S02.E10: Ninety-Seven

[nodorothyparker]

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The mission to save Scarecrow takes an unexpected turn, throwing the Resolute into chaos.  Judy hatches a plan to get a ship to Alpha Centauri

 

[UNOSEZ]

Well I really enjoyed it.. And the ending answered a nagging question I had during all the pauses on Judy's bio dad plaque.. Mainly why we didn't see any pictures of him.. So I'm guessing if we get a season 3.. /which I really hope we do.. We'll see what he looks like... They can go  all sorts of different places from here so I'm excited.. I do think maybe Judy has another half sibling around... It has been 20 years... Overall I enjoyed the season.. Still like last year with Dr. Smith I didn't get why she was so bad.. This year with Hastings... I enjoyed the growth of Judy Will and the robot... As someone who grew up with a non bio dad I loved the relationship tween Judy and John... The episode when he was hurt may have been my fave... Penny and all her stuff still bore me.. So I kinda skipped chunks of her stuff

[Speakeasy]

I've been very pleasantly surprised by this series after being ready quit in the first half if season 1, it's really solid with the space adventures and the visuals are absolutely amazing. I am fervently hoping this gets a third season.

I wonder how a season 3 will get everyone out if their current situation because it really looks bad fir everyone. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all the adults minutes away from getting killed by a ten thousand angry robots? And the kids are all stranded over a destroyed planet with, I imagine, not much food or water (though if Smith's on board as might have been suggested then there's at least a temporary solution... No? Not that kind of show? 😛)

[paulvdb]

The kids are not stranded. They have a robot with an alien engine that can take them anywhere. I'm assuming that he took them to the Fortuna on purpose. The adults are in trouble with the robot army, but I'm sure they'll get out of that situation.

[Speakeasy]

9 hours ago, paulvdb said:

The kids are not stranded. They have a robot with an alien engine that can take them anywhere. I'm assuming that he took them to the Fortuna on purpose.

Well it'd better be a good reason because there's almost a hundred of them crammed into one space RV and they piled on in a hurry so I don't think they had time to bring lots of supplies. And I don't imagine they're going to go back to the colony in the first episode of season 3.

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The adults are in trouble with the robot army, but I'm sure they'll get out of that situation.

Me too, good luck to them 😁

The best option they've got seems to be to hide on the ring planet since the army of angry robots is coming from EVERYWHERE ELSE.

I want to ask though, why didn't the adults try to follow the kids when Robot opened the wormhole? Clearly more than one ship can go through at a time. Don, Maureen and John wouldn't have made it since they left the Resolute last, but what about all the other Jupiters?

Edited December 27, 2019 by Speakeasy

[Impish Dragon]

On 12/25/2019 at 4:16 AM, UNOSEZ said:

Penny and all her stuff still bore me.. So I kinda skipped chunks of her stuff

I like Penny but we really don't get to see her "do" much.  I think they showed her in the last couple of eps having ideas and stuff, but she often is sidelined in favor of Judy and Will when it comes to the writing.  I also feels she's treated more like a child then Will even though she's older. 

 

On 12/27/2019 at 10:22 AM, Speakeasy said:

Well it'd better be a good reason because there's almost a hundred of them crammed into one space RV and they piled on in a hurry so I don't think they had time to bring lots of supplies. And I don't imagine they're going to go back to the colony in the first episode of season 3.

 

It was stated in an earlier ep (maybe the one before this one?) that the Robot was able to locate a signal that was the same as a Jupiter.  The humans assumed it meant Alpha Centarui so that's where they headed. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

I guess the whole ship mutiny/collecting ammonium/water cleaning exercise was a complete waste of time since the Resolute was completely trashed by the end of the episode.

I wonder if the T8 ship (with all the kids on board) picked up some robot hitchhikers that blew out the window while Scarecrow was defending Will.

I don't know what the hell is going on with Dr. Smith. We are led to believe that she transferred out of her space suit into that cargo container -- in a hard vacuum, no less -- before her helmet shattered, that cargo container was completely ignored by the robots even though they could observe her in that room, and then somehow that cargo container was transferred on to the T8 ship where Dr. Smith escaped leaving her blue rubber ball and bandanna in the cargo container.  That is some class A bullshit there.

 

[roctavia]

Ugh... I didn't need more Dr. Smith if we get another season, but not seeing her body, I knew there was no way she was dead. 

 

I assume we will find people alive on the Fortuna, maybe some timeywimey things so they haven't been stranded for 20 years, that would give them more resources etc. 

Will the robots keep coming now that their missing engine is gone? I thought that was the only thing they were after... Though are they some sort of hive mind that they all now know about Will?  Or want Will to study him or something? I still don't get the trap SAR set in the first episodes to get Will, or was that just to bring the engine closer?

[UNOSEZ]

4 hours ago, roctavia said:

I assume we will find people alive on the Fortuna, maybe some timeywimey things so they haven't been stranded for 20 years, that would give them more resources etc. 

Well I gotta assume Judy's dad is still there... Possibly with a family of his own... If its timely wimey.. That would just be too weird... 

