Season 1: Easily the worst season. The humour doesn’t really land, the first leg feels quite generic, and the worldbuilding (in the first half). is a little clumsy. Without a doubt, the worst aspect is Gary’s annoying, dim-wittedness. He’s a stupid asshole who has 0 chemistry with nearly all the characters, who are pretty unique, but since Gary is the main character, that means we have to spend a lot of time on him spouting 2009-era YouTube humour lines. Where the show succeeds is the underlying darkness that builds as the season progresses, leading to a finale that is satisfying and nearly makes up for such a rocky season. 2.5/5
Season 2: A vast improvement over season 1. Gary is dialled back and becomes more of a doofy everyman (even if he’s a little too Peter Quill-ish), there are some decent character additions, and the show’s lore expands its darker, more mystic sci-fi elements. One of my favourite aspects of season 2, though, is the carryover from the first. Gary is hunted and pestered by characters from the previous season, giving some weight to his actions. Once again, not all the jokes land. Plus I wish the cosmic horror scenes weren’t punctuated by characters stammering their way through a situation and comically pointing out the obvious. The dramatic scenes border on overly melodramatic, but it works. It’s a space opera. I know the plot is just a McGuffin hunt in space, but I can’t help but love that shit. That’s why I liked the first half of The Rise of Skywalker 4/5
Season 3: Not as bad as the first season, but a real letdown after the operatic highs and the mysteriousness of the second. There’s a lot going on in this chapter and some of it is pretty messy. First off, the actual setting of final space is pretty disappointing. It looks cool—I love the psychedelic imagery and the colours, but it feels hollow with little variety. I wish we could’ve seen more of the different alien life. This is space beyond space, but it feels just like a little corner of the same galaxy from the previous seasons. The biggest sin of Final Space’s abrupt finale is how badly written some of the melodrama is. Specifically involving Ash and Fox. Ash was a cool new character in the second season, while her brother Fox is just “the black guy” in space. Even when he gets his own tragic backstory, which is literally just a “care about me before I die” type deal, he’s not interesting at all. Tragic backstories and plot twists are a-plenty in this season. Some work, some don’t. The absolute worst was turning Ash evil at the end of the season. Why not just have it be from where Fox dies? What was the point of her watching Gary kill her brother and her not completely losing her shit? Also, for a “darkest hour” type season, some plot lines wrap up a little too neatly. Still, it’s exciting stuff. It’s rare that a space opera that isn’t Star Wars is even this good. 3/5
I’m a big fan of the space opera genre, so lm a little more forgiving of some things. But yeah. Shame it was cancelled.
Seriously tho, how many fucking tragic flashbacks can you cram into one season??
Also Tribore should’ve been killed off in season 2.
Season 1: Easily the worst season. The humour doesn’t really land, the first leg feels quite generic, and the worldbuilding (in the first half). is a little clumsy. Without a doubt, the worst aspect is Gary’s annoying, dim-wittedness. He’s a stupid asshole who has 0 chemistry with nearly all the characters, who are pretty unique, but since Gary is the main character, that means we have to spend a lot of time on him spouting 2009-era YouTube humour lines. Where the show succeeds is the underlying darkness that builds as the season progresses, leading to a finale that is satisfying and nearly makes up for such a rocky season. 2.5/5
Season 2: A vast improvement over season 1. Gary is dialled back and becomes more of a doofy everyman (even if he’s a little too Peter Quill-ish), there are some decent character additions, and the show’s lore expands its darker, more mystic sci-fi elements. One of my favourite aspects of season 2, though, is the carryover from the first. Gary is hunted and pestered by characters from the previous season, giving some weight to his actions. Once again, not all the jokes land. Plus I wish the cosmic horror scenes weren’t punctuated by characters stammering their way through a situation and comically pointing out the obvious. The dramatic scenes border on overly melodramatic, but it works. It’s a space opera. I know the plot is just a McGuffin hunt in space, but I can’t help but love that shit. That’s why I liked the first half of The Rise of Skywalker 4/5
Season 3: Not as bad as the first season, but a real letdown after the operatic highs and the mysteriousness of the second. There’s a lot going on in this chapter and some of it is pretty messy. First off, the actual setting of final space is pretty disappointing. It looks cool—I love the psychedelic imagery and the colours, but it feels hollow with little variety. I wish we could’ve seen more of the different alien life. This is space beyond space, but it feels just like a little corner of the same galaxy from the previous seasons. The biggest sin of Final Space’s abrupt finale is how badly written some of the melodrama is. Specifically involving Ash and Fox. Ash was a cool new character in the second season, while her brother Fox is just “the black guy” in space. Even when he gets his own tragic backstory, which is literally just a “care about me before I die” type deal, he’s not interesting at all. Tragic backstories and plot twists are a-plenty in this season. Some work, some don’t. The absolute worst was turning Ash evil at the end of the season. Why not just have it be from where Fox dies? What was the point of her watching Gary kill her brother and her not completely losing her shit? Also, for a “darkest hour” type season, some plot lines wrap up a little too neatly. Still, it’s exciting stuff. It’s rare that a space opera that isn’t Star Wars is even this good. 3/5
I’m a big fan of the space opera genre, so lm a little more forgiving of some things. But yeah. Shame it was cancelled.
Seriously tho, how many fucking tragic flashbacks can you cram into one season??
Also Tribore should’ve been killed off in season 2.
