, and it's always great to see H.U.E. actually be taken down a peg by Ava's condescension.
-"My body is a nightmare."

FINAL GRADE: B+. There's nothing too extreme fueling "The Toro Regatta," but it's a perfect way to draw us back into the show while demonstrating all of the improvements this season is looking to make in regards to the problems with the first: its breakneck narrative, occasionally-inorganic character development, and iffy humor. What new the episode brings to the table is nothing but promising, with Final Space looking to be more comfortable in its own skin than ever before. Here's hoping those good omens carry over.

For my last Final Space review of "Chapter Ten" from well over a year ago, CLICK HERE.

For updates every time I post a new review, follow me on Twitter @Matt_a_la_mode.