[greyhorse]

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I don't know what the hell is going on with Dr. Smith. We are led to believe that she transferred out of her space suit into that cargo container -- in a hard vacuum, no less -- before her helmet shattered, that cargo container was completely ignored by the robots even though they could observe her in that room, and then somehow that cargo container was transferred on to the T8 ship where Dr. Smith escaped leaving her blue rubber ball and bandanna in the cargo container.  That is some class A bullshit there.

 

Word.  When we didn't see her body floating off into space, I knew she couldn't possibly be dead.  So yes, exactly like you said, what did happen to her?  She took off her helmet and her space suit, somehow doing that when she could barely move due to the vacuum and feeling like her head was going to explode.  And she got back into presumably one of the same cargo containers that she was in during a previous episode?  How did that cargo container make it from that area that was open to space and on to the ship with the kids?  Or is it as simple as Smith putting the ball and bandana in that cargo container and leave it there when she walked off the ship?  There was that scene where she was in the cockpit and she told the robot she had been practicing and could fly the ship.  The robot said no, and then we saw Smith walking off with her bag and I think that's when she went to help Maureen.  Did Smith actually grow a conscience?

I really didn't understand the Scarecrow robot.  Scarecrow was not the SARS robot, right?  But clearly Scarecrow or his kind were evil robots.  Why would Robot want to help him?  Just because he's a fellow robot?  

Will be interesting to see Judy's biological dad and the interactions between him and John.  Not sure how they'll get all the adults to reunite with the kids, as they are being chased by all the alien ships and the wormhole is closed.

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 hour ago, greyhorse said:

Not sure how they'll get all the adults to reunite with the kids, as they are being chased by all the alien ships and the wormhole is closed.

While the evil robots all arrived in one large ship, I'm thinking that all those small ships approaching from the same planet might be friendlies -- but everyone seems to think they are more evil robots.

[Impish Dragon]

3 hours ago, greyhorse said:

Word.  When we didn't see her body floating off into space, I knew she couldn't possibly be dead.  So yes, exactly like you said, what did happen to her?  She took off her helmet and her space suit, somehow doing that when she could barely move due to the vacuum and feeling like her head was going to explode.  And she got back into presumably one of the same cargo containers that she was in during a previous episode?  How did that cargo container make it from that area that was open to space and on to the ship with the kids?  Or is it as simple as Smith putting the ball and bandana in that cargo container and leave it there when she walked off the ship?  There was that scene where she was in the cockpit and she told the robot she had been practicing and could fly the ship.  The robot said no, and then we saw Smith walking off with her bag and I think that's when she went to help Maureen.  Did Smith actually grow a conscience?

I really didn't understand the Scarecrow robot.  Scarecrow was not the SARS robot, right?  But clearly Scarecrow or his kind were evil robots.  Why would Robot want to help him?  Just because he's a fellow robot?  

Will be interesting to see Judy's biological dad and the interactions between him and John.  Not sure how they'll get all the adults to reunite with the kids, as they are being chased by all the alien ships and the wormhole is closed.

I really hope if there is a Season 3, Dr. Smith does not return.  Ugh.  There really is no way that she could have survived. 

Scarecrow was not the SARS robot.  But the ones attacking were not the same as Scarecrow.  It seems to me that there are different robots, so some bad, some good.  The ones attacking were silver, Scarecrow was gold, Robot was black.  So yeah, maybe they are allies, or on the same side in a robot war. 

[Speakeasy]

19 hours ago, Impish Dragon said:

I really hope if there is a Season 3, Dr. Smith does not return.  Ugh.  There really is no way that she could have survived. 

I think Parker Posey is doing a great job with the character, it's just a pity that she requires the universe to bend over backwards to accommodate her. It's frustrating, particularly because you could have adjusted her backstory to get rid of these problems: I was sure through S1 she was going to be revealed somehow to be the one who changed Will's grades. You could have had her be running a smuggling/identity fraud operation while posing as a mechanic or crew member-hence Dr Smith could be an alias for when she's doing her shady business (and NO ONE would know her real identity so there would be a good reason to keep calling her Dr Smith). And she would have dirt on lots of people on the ship so she'd be someone potentially dangerous.

Or you actually have her be a doctor, maybe an exobiologist to help out with the alien creatures they run into, but with the same kind of 'if it's you or me, or you and your kids or me, I pick me, sorry' kind of attitude.

If she survives, which she will because you dont kill one of your headliner's off screen like that... I don't know I hope there's some kind of repercussions, like she's sustained a bunch of nasty injuries or one if the bad robots has stuffed her with nanobots to use as a sleeper agent-though honestly that would demonstrate a good deal more patience and intelligence than these particular robots have demonstrated thus far;

'Hey, how did the horrible meat creatures capture one of us before? Could they have set some kind of trap? Should we maybe send a dozen or so robots into the room to see if there's a trap in there ahead of the main group? Nah,it's probably fine...'

19 hours ago, Impish Dragon said:

Scarecrow was not the SARS robot.  But the ones attacking were not the same as Scarecrow.  It seems to me that there are different robots, so some bad, some good.  The ones attacking were silver, Scarecrow was gold, Robot was black.  So yeah, maybe they are allies, or on the same side in a robot war. 

