Final Space Review: The Chamber of Doubt

"Us against the world, just like old times."

--

(NOTE: Major spoiler alert for this review! Do not read this unless you've seen the episode or are okay with it being ruined for you!)

If there's one thing I've learned from the past two and a half seasons of watching this show, it's this: never let Final Space lull you into a false sense of security, ever. Only a week after finding its cast sweetly rejoined, "The Chamber of Doubt" shakes Final Space up with the greatest fracture our crew has ever felt, and while I have repeatedly announced that Season 3 has arrived, I waive off all of this false alarms because this... this is that time. We've hit our first true low, and we're yet to see how much the crew will scramble to climb out, or alternatively, how much further they'll fall.

Picking up immediately from last week's episode, "The Chamber of Doubt" opens with Quinn in the midst of a personal crisis; as she ponders her implant, she wonders if she's become Nightfall and if that means she no longer exists, an interesting breakthrough that coincides nicely with Ash's sudden, Invictus-fueled transformation. Indeed, skepticism is abound on the ship in general. Ash, in light of the news that he'll kill her brother, is wary of Gary, and Gary himself is wary of Ash's new powers.

Unfortunately, too, whatever respite they might need to work things out is cruelly interrupted by an emergency, with Bolo's gatekeeper alerting them that Bolo is slowly losing his sanity in Final Space and needs to be rescued from within. It's sort of easy to forget that conceit of the episode, though I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing; the set piece is an interesting way of holding the cast over and basking in some character-driven darkness as the Galaxy Two navigates through Bolo's infected psyche. More importantly, Ash is culled away from the pack by a spectral figure claiming to be Bolo's last speck of sanity, leading her to the Chamber of Doubt where she reconfronts... Fox. And so the tragedy of this episode begins.

Just to jump straight into things, Fox's death is an interesting one. As I said in my review of "One of Us," he's the least developed of the show's main cast, which tips you off on the suggestion that something is gonna happen to the poor guy and give him a sudden shot of value in the narrative... but damn if Final Space isn't able to make his death hit hard regardless. A large part of that is the amount of value placed on him by Ash, admittedly, and the fact that one of the main goals of the past streak of episodes—saving Fox—has been literally, violently massacred. But bonus points, too, to the much-desired taste of his tragic back-story that we were finally presented with, showing him to be a child of war who was deprived of his artistic passions to fight an endless battle. Ron Funches' calm, slow delivery of the story adds even more eeriness to proceedings too, especially once it becomes obvious that they're all Invictus' words. 

It all becomes so difficult to watch, which is exactly the point. This is really the first time that we're seeing the true heinousness of Invictus, and what a horrid display of her evil it is, using both Fox and Gary as pawns to unravel her false prophecy and coax Ash onto her side. That's why the ending hits as hard as it does, and why it hits differently than the other major character deaths that precede it. Invictus taking control over Gary's hand but not his body, forcing him into fatally stabbing Fox in the chest as he screams and pleads for it to stop, is absolutely gut-wrenching, and as Fox wheezes out his dying words to his sister—"Ashy, I just wanted to be a family again."—the damage has been dealt.

I've talked to a friend about the show quite a bit these days and he's mentioned his skepticism towards the show's motives with character death, especially in light of Avocato's death and resurrection, which softens the rule that death is final short of sacrifice (see: Nightfall). Those sorts of worries plagued my mind too, here. With Invictus' healing powers being clearly shown in the past, and with the episode's final shot mirroring the final shot of the Season 1 finale—Gary floating adrift in space, on the precipice of death before being saved—I'm worried that the significance of this moment could be deflated by future actions. But that doesn't ultimately change the the effect of the moment: in Ash's eyes, Gary killed Fox, and of all those who have been taken over by Invictus, why was he the one who didn't get to live? Even Bolo, the show's greatest mediator, is at a loss with the situation.

So what comes next? Will the crew try to heal up and keep moving forward? Will they try to pretend that none of this ever happened? Will Ash choose to side with Invictus and become a villain to be reckoned with? It's hard to say. No matter what happens, "Chamber of Doubt" is one of the show's greatest accomplishments, proof that Final Space is capable of topping itself time and time again. If this episode is merely a stepping stone to greater heartbreak in the future, though... get fucking ready.

FINAL GRADE: A+.

For my last Final Space review of "Change is Gonna Come," CLICK HERE.

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

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

If you think my articles are good, that's probably because of my editor, Glass! Follow them on Twitter @Glass_Shardon.