Final Space Review: The Hidden Light

"A little love coin just deposited into my happiness savings."

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Right off the bat with our second episode of our fledgling season, it's interesting to compare "The Hidden Light" to the episode that preceded it. "...And Into the Fire" was a flashy spectacle that sought to bring the horror tones of Season 3 to the forefront, but "The Hidden Light" aims to give the overarching narrative a bit more direction. The end result is an episode that doesn't match the former's energy, but it's a crucial stepping stone nonetheless, an enjoyable journey with all the right twists that sets Final Space on the right track for future devastation. 

What I was most interested in, going into the episode, was how "The Hidden Light" would handle its large, fragmented cast. As I mentioned last week, I feel that while Final Space has smart intentionality to how it divides its characters up and uses them across every season, it can be hard-pressed to give them engaging work episodically. While this episode distills what I think this season's priorities are going to be, and while there's still a large portion of the show's cast that feels untapped, it definitely feels a lot smoother than the premiere on that front. 

Final Space Review: ...And Into the Fire

"My danger glands are rock-hard, baby."

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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. 

Amphibia Review: Ivy on the Run / After the Rain

"We all have our off-days, I suppose."

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This week's episodes were "Ivy on the Run" and "After the Rain." My editor told me to add more to this part but I feel like that would be stalling, and if you've gone out of your way to read what I write, you don't deserve that! You deserve the best. So I hope your general circumstances are comfortable and good. If they aren't, I hope this review makes them better. I don't know how it could, but I'm not you. Anyway: episodes!

If there's anything that always works in Amphibia's favor, it's shifting the focus out of our core cast of characters and giving peripheral figures more of a chance to shine. Ivy Sundew, especially, has proven herself to be particularly endearing, a rare instance of a romantic foil done right. A lot of that comes down to the fact that she's always felt fleshed out beyond just being half of Sprigivy; she matches her counterpart with a fistful of spunk but the same adventurous, sunny spirit. It's because of the sheer joy of her character that "Ivy on the Run" works, giving its rudimentary plot a fun paint job.

Amphibia Review: Night Drivers / Return to Wartwood

"Oh no! Who could have predicted this?" "Don't overdo it."

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Hi! Due to my current circumstances of being in college during a particularly hectic semester, I'll be experimenting over the next few weeks with trying to find a way to write shorter, quicker, and more succinct reviews. While I'm sure there are some people dismayed by this change, I think this is far more ideal than not being able to push reviews out at all, and the length shouldn't come at the expense of quality. And if you're still upset: pay me! I'll do more if you pay me, and that's only a partial joke.

Anyway, the review! There's a lot of excitement surrounding how Amphibia would choose to kick off the next leg of its season, but perhaps it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that "Night Drivers" fires everything back up by sticking to its guns, unraveling its narrative, more than less, as you'd expect. I don't intend to sling mud, and to Amphibia's credit, it's a show that's so tightly-written that it's hard for an episode to truly go wrong. That can also serve as a restraint, though, rolling out episodes that are certainly pleasant but, in the long run, unadventurous and indistinct. "Night Drivers" is one such case, an episode that's satisfying in a vacuum, but just another speck in the crowd.

Summer Camp Island Review: Where's the Confetti (Yeti Confetti Chapter 5)

"Uh-oh! Y'all ready for snow?"

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Season 3, up to this point, has been an interesting beast, and despite my enjoyment, a little bit hard to peg down. Whereas the show's second season was a vibrant effort to take everything about the show and recalibrate it to perfection, Summer Camp Island's third season buries those leads in favor of more pointed explorations of its characters and lore. That's difficult to complain about, really—SCI is no less of a workhorse, determined to challenge itself whenever it can—but it's also turned SCI into a moderately different show with about as many things to like as things to take quiet umbrage with, having been able to take a step back and assess its accomplishments over the past half-season.

"Where's the Confetti," curiously enough, does a nice job of epitomizing those overall trends, a strong and compelling episode on its own that feels a bit perplexing under the weight of the season's ambitions. There are certain expectations that come with an episode like this that the conflicts of the past chapter get resolved, and while "Where's the Confetti" succeeds at that, it feels equally motivated to exist in its own space while paying limited dues to what came before.

Summer Camp Island Review: The Sherbet Scoop / Lucy's Instrument (Yeti Confetti Chapters 3 + 4)

"This is so avant-garde."

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Whereas the first two episodes of the Yeti Confetti arc were more about establishing the circumstances, we've finally reached the point in the arc where Summer Camp Island is in a nice spot to both experiment and dig into some more meaningful stories. There's an interesting vibe to "The Sherbert Scoop" and "Lucy's Instrument": while they're no more narratively significant than the arc has been, and no closer to a certain goal, there's something nice about seeing the show work at its own rate, pursuing the stories that it wants to tell in the moment. Sometimes it's the smaller moments that help paint the biggest picture, after all, and it's a thesis that SCI seems intent to explore.

"The Sherbet Scoop," especially, is the most detached episode of the arc thus far, but I feel like that also makes it the most compelling. Season 3 is generally its best when episodes both feed into the unique atmosphere of their respective arcs and exist in a capsule all their own, and "The Sherbet Scoop" is pretty much exactly that, trading in plot specifics for meticulous, rousing character portraiture. Admittedly, it's an episode that spends the bulk of its runtime with Lucy in the back-seat, but I don't think that's a knock against it; the Yeti Confetti arc is as dedicated to her as it is to the yetis at large, and considering how much of a work-out she's gotten already, it's nice to see her slotted into a narrative where she has less control. 

Summer Camp Island Review: Don't Tell Lucy / The Yum Whisperer (Yeti Confetti Chapters 1 + 2)

"It's better to have loved the yetis and have them ignore you than to have never loved the yetis at all."

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Since all of this season's arcs were announced, the yeti arc has always been the one I was most excited about. As far as creatures on the island go, they've always had the most fascinating and defined mythology to me, operating by the rules of their own complex society that feels shockingly fleshed-out and spectacularly endearing. It should be telling that despite only featuring prominently in two episodes spearheaded by Saxophone—the early, series-defining "Saxophone Come Home" and Season 2's equally-precious "Catacombs"—they've left such a strong impression.

The fact that the Yeti Confetti chapter also ushers forth five episodes centered around Lucy only serves to sweeten the deal. I've sung my praises of SCI's supporting cast in so many of my reviews, so make no mistake about my enthusiasm: the greatest frustration with the show's characters is just how much they flirt with being underutilized. While Max's dry spell continues, though, it's awesome that someone who got a nice boost from last season wasn't just driven to the forefront, but would be the defining character of a whole leg of Season 3.

She's an interesting character for the show to work with, too. Lucy is, at once, both callous and sincere, and that gives her an interesting bite amid such an otherwise sweet and amiable cast, especially because (unlike her closest snark equivalent, Susie) she's equally defined by her naivete. She'll talk the talk about dense yeti lore, but also fawn clingily over a unicorn in the same breath. "Don't Tell Lucy" and "The Yum Whisperer" do a great job of exploring that duality, setting the Yeti Confetti arc at a promising, if rather slow, start.