They could all be on the same side but maybe the attacking robots are just ultra-focussed-i think Maureen was actually commenting on them being monomaniacal-and Scarecrow had just worked out there were different groups among the horrible meat creatures and they shouldn't all be killed, but the soldier/retrieval bots were just locked on and weren't going to listen-so he had to resort to violence.

They might not even be especially bad by robot standards they just don't think horrible meat creatures are really people (the way the Men in Black guys were justifying torturing Scarecrow because he was a robot), and Scarecrow just looks to them like he has a tragic case of Stockholm Syndrome that's sent him violently crazy.

I hope we get a third season to at least look into the possibilities with this...

[iMonrey]

I did not pick up on the suggestion that Smith survived. I was therefore unjustifiably impressed the show did the right thing by killing her off. There are far too many shows guilty of keeping their villains around long after they have ceased to be viable. It's a common mistake in assuming the character is just too important or too popular, even after they have committed atrocities there's just no getting past. Smith downright murdered some guy. You can't come back from that. 

I for one really enjoy Parker Posey and think she does a great job but they pushed that character too far over the line too soon, If they intended for her to remain on the show long-term they needed to dial back her villainy. 

I have a similar problem with the robot. The show pushed and pushed and pushed this whole dynamic between Will and the robot to the point of obnoxiousness. I wanted someone to just yell "Oh for heaven's sake, Will, just SHUT UP about the damn robot already!" I think the problem is that the robot is too much of an enigma to feel any emotional attachment to it. It's all robot, robot, robot and I just never felt anything for it.

That said I enjoyed the season overall and thought it was an improvement over the first. This isn't a show that's getting a lot of buzz so I don't know what the chances are for a third season. It's definitely not a cheap show to make but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I did not pick up on the suggestion that Smith survived. I was therefore unjustifiably impressed the show did the right thing by killing her off. There are far too many shows guilty of keeping their villains around long after they have ceased to be viable. It's a common mistake in assuming the character is just too important or too popular, even after they have committed atrocities there's just no getting past. Smith downright murdered some guy. You can't come back from that. 

I for one really enjoy Parker Posey and think she does a great job but they pushed that character too far over the line too soon, If they intended for her to remain on the show long-term they needed to dial back her villainy. 

I have a similar problem with the robot. The show pushed and pushed and pushed this whole dynamic between Will and the robot to the point of obnoxiousness. I wanted someone to just yell "Oh for heaven's sake, Will, just SHUT UP about the damn robot already!" I think the problem is that the robot is too much of an enigma to feel any emotional attachment to it. It's all robot, robot, robot and I just never felt anything for it.

That said I enjoyed the season overall and thought it was an improvement over the first. This isn't a show that's getting a lot of buzz so I don't know what the chances are for a third season. It's definitely not a cheap show to make but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I completely agree with you. Sometimes I feel like the show is worried I am going to forget that Dr. Smith is a villain and Will has a special bond with Robot so they keep shoving it in my face. I actually think it would have been better if Netflix had done a weekly release because binging is just amplifying the issue. 

But it spite of all of that I do think that world the show is building is very interesting and I want to see where it is going. 
 

9 hours ago, Speakeasy said:

I think Parker Posey is doing a great job with the character, it's just a pity that she requires the universe to bend over backwards to accommodate her. It's frustrating, particularly because you could have adjusted her backstory to get rid of these problems: I was sure through S1 she was going to be revealed somehow to be the one who changed Will's grades. You could have had her be running a smuggling/identity fraud operation while posing as a mechanic or crew member-hence Dr Smith could be an alias for when she's doing her shady business (and NO ONE would know her real identity so there would be a good reason to keep calling her Dr Smith). And she would have dirt on lots of people on the ship so she'd be someone potentially dangerous.

Your idea would have been so much better. That would have given her the kind of leverage necessary to explain why people turn a blind eye. Dr. Smith could have been an amazing character is they allowed her to be more subtly manipulative rather than outright psychopathic. The scariest villains are often the true masterminds who subtly trap while you never see it coming.

[swanpride]

I fear the show needs Dr Smith because she is the only character with serious layers in it. The other characters while likable enough, tend to be very "nice", they need a character like her to play off on.

I overall enjoyed the second season more than the first, but I really wish they would turn down the "we are family" speeches...I was eventually fast forwarding the big good-bye scene because it was just too long. I am really not an impatient viewer, but it kind of annoyed me that everyone else was sending their children away as quickly as possible while they had a big, self-indulgent goodbye which just held everything up.

[roctavia]

I don't think the robots are good or bad, they just are... and they are try to get back their stolen ship/ alien pilot.

We would probably do the same thing if some other species took our tech and one of our pilots and were holding them hostage... you assume the species that would so something like that are bad and be on the offensive. 

Or they don't have much concept of life and therefore destroying humans/their ship doesn't mean anything to them. 

Robot and then scarecrow were changed by their interactions with humans, which led them to fight with their own species in order to protect Will or other humans, but I don't think they are all that different robot to robot without that interaction with Will.

