Date of release: April 13, 2018 (Netflix)
The robot gets all the character development it needs to be a full-fledged character in this series. It’s interesting how you can get a lot out of its “facial movements” during the final third of the episode when it put its hand print onto the cave to signal his belonging to the Robinson family, and finally when Smith used her manipulative words to twist the mind of this artificial intelligence, almost making me feel sorry for the robot because it got to hear that it did not belong (to the Robinsons), but was still belonging (to Smith). With this episode, I was starting to focus on the stream of dots in the robot’s face, trying to figure out if the visual effects department cared enough to change the form of the dotting stream whenever the robot felt certain kinds of emotions. Like, when it’s happy to do something, the dots move in an infinite-symbol-type fashion; when it’s just being there and listening, the dots would move slower; when there is danger, the colors change and the dots should move faster. That kind of thing.
But I haven’t figured it out yet, because the dots definitely should have moved differently when it listened to Smith. Then again, the field of dots seemed a lot brighter when the Robinsons put their hand prints on the cave wall, while the dots were a little more scarce, and therefore the field of dots was a bit darker when Smith had words with the robot. The writers certainly knew who the breakout character was in this show, although it seemed obvious from the beginning that the robot would never get as much stardom as Grogu over on Disney Plus. But then again, did Disney even think that Grogu would turn out to become a pop culture icon before he was released to the entire world via THE MANDALORIAN in November of 2019? Yes, everyone involved in the production thought that the little gnome was adorable, but having it turn into a zeitgeist icon? I don’t think anyone expects something like that.
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| A tree has been brought to its knees, which is cause for celebration. |
This episode also reminded me a lot of THE IRON GIANT. The Vin Diesel-voiced robot changed its face and color when it became scared,and it started to tbecome evil, and I was thinking that the same could happen with the robot here, especially when it and the Robinson kids were being stalked by the animal in the woods. Right now I don’t think there was anything the robot was scared enough of to turn evil again, but there is also the chance that the robot has the mind of a child, which is probably why it bonded with Will so quickly and why it decided to do nothing when Smith came with her manipulative words. It turns out that the robot is the most interesting character of the show so far. Although it’s not much of an interesting character because the robot is being treated by the writers like a human character and therefore not like an actual robot. The difference should be that the character happens to be a robot that can only speak three words, and that should be the major point here. If the robot had been human, it would be just another character, but the robot is a robot, so it should be a more fascinating character. It’s all about race after all.
By the way, what will be the fourth word the robot uses later in the show? At any point, there has to be something else than “danger,” “Will,” and “Robinson” the robot can say or pick up.
This was another very procedural-ish episode, as the kids got out of their Jupiter habitat and went on a hike, and the parents decided to meet a few survivors and establish a circle of contact. First of all, I’m happy to see that the writers weren’t interested in the fact that the Jupiter 2 is the only ship capable of flight, so there is no “survivor versus survivor” thing going on, and that brings me joy. While it may have been an interesting point of conflict for a couple of episodes, it is still a story full of predictable outcomes. Secondly, the idea of the survivors connecting and probably building a colony on their own, albeit individually and probably a little ahead of time, is intriguing. This way you don’t even have to force yourself into putting the characters back onto the Alpha Centauri trip when they will get to learn to love it more on this planet. But at the end of the day, it has become noticeable that the show became TERRA NOVA on another planet, as the family is going through one adventure after another in each episode, with the parents and kids mostly separated into their own little adventures. Thank the heavens that there is no boyfriend material in this show.
At least not yet. I rolled my eyes a bit when Penny was painting little red hearts in her mind after seeing one of the boys in the caravan of young people having a hike by themselves. I don’t want to see that crap, but then again, teenagers can only go through storylines when they are realistic, and considering they sort of behave realistically, it would only be natural when either Penny or Judy fall in love with a guy on their adventure on a strange planet. Judy already met Don West, so there could be a future here, but Penny can still date and fool around and collect many “Firsts.” I don’t even mind that as a potential story, but dammit Jim, LOST IN SPACE is a science-fiction show and not a teen soap opera.
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| Don interrupts a potential romantic reunion in the darkness. |
By the way, why is everyone finding survivors right now, and why is no one a little more excited about it? Maureen and John hugged their friends when they found each other, but other than that there didn’t seem any major hoorays when the kids stumbled upon a few more kids, realizing that some of the survivors from the Resolute are pretty much nearby.
Meanwhile, the writers didn’t forget to include a little bit of the mythology. Like the symbol the robot drew in the sand – talk about how it has memories about what might have happened to it before the attack on the Resolute. Like the fact that the Resolute can’t receive signals from the survivors, because maybe the ship is super damaged and the Captain upstairs decided to lie about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the show pulls a THE 100 and the space station crashes on the planet as well. The writers also didn’t forget Don West and he even showed up at the site of the Jupiter 11. It’s also a good thing that Don is an ass because every show needs that human asshole to make things a little more interesting. Well, as long as Don can shut up when it counts, I can accept his dick-ish attitude, although it would mean we will never be friends.
