Final Space Review: The Ventrexian

"Don't you quit on me."

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The progression of a season of Final Space is always interesting. Final Space is a show that is methodically organized and structured, keeping its fingers on every fragment of its narrative and deploying them at all the right times to masterful effect... but that also means it's prone to a slow, if steady start. A rollercoaster needs to have an ascent before the crazy can occur, and true to form, "The Ventrexian" is another entry into the season that keeps pushing things up and harnessing that power, though that also means its potential is intrinsically contained—it exists to get Final Space to that point where it can really cut loose and devastate. All three of its plots, likewise, brace for that crescendo, if feeling a bit restricted.

The most obviously-significant proponent of "The Ventrexian" is, as its title points towards, the back-story it unearths within Avocato. Final Space has constantly alluded to his relationship to the Lord Commander, though hesitantly to avoid giving too much information away. That enables this episode to feel particularly exciting, with LC forcing Avocato to recite their personal history before his son and the rest of the imprisoned team squad. While I'm reluctant to say most of what Avocato outlines is much of a bombshell (at least up until the ending), it's easy to appreciate the show indulging in world-building, effectively a chance to flex the sturdiness of its conception.

I'd honestly argue that, as damning as a lot of its narrative developments are, the real ingenuity of the sequence is how it shows Avocato coming into his own as a character, and gravitating into the person that he currently is. What the Lord Commander grants him in becoming his second-in-command, more than just the "cause" that he frames his proposition of a world without violence around, is a sense of purpose exceeding the thousand-year war that Ventrexians are forced to endlessly fight. It's only once he obeys the Lord Commander's orders, destroys his home planet, and assassinates the king and queen, though, that he realizes this new purpose is no more fulfilling, and that it doesn't leave any less blood on his paws. It's the discovery of a child amidst the bloodshed—the child of the royal family that he just killed—which instills him with real passion, and whom he swears to protect more than his own life. It's Little Cato.

Conveniently for the plot, the Lord Commander realizes Avocato truly doesn't know where Mooncake is and gives up on interrogating him before he reveals that final part to his adoptive son, though that sliver of the episode ends with an interesting proposition: as the imprisoned team squad stands in solidarity, refusing to let themselves fall victim to betrayal, there's an underlying uncertainty. Avocato tells Lil Cato that he knows the full truth, but he doesn't, and it feels like it's only a matter of time before that belief is challenged or broken. Even though the rest of their portion of the story had some cast issues—Sheryl, Fox, and Ash are generally squandered for the third episode in a row, with Sheryl in particular only delivering one line the entire episode—their side of the season is the one that I'm most excited about progressing. 

That's not to say Season 3 doesn't have anything else going for it, but as its plot with Gary and Quinn demonstrates, there's still a bit of cageyness. It feels like, to be able to hit the specific notes that Final Space wants to hit at a later, more dramatic point, it needs to fashion some parts of its narrative out of very little in the present. As with last week's episode, there's something nice about seeing Gary and Quinn reunited and able to interact in quieter, more personal ways, but the plot itself is merely a continuation of how things have been: Quinn is still hesitant to tell Gary about her worsening condition, fearing that she might die before the two of them can escape Final Space, while Gary is heart-broken that she keeps herself distant from him. They have a sweet moment at the end, with the two promising to do their best not to worry about one another, but the distance between Quinn and Gary isn't any more bridged so much as compromised.

The plot also reintroduces Biskit the tiger-tiger as a new member of the crew, which I have my reservations about; it seems like the removal of Tribore earlier wasn't a way to trim the cast down so much as enable a switcharoo. While the Gary and Quinn slice of the team squad isn't hurt too drastically by his inclusion considering it's lighter on complex characters (K.V.N. and H.U.E. merely poke out one time each, giving things a bit of a hollow feel), it's hard to see what exactly his character adds outside of his zany energy. He just seems like another character for Gary to annoyedly combat, though without bearing as much inexplicable utility as someone like K.V.N.. Inoffensive as he is, too, unless the team squad undergoes substantial pruning before it can re-form, Biskit risks becoming yet another undeveloped voice into Final Space's cumbersome character stew.

The rest of the episode is devoted to Mooncake and Bolo defeating Oreskis, on the basis of him seducing Bolo's first love and giving her an otherworldly STD. It's an odd narrative, but also a flashy one that continues Season 3's exploration of the guy, conflating a virtuous war against the corrupt Titans with a selfish, personal vendetta and ironically declaring that the role of the Titans is to protect life while doing little to safeguard the team squad that freed him. While there was a risk of malicious intent on his part, though, I liked the way that "The Ventrexian" addresses his bed of lies when Gary and Quinn track him down; for however altruistic he should be, he's just as flawed. I appreciated the parallel between him and Gary as two characters who endured imprisonment and subsequent hysteria, and I wish that the episode would've made more of a point out of that, but it certainly doesn't detract from the raw feel of their encounter, with Gary's outrage subduing into an unsteady compromise as he takes Mooncake back and they agree to some time apart to cool off. The stealth reveal, too, that Bolo is beginning to feel the poisoning effects of Final Space, sets up a certain, potential grimness for their next encounter.

"The Ventrexian" is an episode whose greatest contributions are the future assets that it sets up for the season, but that doesn't make it an inherently weak entry, if perhaps a thankless one. While I feel like it could have used a bit more insight in its non-Avocato portions, it's hard to criticize an episode of Final Space too much when it leaves you with a delightful level of dread for what comes next week. That's what good drama does, right?

FINAL GRADE: B.

For my last Final Space review of "The Hidden Light," CLICK HERE.

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