I would like to keep learning more about where Robot comes from/what they are really trying to do... so I would love another season just to get to some more of that mystery.

[Speakeasy]

9 hours ago, swanpride said:

I fear the show needs Dr Smith because she is the only character with serious layers in it. The other characters while likable enough, tend to be very "nice", they need a character like her to play off on.

I think Smith is a very fine character it's just the situations that go on around her are frustrating. The justification for her being in the show is that she can sneak into an incredibly advanced unbelievably exclusive spaceship by stealing a lanyard and wearing a wig. The justification for her staying into the 2nd season and it bring locked in a closet is that in the 7 months between seasons none of the other security personnel watched those tapes and the chief didn't explain what she'd done or tell all the other crew 'Caucasian female, black hair, yay high, permanent frowny expression, this woman is dangerous, she's come on with false documents probably stole an ID chip, and killed one of our security guys, tell us if you see her, do not approach'

Her relationship with the Robinsons is interesting because it seems like she respects and sometimes admires them but the fact she respects them makes her immediately resent them.

I think they could do without her or they could do without her being as obviously adversarial. I think the show does well enough with them facing external threats. Something more like Baltar in the early seasons of Moore's Battlestar Galactica? Where he was working with the other characters but he was keeping a bunch of secrets to protect himself and generally acting shady and weird but not actively against them (because that would be dumb because he needed them to survive)

9 hours ago, swanpride said:

I overall enjoyed the second season more than the first, but I really wish they would turn down the "we are family" speeches...I was eventually fast forwarding the big good-bye scene because it was just too long. I am really not an impatient viewer, but it kind of annoyed me that everyone else was sending their children away as quickly as possible while they had a big, self-indulgent goodbye which just held everything up.

I have to say I was confused as to how John Robinson has the authority to appoint his 19 year old daughter as the legal guardian for 95 children who aren't his. Shouldn't Captain Kamal be making that call? Or maybe Victor, who the colonists have voted as their leader?

[WearyTraveler]

19 minutes ago, Speakeasy said:

I have to say I was confused as to how John Robinson has the authority to appoint his 19 year old daughter as the legal guardian for 95 children who aren't his. Shouldn't Captain Kamal be making that call? Or maybe Victor, who the colonists have voted as their leader?

He said all the parents had a conversation and agreed that it should be her. If nothing else, ir does make sense to send a young medical doctor with the children. She can attend to health issues and injuries if they run into trouble in their voyage, and she is young enough that she would potentially live longer than an older doctor, should they need her

[swanpride]

Yeah, it was kind of a joint decision, and it makes sense that they send the 19 year old doctor who is nearly a child herself but has shown to be competent in dangerous situation instead of having some sort of "which parents deserves to look out for the children the most" lottery.

I agree that while it kind of made sense that Dr. Smith got away with what she did in the first season - not in the long run, but she simply doesn't think long term, it is a character trait that she only looks at her short term advantage - the second season was REALLY a stretch. I could have gone with some incompetence due to the lack of "proof" but her immediately getting her own office and being trusted on the highest level...wtf?

Though I have to say something for the show: It is way, waaaaaay better than the original, and not just because it is less dated.

[greyhorse]

The problem with Smith is that almost every single scene with her relied on her being perceived as evil. The show shoved it in our faces so much that we just all collectively hated her. The only redeeming scenes were when she sailed the ship through the rocks and went into the room of robots to try to move the wire. But as Maureen said, the one good act of sailing the ship doesn’t make up at all for the crap that she pulled in the past. 

Smith implied that she has been incarcerated a lot, and that would it not be surprising if she was able to skip out of her handcuffs and create the hole in the greenhouse to force them off that planet. In fact, there was one scene I think Penny handcuffed her to a chair, and then not five minutes later she was walking around free and it wasn’t even asked how she got free.  Why not? Why didn’t the Robinsons have more monitoring on her, inspect her room/cell, etc.?

I watched all the reruns of this show growing up as a kid in grade school. Loved it. Smith was annoying, but I don’t recall hating him as much as I hate this version.

I’m wondering if the show runners wrote the ending without knowing if there would be a season 3. So maybe Smith is dead if the show doesn’t get renewed. But if it does, then I don’t doubt they will find some way to bring her back. The Smith character is an iconic part of LIS. But then again, maybe it’s an opportunity to say “we aren’t that old version” and introduce new characters like Judy’s dad. I hope we get the chance to find out. 

[iMonrey]

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Though I have to say something for the show: It is way, waaaaaay better than the original, and not just because it is less dated.

They certainly utilize all the characters better than the original, which eventually got stuck in a pattern of revolving around Will, Dr. Smith and the robot. Which is why I think this version needs to pull back a bit when it comes to Will and the robot. The robots themselves have been the primary focus of both seasons and we still know next to nothing about them. The robot on the original show was endearing because he was humanized. This robot is an unsettling enigma and Will's unwavering devotion to it feels misplaced and ill-advised.

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Smith was annoying, but I don’t recall hating him as much as I hate this version.

