Now let me start by saying that in discussion with Brett, he gave me the rest of season one of Space Force to review. I decided to watch all the episodes back to back and then once more and I have to say that whilst there are a lot of things hindering this being a classic, there are some real gems in this whole season.
I will do an episode review but for now just understand that if you are embarking on watching this series, please complete it as it really does grow on you. It may seem crass and unfunny, but the overall lead character development is really sweet. The one character arc that made no sense is that of the lead character’s wife, played by Lisa Kudrow, you will understand as the season progresses,
To give you a brief oversight, without giving too much away, is that the president has decreed he wants “boots on the moon” by 2024 and conjures up a new military division called Space Force and newly promoted 4-star General Mark Naird has been given the task. Now Naird is a bit out of his depth and the Joint Chief’s are more like High School kids than members of the armed-forces at the top echelon of their service but the characters are sweetly played. Mark R./ Naird is played very convincingly, by Steve Carrell. I find Steve Carrell a very capable actor, both in comedy and drama, and he is very convincing and one moment you want to hug him and then next you want to kick him as the storylines go up and down but overall, I endeared myself to the character more than I thought I would.
The supporting cast is a plethora of fine actors and none more finer than John Malkovich who plays the Chief Scientist, Doctor Adrian Mallory who, as a character, is infinitely far more intelligent and modest than General Naird. Both Malkovich and Carrell react and tussle very well with each other and there is a strong bond between the characters that is tested quite a lot.
The rest of the supporting cast do their jobs quite admirably but there is one character that falls short in reaching the point and really does insult the intelligence of the whole thing with Yuri Telatovich, the Russian Attaché to Space Force and supposed boyfriend of Naird’s daughter Erin (played finely by up and coming actress Diana Silvers). The Russian slant in the storyline isn’t as persuasive as it could be and maybe this is a red herring as it’s the Chinese who seem to be the adversary to the whole plot so it seems that Telatovich’s character is only there to divert you to a plot arc that may or may not exist. And fundamentally that is where the writing of this series is superb or totally way of the mark. I’ll explain more in the episode reviews.
One other character who is so convincingly idiotic is that of the public relations manager, F. Tony Scarapiducci, played by Ben Schwartz. I just want to say “Whateva” to the character as he doesn’t seem fit to be a public relations manager, and might have been pushed on to Naird’s team by the president. The president, whom we never see on screen, is subtly portrayed in this entire season as someone who’s ego is writing the cheques and at the same time throwing his dummy out of the pram when it doesn’t go his way. Does that remind you of any White House resident in these current times?
Verdict: 8/10, this was an enjoyable season, I look forward to the second season. I bought into the jokes and humour and I loved the character of Mark Naird, and Doc Adrian Mallory and the tussles they have against each other. If you can buy into the humour and not see this as anything other than a very wise sitcom then you will enjoy it. If you don’t understand the humour you will think that Netflix are out of their mind in sanctioning it,
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1 thought on “Space Force – Season One”