Final Space Review: The Lost Spy

"Why must you damage property every time I accidentally poison a step-mother?"

Hot off of the most intense episode of the series, it would be unfair to judge "The Lost Spy" too harshly for being a far more low-key affair. A cool-down episode was necessary, offering Final Space a chance to reflect on its previous events and return to form, which it largely succeeds at, but sadly, I don't think it's anywhere near the series at its finest. For all the good things it manages to accomplish, it can be frustrating in equal amounts.

A lot of that comes down to how "The Lost Spy" allocates its time. There's three different plots going on: Gary tries to find Lil Cato, who has left the Crimson Light following the events of last episode, Clarence attempts to pull off another con with the help of Ash and Fox, and last but certainly not least, Todd captures Sheryl in an attempt to track down Gary. If you're thinking that two of those three are going to make up the meat of the episode, you're wrong—while Gary and Sheryl's arcs are far heavier, a surprising amount of time is invested in Clarence's scheme, and it seriously throws "The Lost Spy" off its balance.

I don't think that his sub-plot is without merit. As far as Clarence-centered sub-plots go, it's certainly a step up from his shenanigans in, say, "The Happy Place," and its strongest contribution is simply unifying him with Ash and Fox. We've rarely seen them work together despite being a family, so this a great opportunity that gets the best out of everyone involved, even if their efforts to steal the crown of a mourning queen in search of romance go about as you'd expect—terribly. (Fox, especially, manages to make a pretty decent splash here, considering that he's probably the character that Season 2's struggled the most with meaningfully implementing.)

The issue is just that this is a storyline that nothing is supposed to come out of by design, and true to form, Clarence finishes his journey with nothing gained... and yet it feels like it takes up such a substantial portion of the episode, pushing everything else off to the side when they should be the episode's priorities. It's not without its moments, but it didn't need to be as fleshed-out as it is when all of "The Lost Spy's" other offerings find its characters at their most vulnerable.

It's especially annoying when you realize just how little of Gary and Lil Cato's narrative is really explored. Lil Cato's been dealt a bad hand over and over again, and this is his most pronounced effort to come to terms with those personal tragedies by running away in search of a new existence; meanwhile, Gary starts to realize that perhaps he isn't doing enough for Lil Cato, which Nightfall accuses him of. Both of these ideas feel critically underexplored to the point that the latter feels almost out-of-character for both Nightfall to point out and Gary to realize within himself. This is a depressing situation, but to suggest that Gary's not doing enough for Lil Cato just reads as a little dramatic.

We only really get one scene with Lil Cato before he and Gary reunite, with him joining the Burner Tribe (a gang of bounty hunters) and getting an assignment to kill him. Perhaps it serves the purpose of reminding Lil Cato that he can't really run away from his past no matter how hard he tries, but it feels like a loose end that only really exists for the sake of having a climactic shoot-out at the end and demonstrating that Gary's got a price on his head.

Gary's side of the story feels equally unproductive, spending most of its time on Gary stabbing a bar patron repeatedly, at his bequest, for information. It's all in good fun, sure, but it gets in the way of anything more emotionally-revealing being reached. Luckily, the landing is stuck with the episode's sweet ending, where Gary asks Lil Cato if he can become his adoptive father (or, in Gary terms, his "rental/vice dad"), and it's the sort of win for the show's characters we've been needing, but I wish we could've seen more from both of them leading up to that point.

The narrative that fares the best, then, is Sheryl and Todd's. There's been radio silence from both characters since their respective introductions in "The Notorious Mrs. Goodspeed" and "The Happy Place," so I should've realized earlier, perhaps, that Final Space had plans of putting them together as a new, antagonistic powerhouse to be reckoned with: it's a perfect idea. While Todd still isn't a very complicated character—the reasons for his vengeance have been explained and his technology makes him a viable threat, but he doesn't quite stand out among the crowd—Sheryl comes out of this feeling truly three-dimensional, filling in the gaps left in her debut.

She's a difficult person. Through Todd's Happy Place technology, we're able to look at a handful of flashbacks to her past, revealing that she was originally put on assignment to engage with John Goodspeed and uncover the secrets of the Infinity Guard. Things get more complicated, though, when she actually falls in love with him, and the moment that those two points converge, and that John discovers what she's been using him for and forces her to step out of his life, is the moment that everything about her character just snaps into place. Sheryl's suffering from tragedy that, if failing to excuse her terrible behavior, demonstrates that there's a nuanced emotional core to it. Her intentions of acquiring the Dimensional Keys are still murky (the popular theory is that she's trying to rescue John, which I think is really plausible), but her motivation's set, and one thing's for sure: her and Todd's eventual confrontation with Gary is gonna be brutal.

There's a lot of good in "The Lost Spy," honestly, but it just feels like there's more that could've been seized. Nothing's wrong with taking a step back and having a brief respite following such a hefty episode—if anything, doubling down would be overwhelming—but this is a critical point in the season's narrative nonetheless, and Clarence stands in the way of the episode becoming anything greater than it is: an acceptable, mandatory entry of the show that could've afforded a look at its priorities.

Notes and Quotes:
-"GO BACK TO THE SHANTY FROM WHENCE YOU CAME, DEATH!"
-"This is the only place in the galaxy where you can see the suns rising and setting at the same time. There's no one I'd rather spend the morning/late afternoon/middle of the night with than you. So good morning, and good night, and Happy New Year. Did I leave anything out?" As if John needed any more proof that he's suave as hell.
-Line of the week: "Now this is the right number of stairs."
-I really liked Olan's one-off bird assassin character, and how much he stressed his dismissal of hyperbole. That's all.
-I would be remiss not to mention that much of "The Lost Spy's" issues are a consequence of network interference, with everything involving Clarence being a request from execs to cram more jokes into the episode. (I feel it's also worth noting here that they hated "The Other Side," one of Season 2's greatest highlights, if that's in any way a demonstration of their idea of how the series should be made.) It's a legitimate shame that Final Space would be interfered with as such, especially because their demands did nothing but weaken the episode in my eyes, but as Olan's stated, it was a lost battle. Here's hoping that they lessen their grip on the show for Season 3.

FINAL GRADE: B-. "The Lost Spy" is at its most successful when it's able to develop its characters and address trauma, with Sheryl and Todd's portion being the episode's greatest gift. Unfortunately, the episode feels so thoroughly gutted out by the existence of Clarence's adventure that everything else struggles in comparison, with its greatest offense being Gary and Lil Cato's disappointingly-rushed storyline. The end result offers hints of an amazing episode, though they get swallowed up by a disappointingly misplaced focus. Here's hoping the next episode will be able to turn things back around.

For my last Final Space review of "The Closer You Get," CLICK HERE.

Additionally, you can access every Final Space review I have ever written HERE.

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