Apples and oranges. Original Smith was a campy cartoon character. This Smith is much darker and more complex. The difference is that original Smith never straight up murdered anyone (although he did order the robot to take out the Robinsons in the early episodes). 

This Smith is an opportunist. She helps the Robinsons when it benefits her and turns against them for the same reason. That can be interesting if done more subtly, but as has been much discussed she went too far over the edge too soon, and she showed her cards too soon to remain viable. She shouldn't have been able to get away with anything she did this season, it didn't really make any sense.

[eelpout]

On 12/27/2019 at 4:22 AM, paulvdb said:

The adults are in trouble with the robot army, but I'm sure they'll get out of that situation.

yes, Maureen will make some scratches on a note pad outlining a plan, John will say something along the lines of "but that's dangerous!" and all will be well. 😉

[UNOSEZ]

52 minutes ago, eelpout said:

yes, Maureen will make some scratches on a note pad outlining a plan, John will say something along the lines of "but that's dangerous!" and all will be well. 😉

Kinda predictable... But it works.. Plus Maureen reminds me of my mom.. So ima fan.... If we get a season 3 I'm hoping Judy's dad is alive... ( I gotta assume that's the plan)  and if so how Maureen and him interact 

[MisterGlass]

It was a fun finale, and I'm curious to see what happens if there is a Season 3.  Netflix has been on a three seasons and done streak, so maybe we'll at least get a wrap up season.

I was applauding them for taking the step to kill off Smith, but then the ball and bandana showed up, and now I'm confused.  She got the ball after leaving the Jupiter.  Unless there was a super localized wormhole that ported her over there I have no idea what's going on.  I sometimes enjoy Smith's machinations, over the top as they can be, but this really felt like the right time to let go.

The robot designs were interesting.  Between the metal colors and feature differences you could definitely distinguish between them as characters.  I liked Will's naive attempt to make peace with the robots, and the fact that it crashed down immediately.  I think the other robots know who he is because the repaired Scarecrow uplinked with the colony to communicate what happened to him and where the drive was.  I think Scarecrow intervened because he recognized a debt to Will.

My understanding is that Scarecrow was the pilot of the original ship that crash landed on Earth.  He was imprisoned and tormented into service ferrying humans back and forth to Alpha Centauri.  At some point, the robots sent Robot and then SAR to recover the engine and maybe Scarecrow.  SAR and Robot fought it out on the Resolute after the Robinson's rifted away at the end of last season, prompting everyone to evacuate.  Maybe they eventually left the ship on Jupiters and went down to the desert world.  Somewhere along the line Scarecrow was released, but wasn't transported down by SAR or Robot.

Apparently all these worlds are robot controlled, but the humans didn't trip enough alarms to activate the ones that were presumably in stasis/charging in the lightning belts.

[iMonrey]

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If we get a season 3 I'm hoping Judy's dad is alive... ( I gotta assume that's the plan)  and if so how Maureen and him interact 

Hmm. If Maureen's first husband is still alive, then she's not legally married to John. Which means . . . Penny and Will are bastards! 😄

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I was applauding them for taking the step to kill off Smith, but then the ball and bandana showed up, and now I'm confused.

See, when the robot opened up that trunk or whatever it was, and saw the scarf and the ball, I thought it meant he was just keeping them out of sentimentality. They made it an issue that he kept the bit from the horse that died because he was sentimental about it, which is what convinced Ben not to kill the robot. So I thought it was just an extension of that and a way to show the robot's humanity towards Smith, with whom he was once connected. I never read it as a sign that she was still alive. I'm still not clear how she would have pulled that off.

[greyhorse]

31 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Hmm. If Maureen's first husband is still alive, then she's not legally married to John. Which means . . . Penny and Will are bastards! 😄

See, when the robot opened up that trunk or whatever it was, and saw the scarf and the ball, I thought it meant he was just keeping them out of sentimentality. They made it an issue that he kept the bit from the horse that died because he was sentimental about it, which is what convinced Ben not to kill the robot. So I thought it was just an extension of that and a way to show the robot's humanity towards Smith, with whom he was once connected. I never read it as a sign that she was still alive. I'm still not clear how she would have pulled that off.

OMG, I never realized that Judy was Maureen and the missing astronaut's daughter.  I thought Judy was just adopted into the family.  Was it that way as well in the original?  My grade school self completely missed that detail watching the reruns.

This would make a lot of sense.  But when did Smith put the ball and bandana in that box?  She was in the cockpit with the robot and was trying to get the robot to take off with her.  Robot replied "no" and then she went off to find Maureen and that's when she met her presumed demise when the airlock opened.  So did she leave the ball and bandana there before even going to Maureen?  It's looking more and more like Smith is toast, but I'm sure if the show wants her back they will figure something out.

[rab01]

I think there's  a shot of Dr Smith holding the stress ball when she's looking at the not quite frozen robots.  If that's right, the show wants you to know she's alive.  *sigh*

[iMonrey]

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So did she leave the ball and bandana there before even going to Maureen?

At some point she had to put on her space suit to go into the room where all the robots were. We didn't see her do it.

