Lost In Space “Ninety-Seven”

Well, here we are at the end of the second season, a third coming…eventually.  And, I gotta say, now that I more or less get what his show is trying to do, I like it more than I did with season one.

What is this show trying to do?  Well, as near as I can make out, it’s going for a more family-friendly sci-fi show.  Yes, there’s death, particularly in this episode as Adler sacrifices himself to repair Scarecrow on the water planet, Scarecrow sacrificing himself to slow down an army of other robots, and Dr. Smith seeming to sacrifice herself to do the same.

Smith dies off-camera, as do most character deaths, and while I thought it was something of a redeeming moment for a character who fell back and forth, mostly as a means of surviving–heck, she tries to convince the Robot to cut and run with her in this episode–she would be a character that I would not be surprised survived somehow.  Granted, the cause of death (her helmet and spacesuit shatter while she works in an airless void) would make that tricky, but she is played by the most recognizable member of the cast.  Then again, that could mean Parker Posey is a little too expensive to keep around.  This show does have a top notch effects budget, but that doesn’t mean Netflix won’t try to save money in other ways.

But how does this end?  Well, with a third season coming to (hopefully) wrap everything up in a good way, we do have some mysteries.  The alien robots want the humans dead from the looks of things, and while it was quite satisfying seeing John, Don, and Maureen (mostly John) fighting their way to the Robot and finally having Maureen hit Hastings with a stun baton, it’s not like the entire human race is at fault.  And since Hastings seems to be alive, he’ll probably be a reoccurring human antagonist going forward.   But the Resolute gets destroyed, the various Jupiters scatter, with Judy leading one with the 97 children on board with the Robot to try to get to the colony at Alpha Centauri and John, Maureen, and Don going off on their own.

And everyone is still lost since the Robot didn’t guide the children’s ship to Alpha Centauri but to another ship, the Fortuna, the very ship that disappeared under the command of Judy’s biological father.

So, what comes next?  Can the Robinsons continue to make shifty characters into better people?  Will everyone find a way to the colony?  What do the alien robots want?  They do recognize Will…they just don’t care if he lives either.  Some answers are, I am sure, coming, and while I would never make Lost in Space out to be appointment television, it’s still a fun enough show that I will check out that final season when it finally shows up.

In the meantime, we do need something for Fridays.  Now, I write these well in advance, but it does seem to me that Doom Patrol just became an option.  That said, I’d prefer to wait until there’s a few episodes in available before I start, so let’s take care of season two of Hulu’s Castle Rock first, but I always have the option to change my mind.

Will more Castle Rock give me joy or misery?  Considering who the second season of this horror anthology is about…I am hoping for both.