by Sam H.
Anyone who has had the pleasure of talking to me for more than five minutes probably knows how much I dislike Space Force yet am unbudgingly and extremely passionate about the show ever since I first stumbled upon it in August 2020. Though I have been waiting for the second season of the show since Netflix announced it was picked up for another season in November 2020, I kept my expectations low, even though I had some hope that its sophomore season could see improvement as, historically, sitcoms that Greg Daniels has worked on (Parks and Recreation, The Office) had weak first seasons followed by strong second seasons that eventually drew audiences in and helped establish themselves as classic modern comedies.
Upon my first watch, I was pleasantly surprised by Space Force season two, finding its episodes far more bearable than those of the first season. I decided to rewatch the entire season again, unsure whether my initial opinion was formulated thanks to the 2 a.m. state of delirium I watched it in. After my rewatch, I still felt that the episodes weren’t all that bad. The new season isn’t amazing by any means, but most of the episodes fit comfortably in the zone of mediocre TV, surpassing the low bar that the first season set.
The season begins with “The Inquiry,” which accomplishes the task of setting up the new focus on team antics in the following episodes but fumbles with establishing a smooth transition from the show’s previous events. “Budget Cuts” flirts with the changes introduced in “The Inquiry” and has a few shining moments – Angela’s moving speech about heroes, Chan’s frantically drawn diagram attempting to figure out how to navigate a relationship. Still, the season’s peak is around its three mid-season episodes: “The Chinese Delegation,” “The Europa Project,” and “Mad (Buff) Confidence.”
I acknowledge that I’m extremely biased when I say that “The Chinese Delegation” is one of the best Space Force episodes, but it’s genuinely such a hilarious episode, even if you don’t understand the cultural references and norms like Fan Bing Bing’s famous tax scandal and Chinese parents’ obsessions with showing off their kids’ accomplishments. Written by Jimmy O. Yang, who stars as Dr. Chan in the show, this episode is packed with comedic moments; the scene of Naird struggling to pick up tofu with chopsticks gave me a good chuckle and Mallory’s childish feud is hard to watch with a straight face.
“The Europa Project” lands high on my rankings list too as it fulfills the promise of concentrating on the character dynamics. Tony gets caught in the middle of Angela and Chan’s not-relationship and the scientists prank the Space Force employees, to which Naird and Brad retaliate with a sci-fi-like prank that elicits a good scream or two from the unsuspecting scientists.
“Mad (Buff) Confidence” trails behind the previous two episodes but holds up strong despite its flimsy mention of the budget cuts with an eccentric sponsorship that only loosely connects to the plot. The best parts of the episode are Chan and Angela’s childish quarrel that takes place over killer robots and Tony’s impromptu “robot-on-robot violence” song that got stuck in my head for weeks after watching the season.
The last two episodes, “The Doctor’s Appointment” and “The Hack,” continue to build on the relationships established between the characters, supplying some funny moments like Naird, Mallory, Erin, Brad, and Tony putting on a play to trick the Russian spies they suspect have hacked them. But it was still hard to truck on through the episodes that keep dragging on, consequently forcing
Overall, Space Force season two’s focus on the different character dynamics enhanced the show as its talented ensemble cast remains the strongest aspect of this sitcom. Also, the removal of side characters introduced in season one, such as Duncan, Kelly King, and Yuri Telatovich allowed the story to focus more on its ensemble cast instead of constantly weaving new characters into the plot in almost every episode. Though season two introduced new supporting characters, including a scientist named Xyler played by Jayr Tinaco and the Secretary of Defense played by Tim Meadows, the addition of these characters felt less clunky than that of supporting characters in the first season.
As much as the show strengthened through building new character relationships, its plot did not progress much – the most notable change was the budget cuts, which only played an explanatory role for most of the episodic storylines in season two. The first season’s events barely seemed relevant, other than Angela’s trip to the moon. Even though this seemed to be a vital part of Angela’s character in season two, this plotline only occurred during the last three episodes of the ten-episode-long first season, the timeframe in which Chan and Angela’s blossoming romance was also introduced. Plus, the series never explains how Angela returned from the moon, simply only focusing on the fact that she managed to survive all that time she spent stuck on the moon. I would say that this is Star Wars episode IX-level writing (“Somehow, Palpatine has returned.”) but I’m not sure if it would be more insulting to Star Wars or Space Force.
Now, the looming question is does Space Force deserve a season three? Even with the semi-cliff hanger, Don’t-Look-Up-esque ending, I’m not dying to know what happens next. Quite honestly, the ambiguous ending of season two wasn’t as riveting as that of season one. Plus, Netflix poured a lot of money into the first season (Steve Carell was paid $1 million per episode!), but they cut back the show’s budget for season two, forcing production to move to shoot in Vancouver to accommodate. So, with mixed and overall average ratings from critics and the audience for the second season, the chance that Netflix will continue funneling money in to produce more episodes of Space Force appears to be as unknown as the objective of the branch itself.
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