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I think there's  a shot of Dr Smith holding the stress ball when she's looking at the not quite frozen robots.  If that's right, the show wants you to know she's alive.

Not necessarily. Maureen saw her empty space suit floating by the window. Assuming she was sucked out into space whatever she had on her or with her might have either gone out into space (and later collected) or got caught on something inside that room.

Admittedly, I'm grasping here because it does seem more likely than not the show will want to keep her around. I had such hope, though.

[Speakeasy]

I missed the line about how everyone had agreed to put Judy in charge of the kids, so I guess she's a good choice, the kids will like and respect her and she has medical training.

All you guys clamouring for Smith to die in space is making me feel sorry for the ship's Chief Dickhead in Residence, I hope she makes it 😛

[HotRats2112]

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not necessarily. Maureen saw her empty space suit floating by the window. Assuming she was sucked out into space whatever she had on her or with her might have either gone out into space (and later collected) or got caught on something inside that room.

Maureen saw the metal helmet float by.  Which could mean Smith removed the metal helmet, that was holding her down because of magnets, and escaped just before the robots turned off the magnet and got free.  That's what I'm assuming happened.  Even though I thought it was a great idea to kill her off somewhat heroically. 

[MisterGlass]

She would have had to make it to the airlock and out of the hangar in 15 seconds before blackout and more gruesome side effects, or be rescued by another force.

[immortalfrieza]

On 12/30/2019 at 12:10 PM, iMonrey said:

I did not pick up on the suggestion that Smith survived. I was therefore unjustifiably impressed the show did the right thing by killing her off. There are far too many shows guilty of keeping their villains around long after they have ceased to be viable. It's a common mistake in assuming the character is just too important or too popular, even after they have committed atrocities there's just no getting past. Smith downright murdered some guy. You can't come back from that. 

I for one really enjoy Parker Posey and think she does a great job but they pushed that character too far over the line too soon, If they intended for her to remain on the show long-term they needed to dial back her villainy.

That was the problem with Smith in Season 1, she actively made things worse with her every action and was directly or indirectly responsible for nearly every bad thing that happened the entire season. Not only that Smith got obvious about it really quickly to the Robinsons at the very least.

This season at least had Smith help out every few episodes, (the sailing, talking that teacher into the crate, and the heroic sacrifice are what come to mind) while not being anywhere near as detrimental or obvious about it which helped justify the fact that the Robinsons didn't toss her out an airlock the first chance they got. I found Smith a lot more tolerable this season as a result.

 

On 12/27/2019 at 5:50 AM, Speakeasy said:

ICorrect me if I'm wrong but aren't all the adults minutes away from getting killed by a ten thousand angry robots?

 

On 12/27/2019 at 6:22 AM, paulvdb said:

The adults are in trouble with the robot army, but I'm sure they'll get out of that situation.

My guess is they might not even address it. Correct me if I'm wrong but did they ever explain how the Resolute got to the same star system as the Robinsons? I know for sure they never explained how SAR and the Robot got to the desert planet from the Resolute and what they spent 7 months doing. If they do, they'll probably toss in some throwaway line like "we didn't have the engine so they stopped giving a crap about any of us."

On 12/28/2019 at 12:54 PM, Impish Dragon said:

I like Penny but we really don't get to see her "do" much.  I think they showed her in the last couple of eps having ideas and stuff, but she often is sidelined in favor of Judy and Will when it comes to the writing.  I also feels she's treated more like a child then Will even though she's older.

Which is funny considering Penny spends most of this season feeling useless compared to the other Robinsons and her arc for the season is largely about that... and the writers don't give her much of anything to do that her skills might apply to (I'm drawing a blank, what skills does she even have?) to or have her work on developing skills that might actually be useful in response. Even Will ends up doing much more even without the Robot than Penny does on this show.

Edited January 4, 2020 by immortalfrieza

[shrewd.buddha]

On 12/28/2019 at 9:58 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

I guess the whole ship mutiny/collecting ammonium/water cleaning exercise was a complete waste of time since the Resolute was completely trashed by the end of the episode.

I am tired of the sci-fi trope which demands, for dramatic effect,  everything must be blown up: space stations, planets, death stars, etc. 
... as long as the precious humans are still breathing, nothing else matters .. What about the horses and chickens? Cows? Pigs? All the supplies needed for mining, distilling water, farming  ..  all the supplies that were onboard for the colony at Alpha Centauri ..? 

The entire show seems to be built around bouncing from one catastrophic crisis to another. Is there really an underlying or overarching story being told?  - -  or is it just episodic disasters with heavy-handed themes of family, friendship and embracing your special-ness? 
At one point Don jokes, while running, that there is never any time to deal with anything.

And speaking of time and waste - - it was annoying when Scarecrow's handler human decided the time had come to make the ultimate sacrifice ... despite the fact that he had time to attempt a run back to the Jupiter.  But no, best to use that time for giving farewell speeches to Will and Scarecrow.  If only they had landed just a bit closer to their destination. 

