The final season of the streaming science fiction re-imagining, Lost in Space, has finally arrived on Netflix, almost two years after the previous season. If that seems a long time ago to you, that makes sense -- an entire COVID has happened since then.
Leaning heavy into the emotional bonds that tie this ragtag family together, the final venture of the series finds the Robinson family, with Smith (Parkey Posey), Don (Ignacio Serricchio), and Robot (Brian Steele) included, fighting their way through the galaxy and back to each other, showing that the power of love is all you need to defeat menacing robot enemies.
Even though the final season only consists of eight episodes, there is still plenty of time for love triangles, family angst, and robot battles. So, if that finale sounded more like the robot language more than anything spoken on Earth -- Trust, Collider Reader.
Robots, Robots, Robots
Even though the plan to protect Alpha Centauri works, not quite in time. SAR’s ship goes down, but unsurprisingly, many of the robots survive. In a last-ditch effort, Smith takes Robot and Will (Maxwell Jenkins) to Robot’s home planet to try to persuade the robots to change their minds about humans or in Will’s words, “change their programming.” Robot can’t change their minds, but after it seemingly sacrifices itself to save Will’s failing mechanical heart, they give Will a code that will free robots under SAR’s command anyway.
When Will gets back to Alpha Centauri, he and his family face down SAR. Will’s stabbed in the heart for the second time in the season, but the plot twist is that Will wants SAR to stab him, following Robot’s last request to “Trust, Will Robinson.” It’s all in the comma placement!
Robot’s final act, in a deus ex machina move, transferred a piece of himself more or less into Will’s mechanical heart. So, when SAR stabs his new heart, Robot transfers into SAR’s body, solving two problems at once. Free will achieved. The robots can now decide for themselves on their ‘programming’ and the humans can destroy another planet in peace.
Will the Real Dr. Smith Please Stand Up?
Dr. Smith, or June, served as the cockroach of Lost in Space. She kept this trend alive through to the very end, but not alone. Just when she is about to follow through with murdering Captain Radic (Shaun Parks), the only person still alive who could put her away for the crimes she committed on the Resolute at the beginning of the series. Thankfully, Robot intercedes and gives her the chance to produce a written confession instead.
Dr. Smith ends the series in lock-up due to her positive character growth, but after ensuring her sister would have a spot on the next trip to Alpha Centauri and getting a visit from Maureen Robinson (Molly Parker), she understands that she fits in with the Robinsons. Dr. Smith’s arc comes full circle, perhaps the most out of any of the characters.
Happily Ever After
With SAR defeated, the robots mostly go out to space, a few staying with and assisting humanity at Alpha Centauri. Nothing is promised, but our protagonists have new hope for the future as we see them actively build towards it.
Maureen and Don work on a new spacecraft to replace the Resolute. John, also a Navy SEAL, just enjoys a time separate from war and conflict. Judy (Taylor Russell) continues to study medicine. Penny (Mina Sundwall) continues to chronicle her stories as a writer. And Will and Robot decide to venture out and explore space.
Lost in Space does well to give each character a satisfying ending and fully completed arc, while still allowing hope for the future, both inside the world of the series, and for the potential for new stories -- because how do we know SAR is really gone?