"My danger glands are rock-hard, baby."
--
Final Space has returned! After its long, between-season hiatus,
and persevering through a world very different from where we were in 2019,
it's back, and its reception has been... rather mixed, to say the least. I get
it. Expectations are high, Final Space is a show with very
eager fans, and being given this long for anticipation to build
encourages a certain unhealthiness. So before I really delve into the episode,
I want to dissect that a little bit.
I don't want to spend a significant portion of this review discussing toxic
fanbase mentalities, nor do I want to posit this as a sort of defense. I
enjoyed "...And Into the Fire" independent of the polarizing response that
it's gotten, even though I have some criticisms to make. But I do think there
are some things that are important to address within that. There's a back and
forth about the sort of entitled opinions a lot of people have been expressing
about the show and while I, obviously, have no fears of being honest about the
quality I perceive in a piece of content, there's been a seriously unpleasant
vibe of lacking faith in what
Final Space's game plan is. A lot of "critics" online have clung
to
Olan's word that the episode deliberately aims to not set anything too
drastic up
as some sort of admittance that he created an episode of intentionally weaker
quality, and that Final Space decided to make bad episodes before
getting to good ones.
That's not the case at all, of course. A strong show has ebbs and flows in
energy, finds a rhythm between the quiet and the intense, and most of all, it
necessitates the patience and enthusiasm of its audience to unravel its story.
And this is the first episode, for goodness sake! If
Final Space wants to start a bit slowly and immerse us in a more lightweight way, why
shouldn't we let it? Truth be told, not only do I
think that the idea that "...And Into the Fire" accomplishes little is an
understatement, but I think that it accomplishes the most that any other season
premiere from the span of the show has been able to accomplish.