And speaking of speeches..
Judy: "Should I give a speech?"
Judy, you are you mother's child, pontification is in your blood. Go ahead, try not to give a speech..

Ever since the mutiny, Maureen seems to be the de facto captain of the Resolute. The decision to destroy the Resolute and send the children away felt very contrived - - whatever was necessary for the biggest emotional gut-punch. And they really drug out the departure of the children's ship.  

On the plus side, I will give the show credit for the joke about why would a ship have a self-destruct feature. And all the foreshadowing of Judy's bio-dad. 
Season 3 could be interesting  ... but you know it will be messy and hamfisted. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[UNOSEZ]

1 hour ago, shrewd.buddha said:

And all the foreshadowing of Judy's bio-dad. 
It could be interesting  ... but you know it will be messy and hamfisted. 

They weren't very subtle.. But as the episodes went on I thought maybe I was looking too deep into things and then the final scene... I did winder why we didn't see his face at any point so I shoulda known.. He wasn't cast yet.. But a plan to use( and thus cast him)  at a later date was the plan... I do hope for a season 3... Just to see who they cast... Maybe its because I just rewatched the knick.. But I'd like Andre Holland in the role... Or if Netflix can spare the money.. Get mahershalala Ali.. So he and molly can be on screen together again

[Cruella]

7 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

And speaking of time and waste - - it was annoying when Scarecrow's handler human decided the time had come to make the ultimate sacrifice ... despite the fact that he had time to attempt a run back to the Jupiter.  But no, best to use that time for giving farewell speeches to Will and Scarecrow.  If only they had landed just a bit closer to their destination. 

It seemed to me like sending Scarecrow into that hole was what brought the robots out of hybernation. If so, Scarecrow only helped somewhat mitigate the problem that saving him created in a first place. Then the guy basically sacrificed his life to save some robot which put everyone into the mortal danger. Way to go. 

On that note, I liked the actor who played Adler much more than Posey, I wish they would hire him to play Dr. Smith. In any case, it's good that the show has balls to kill off someone, but I had really hard time following his motivation. I can't see Adler's children taking this story very well (realistically speaking). 

"Well, your father wanted to come back to you very much. But he felt that saving a robot to please another robot was much more important. I know it seems weird and confusing to you but he totally redeemed himself with that. He also kinda sent an army of hostile robots after us, that's why we don't have all these supplies that we were supposed to bring. But his heart was in a good place". 

[HotRats2112]

On 1/3/2020 at 7:36 PM, MisterGlass said:

She would have had to make it to the airlock and out of the hangar in 15 seconds before blackout and more gruesome side effects, or be rescued by another force.

Also without being sucked into space minus a helmet.  But it's television and if you didn't see her dead body, then.... 

[shrewd.buddha]

13 hours ago, Cruella said:

In any case, it's good that the show has balls to kill off someone, but I had really hard time following his motivation. I can't see Adler's children taking this story very well (realistically speaking). 

"Your dad was trying to do the right thing ... but ended up activating a hundred killer robots.
.. also, he was a bit too chatty and didn't feel like running that day.." 

Edited January 9, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[Speakeasy]

1 hour ago, HotRats2112 said:

Also without being sucked into space minus a helmet.  But it's television and if you didn't see her dead body, then.... 

Anyone remember the much maligned 1998 movie where Gary Oldman gets turned into a space spider monster?

Maybe the robots saved this Smith when they reactivated and that's what's going to happen to our girl June, just with robots

Edited January 9, 2020 by Speakeasy

[rab01]

4 hours ago, Speakeasy said:

Anyone remember the much maligned 1998 movie where Gary Oldman gets turned into a space spider monster?

No, but I remember the much maligned 1999 film where Kenneth Branagh was part mechanical spider monster.  Does that count?  😄 
What the hell was in the water during the 90's?

[iMonrey]

Quote

The entire show seems to be built around bouncing from one catastrophic crisis to another. Is there really an underlying or overarching story being told?  - -  or is it just episodic disasters with heavy-handed themes of family, friendship and embracing your special-ness? 

To be fair, it's "Lost in Space," not "We know exactly where we're going." If it were just a chronology of a journey between Earth and Alpha Centauri it would be a very different kind of show. 

I agree there's probably too much reliance on spectacle and I wish the characters had a chance to breathe once in awhile. Still, it's a refreshing change from the silliness that marked the original show. I wouldn't prefer a more sedentary story with the Robinsons stuck in one place while various goofy aliens visited them every episode.

[Speakeasy]

23 hours ago, rab01 said:

No, but I remember the much maligned 1999 film where Kenneth Branagh was part mechanical spider monster.  Does that count?  😄 
What the hell was in the water during the 90's?

I'm gonna say spider eggs 😉

[shrewd.buddha]

20 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I wouldn't prefer a more sedentary story with the Robinsons stuck in one place while various goofy aliens visited them every episode.

Agreed. Even though both seasons 1 and 2 were mostly centered around one planetary location, they were not confined to one location with multiple scenes outside the Jupiter, like some sci-fi RV park.

