Final Space: Chapter Ten Review

"We're going to have a lot of fun."

So... what now? Well, it's hard to say. And I've spent the past five days milling over how to go about addressing Chapter Ten, and it's not any easier than it was before. There's a lot to discuss here, so let's take a quick moment to get those feels worked out. Take your time. Deep breaths. Ready? Good. Let's go.

First of all, and before we tackle the meat of anything else, Chapter Ten is a spectacle of animation. Final Space has consistently proven itself to lovingly understand the craft, but the cinematography on display here is unparalleled and a perfect demonstration of how strong of an effect it can have on the atmosphere of the show: there's tension, there's drama, there's anguish. Everything about Final Space goes hand-in-hand with no component more important than the other.

And just as the animation is a culmination of the show, so too is the narrative. Final Space understands, perhaps ironically, finality; it's something the show has taken advantage of time and time again, and Chapter 10 is the most ruthless episode yet. (At least until the ending, which we'll get to.) On paper, it's an episode that slowly goes through our heroes, but in practice, it's an intense study of character relations, of increasingly helplessness, and of loss, both glorified (Quinn) and unglorified (Little Cato, who Gary accidentally knocks into space after ramming him with the Galaxy 1 on-course for the Lord Commander's ship).

Final Space: Chapter Nine Review

"I don't know who you are. But I like how you keep shooting people even after they're dead."

It's hard or me to describe Chapter Nine. Coming off of a string of intensely emotional episodes, it ends up feeling like a quick moment to return to relative simplicity. And that's a strange stance to defend considering how hectic the episode is regardless—I mean, we do bear witness to Earth's destruction in the hands of the breach—but Chapter Nine feels like a quick and much-deserved victory lap before doubling down on whatever nightmares await as the penultimate episode of the season.

That's not to say Chapter Nine is any less intense, because there's no shortage of strong moments scattered about. And I'd hardly describe it as perfectly feel-good, but as far as Final Space goes, casually throwing Gary and co through waking nightmares, it kind of is. Everything's about to go insane; let's just enjoy a moment in the sunlight before getting thrust back into a nighttime of major feels.

Final Space: Chapter Eight Review

"Didn't know we were members of the same club."

As that old Maya Angelou adage goes, "We are more alike than we are unalike." I could just stop right there and quit while I'm ahead, because my stuff more than less just sort of devolves into incomprehensible thoughts, so I will... Wait, I don't have enough of a reputation to get away with that? Crap.

Well, the adage rings true for Chapter Eight. And it does so not by focusing on all of the characters and exploring their interplay, but by stripping Gary bare before them (I mean that happened last episode, but... bad joke, sorry) to examine the imperfections that riddle his mind.

This is a particularly daunting predicament. Gary, for all intents and purposes, is the show's head honcho in the comic relief department, a character who no doubt knows tragedy but is always bouncing back and messing around. But straight from the start of the episode, where he alternates between a charged pep talk and freaking out over the hollowness of his speech in his room, it's clear that the guy's got some serious baggage to unpack. And what better thing to make him confront his anxieties than putting him face-to-face with his father?

Final Space: Chapter Seven Review

"I never thought I'd be creating a murder squad with a small boy, but here we are."

Following the events of Chapter Six, one thing became incredibly clear: more than ever, our heroes have to see eye-to-eye. However much chemistry they've established, as I said in the last review, they're a group but not truly a team. With the shake-up that is last episode's ending (I'll just phrase it like that up here so nobody spoils themselves by accident), though, there's no better time to snap the gang into place, and it's an interesting challenge that Chapter Seven nimbly and almost effortlessly rises to.

Even if this a reconstruction period for everyone, Final Space doesn't relish the moment too much, and I say that in the best way possible. Don't get me wrong: the events of last episode are crucial to how things unfold here, with Chapter Seven exploring the effects of the tragedy on its characters, but there's very much a mentality of "one step back, two steps forward." That's not even a thing. Final Space is making that a thing.

So yes, we do see Gary sulking and feeling purposeless, and we see Little Cato's distress mounting as he keeps to himself, but there's also interesting advancements, too. Most significantly, Gary's sentence as prisoner aboard the Galaxy One is over, and Nightfall makes her presence known as she tries to rewrite the future. Beyond just adding a newfound dimension to the episode, though, they're the lens through which these feelings from before become properly realized.

Final Space: Chapter Six Review

"HUE won't let me have a guitar. Do you really think I'm going to HANG MYSELF BY GUITAR STRINGS?!" "Yes, dude." "Yeah, well, you're probably right." 

They should've just gone and fixed the breach.

No, I told myself, I'm not letting this show catch me off-guard. And, to some degree, I succeeded. But then that ending comes in and punches, nay, stabs you square in the gut. But before we get to that, let's go over everything else this episode does right. Even without its ending, it would be as tight a narrative as ever.

