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[MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]
On the previous episode of Final Space, the Team Squad was reunited after the rest of the group, with the exception of Fox, was saved from Invictus and the Lord Commander. Ash was the focus of this episode, where she sadly failed to take on the Lord Commander by herself, realized her powers were connected to Invictus, and was forced to leave Fox behind. This ultimately resulted in the episode ending with the Lord Commander coming after them, legitimately raising the stakes thus far. “All the Moments Lost” continued right where the last episode left off, not only giving us the first episode with the Team Squad together on the Galaxy Two, but also now turning the focus to Quinn. Above all else, this was the most cohesive episode thus far this season, balancing the main concern of the ship being sucked into a black hole with Quinn reliving her youth. Additionally, little to none of the comedic points got in the way of the story; if anything they helped to keep it going, stayed brief, and never really felt as if they were coming out of nowhere. This allowed the tension to flourish, with the episode rarely letting up, even at the end. Speaking of which, it was genuinely hard to tell where the episode would finish off, which was enhanced by a lot of the fear the characters had throughout. One great moment that embodied this was Mooncake hyperventilating, which was not only adorable but also served to show the gravity of the situation.
Nevertheless, ahead of this past week’s premiere, creator Olan Rogers cited this episode as one of his favorites, for everything from the visuals to the performance by Tika Sumpter, who plays Quinn Ergon. Overall, “All the Moments Lost” managed to meet these expectations, both by taking the best elements from prior episodes and learning from their mistakes. First, from the moment the episode starts with the Lord Commander shooting the Galaxy Two to the impending threat of the black hole leading to Invictus, the visuals were gorgeous. In particular, the shots of space and the energy field around the black hole as the ship fell deeper into the void were a sight to behold. After that, the next visual highlight was all the moments related to Quinn, from the flashbacks themselves to when Gary and Ash have to save her at the end. Overall, these were also just some of the best scenes in the episode, giving Quinn further backstory and development. Due to her affliction, and the Team Squad’s growing proximity to Invictus, she was being forced to relive moments from her childhood. Her relationship with her sister was at the center, and of course quite touching, yet it was Quinn’s mother locking her in a room with dead bodies to teach her a lesson about being a captain that very much left a lasting impact. Altogether, this produced another emotional character story, although this one was best tied to the main plot on the ship itself.
More specifically, as Quinn was dealing with these difficult visions of the past, Gary was trying to support her and keep the ship out of the black hole. This meant that Gary, along with Sheryl, Ash, and Quinn stayed on the bridge to monitor the ship, while he asked Biskit to lead the rest of the Team Squad to supercharge the lightfold engine. It was significant seeing Gary take charge of this group so efficiently alongside the new dynamic between Biskit and the other secondary characters. Generally, these plots were very well woven together, with the bridge plotline reminding us of the limited time and potential impending doom, and the engine room plotline providing a lot of the comedy while progressing the story. Surprisingly, it seemed that the KVN jokes landed the most alongside Biskit’s comments.
That being said, one standout criticism of the episode, which is arguably nitpicking, was a joke about how Biskit could have stabilized the gravity of the ship far sooner. In some ways, this seemed to cheapen a lot of the struggle the characters had been through so far, such as one of Avocato’s eyes popping out. It may have been better if he simply managed to fix the gravity after attempting for some time. Either way, this did not heavily impact the plot, with the group continuing to put their lives on the line to get the engine working, and Ash saving Quinn at the end from herself before jumping into the void to meet with Invictus. Ultimately, with “All the Moments Lost” ending on Little Cato’s concern over losing another member of the Team Squad, and Quinn’s condition getting dramatically worse, the fear the episode had built up came to a strong finish.
All in all, this was potentially one of the best episodes of the series thus far, at least definitely this season. “All the Moments Lost” continued the fantastic emphasis on one character of the Team Squad that was seen with Avocato and Ash, while providing a high stakes situation for the whole group with properly sprinkled moments of comedy. In terms of the Quinn plotline, it may not have had the same impact as the revelations seen in the previous two episodes, yet it brought just as much emotion and heavily affected the overall story. Then, much of the humor got to me, but it did not stop me from feeling so much tension throughout. As a whole, this is what Final Space should aim for going forward, and my rating reflects a culmination of the best the show had to offer thus far really coming together. But what was your favorite part of this episode? Was there a joke that stood out to you the most?
Season 3 Episode 5: “All the Moments Lost” (9/10)