But I would appreciate if the writers would attempt action story lines that were more interesting.
In season one, Penny gets trapped down an ice well with time running out before she perishes. Later, Maureen and John get trapped in a mud pit with time running out before they perish. Then, in season two, Maureen and Penny get trapped down a cliff with time running out before they perish.  Later,  John gets trapped down a mine shaft with time running out before he perishes.  .. and those are just the ones I can remember off-hand .. 
Come on, writers..  Surely there are other scenarios to explore. Maybe, occasionally, lose the countdown clock. Maybe involve someone other than a main character who has near-impenetrable plot armor.

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[swanpride]

Well, being trapped in a part of the ship in a way which requires to hide in a box and being blown out of space was interesting...

 

But yeah, there are other kind of dangers which they might want to come up with. Sometimes they are creative - ie the metal eating whatevers - sometimes they can get very, very boring. And sometimes I kind of want them to do something more boring. Like, I wouldn't mind a gold old fashioned hostage situation, which wouldn't be new, but it would at least be new for the show.

[tennisgurl]

Now they've just gotten extra super lost! Space GPS really sucks! 

This show has definite flaws (mostly when it comes to overuse of Doctor Smith and sappy speeches) but I still enjoyed it a lot, and I think that this season was an improvement. It had more action, I liked exploring the new planets, the robots are cool and have potential to be part of a really interesting story, and I think the character work was a lot better. Less pointless family drama, and more focus on everyone trying to work together to solve problems. It especially allowed for the supporting cast like Don and Vijay to do more stuff. 

So Robot found a human call and thought it was the colony...but its actually the ship whelmed by Judy's long lost bio dad! I wondered if he might play a part in this, as we have gotten a few references to him throughout, and he was, also, lost in space, looks like now Judy is going to find, at the very least, his stuff, if not the actual guy. When she finds John and Maureen again, it could be a battle of the dads! 

Poor Penny, an English major in a family of Engineering majors! Her angst isnt always the most exciting, but I like her a lot and hope that she can put her skills to more use next season. I mean, being a good story teller/reader of people is certainly a helpful skill, but its less immediately helpful in a survival based space adventure. 

I love Parker Posey and think she has done a great job here, but I do kind of hope that this is the end of Doctor Smith, or at the very least, she is gone for awhile. Its clear the writers love her, and she is one of the most iconic characters from the original show, but a lot of shows struggle when they just wont accept that a character has ended their purpose on the show and the show suffers when they struggle to justify keeping the character around. I mean, Doctor Smith, even if she does the right thing occasionally, is unpredictable and dangerous, and people should really catch on by now that she cant be trusted. 

I continue to be impressed by the look of this show, space, the alien creatures, the robots, the ships, everything looks great!

[CaptainE]

On 1/8/2020 at 10:06 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

****** snipped*****

Ever since the mutiny, Maureen seems to be the de facto captain of the Resolute. The decision to destroy the Resolute and send the children away felt very contrived - - whatever was necessary for the biggest emotional gut-punch. And they really drug out the departure of the children's ship.  

On the plus side, I will give the show credit for the joke about why would a ship have a self-destruct feature. And all the foreshadowing of Judy's bio-dad. 
Season 3 could be interesting  ... but you know it will be messy and hamfisted. 

First I have to say that anyone who thinks Smith is not coming back has not been playing close attention to the writing this season.

Loving the sfx though, well done.

And where the hell did the real Resolute Captain go?  How did Maureen assume her position and decide to trash the ship?

The self destruct comment was golden!  Probably went over 80% of people’s heads.   Maybe 90%

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by CaptainE

[iMonrey]

Quote

I continue to be impressed by the look of this show, space, the alien creatures, the robots, the ships, everything looks great!

They have clearly spent a fortune on this show. That's going to be a big deciding factor in whether or not it gets another season. I'd love to know what the ratings are like . . . or however a streaming platform measures a show's profitability. (Number of downloads?)

Another Netflix show that's getting way more "buzz" right now is The Witcher. By comparison that show suffers from obvious budget limitations.  Yet a lot more people are talking that show up than Lost in Space.

[HotRats2112]

On 1/9/2020 at 3:03 PM, rab01 said:

No, but I remember the much maligned 1999 film where Kenneth Branagh was part mechanical spider monster.  Does that count?  😄 
What the hell was in the water during the 90's?

All I remember about that movie is Mr Fischoeder and Salma Hayek's butt. 

[UNOSEZ]

4 hours ago, HotRats2112 said:

and Salma Hayek's butt. 

Nothing else really mattered. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Until I came here I figured Smith was dead, finally. Maybe not. Guess Parker's in for some serious contract renegotiations before the next season, hah, hah. It seemed like they were trying to soften the character a bit by giving her a conscience near the end but it may have been too little too late, IMO.

Nice visual nod to the movie Aliens with those killer robots flooding the ship. Good job.

Funny to watch Robot going through his "terrible two's" and saying no all the time.

The special effects on this show are fantastic. Hope this isn't another show we'll have to pray for Amazon to pick up because it's so expensive. (They really did right by The Expanse, so...🙄)

Please tell me they're bringing on Mahershala Ali to play Judy's father next season.