Chapter Six is the first episode (and last, but we'll get to that) to put everything in order by unifying our leading cast, allowing us to push onwards on the long-delayed quest to save Lil Cato. In other words, there's a lot on this episode's plate: it's legitimately monumental, signifying a shift in the overall narrative even beyond the obvious (Just wait on it), and we're finally moving from the preliminary rounds of setting the narrative up to the meat of the narrative itself.

Final Space: Chapter Five Review

"Like it or not, we're a team. And you can't spell team without M and E. And you know what that spells? Us."

Chapter Five is an interesting sort of buffer episode. Compared to previous chapters, there's very little to what it sets out to do, with the main focus being the building of trust between Quinn and Gary's ragtag group of unconventional galactic heroes, and it does a stellar (space pun? Maybe) job at that.

Whether or not that ultimately benefits us in the long run, though, is up to contention. For the record, I don't think there's anything wrong with episodes like this, and to its credit, it did get things done. But with a focus leaning on the characters and how affected they are by their surroundings, "Chapter Five" feels like a change in pace that, while not detrimental by any means, stands out a little.

That's certainly an odd, and I'm sure picky, argument, but Final Space, by its nature, is a gripping space opera; it plays out with all of its episodes bearing equal weight, with the constantly-evolving status quo being the propeller. "Chapter Five" is a good episode, by all means, but it doesn't quite fit as snugly into the overarching story the show is trying to tell; more than anything else, it fills in blanks instead of introducing us to anything new. And again, it does a knockout job at that, but not better than any of the other episodes. It feels like Final Space Lite.

Final Space: Chapter Four Review

"Commencing rescue. Commencing destiny."

First of all, I'd just like to offer a highly profound thank you to Olan Rogers, who was such a gentleman that he actually gave me access to all of the episodes through to Chapter Six for reviewing purposes! That's such an utterly humbling thing for him to do, and in a strange way, it makes me feel more committed to my self-imposed job than ever. It almost makes it feel like what I do is... credible. Which is an odd sensation that I really dig.

Of course, with that, there's also the consequence of simply becoming a parrot who talks about how amazing Final Space is for the sake of stroking Olan's ego, but that ruins the point of why I'm here in the first place, and that's not what he wants to see. With that being said, though, the argument is a little difficult to defend considering how genuinely solid this episode was regardless.

That's not to say that it didn't yield a few issues, however. Chief among them is that, since this marks the reunion of Gary and Quinn, we get to see more of the side of Gary from the first chapter that didn't work so well, finding him as a klutzy and haphazard womanizer without a lick of poise. Sure, watching Gary's melodramatic notions is fun, especially as he Footloose-dances his way across the ship filled to the brim with woeful angst, but the struggle persists between how much it does for the narrative and how much it detracts from it.

Final Space: Chapter Three Review

"Dude, are you crying?" "No... no, I'm not crying, it's... space pollen."

In discussing the first two chapters, I wisely opted to skip around the idea of talking about the show's narrative, something that I've deemed my Achille's heel. With that being said, though, this is Final Space, and the plot is just as important as the characters, if not even more so. They aren't mutually-exclusive; they go hand-in-hand, and "Chapter Three" manages to find an exciting equilibrium. Don't get me wrong: this is a particularly loaded episode, but the interconnectivity of every arc occurring on the screen catapults it to success, all while allowing for a visually-diverse episode that keeps you engaged.

Consider the fact that there are three distinct plots going on in this episode (Gary and Avocato try to provide sanctuary for Mooncake; Mooncake gets forced to fight in the Deathcropolis; Quinn ventures out to the gravitational disturbance), and even more bubbling just below the surface. Again, that could so easily set the show up for failure, but they exist to let these things settle in, basically laying their claim for later episodes to explore. What Final Space does is put its most immediate plot at the forefront to take up the meat of each chapter, though with plenty of space to allow all of the other story elements to simmer and slyly loop back around; that's how Olan gets you hooked.

Final Space: Chapters One and Two Review

"I am going to MURDER your face off!" "I will murder your face... on?!" "That doesn't make any sense!"

There's not a single content creator I will ever have more enthusiasm for than Olan Rogers. He's everything the universe needs right now; charismatic, engaging, and hysterical, and his penchant for story-telling and manic comedic instincts are unrivaled. Sufficed to say, I'm proud to see someone like him, who works his butt off to make people laugh, finally got his due in something that he's always wanted to do: create television. And, for the most part, it works.

Now, as a self-important idiot standing on my humble soapbox, I have specific issues that I want to tackle, but as a disclaimer: I do think Final Space is good, and I do believe in its potential. Early episodes, after all, will always struggle a bit when you put into consideration how much they have to do–establishing the characters, setting the tone, and creating the universe of the show is a pretty tall order.

The first two episodes weren't rough, but they did have rough patches. However, I want to make the distinction that I think Final Space is reparable, so bear with me for a little while.