‘Lost in Space’ Recap: ‘Scarecrow’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The more time I spend watching season two of Lost in Space, the more I find myself impressed with it. Because every single episode is doing a phenomenal job of moving the plot along and offering up some surprises along the way. After all, the first two episodes moved at a breakneck pace and made it clear that the Robinson family wasn’t going to remain in one place all that often this season. And the next episode surprised us with a ghost ship, one complete with a dangerous robot that apparently has been onboard the Resolute from the get-go. If anything, this new style of storytelling left me quiet curious as to what surprises and juicy plot points the next episode of this series was going to offer and thankfully, ‘Scarecrow’, made sure to honor this new style of storytelling by offering up some answers to our burning questions, some surprises and some fascinating plot threads.
 
In regard to the answers, well this episode took the time to inform us exactly how the heck that robot got aboard the Resolute in the first place, and Scarecrow as it was so aptly named, turned out to be a visitor on Earth before it became the navigator of humanity’s future. Because this particular ‘bot was inside the meteor that caused all kinds of trouble on Earth and Maureen’s company used the technology from its ship to build their star drives, before imprisoning the robot and violently motivating it to guide us through the stars. But alas, Scarecrow was done helping humanity, since it had been treated so badly. And despite Will’s best efforts to make peace with the robot, it wanted nothing to do with humanity, but it did offer something in kind by helping Will to learn that his robot friend was on the planet below and well, it’s awesome that they will be reunited and quickly.
 
Yet while the storyline involving Scarecrow was fascinating in its own right, let’s take a moment and discuss the surprise, which was handled by Dr. Zoe Smith’s journey in this tale. Because while she tried desperately to evade the authorities on the ship, her need to try and turn Penny eventually brought her in front of the man and well, Commander Radic’s attempts to bring her to justice failed miserably. For her new ID is legit, plus the missing camera footage made it impossible for charges to properly stick. But the centerpiece of her twisted genius came about in the closing moments of her interrogation. For the sticky and angry kelp, they picked up on that mysterious world, injected its poison into Radic, likely allowing for her to escape since there is no concrete way to charge her, with Radic now out of commission and honestly, the shocker here is that for once her plans actually worked and she’s still on the loose and that’s also a little scary for certain.  
 
But what was truly impressive about this tale, is that it managed to sneak in one extra plotline as well, one that definitely set a little something up for the future. Because John and Judy and Don headed down the planet to help out with whatever the colonists needed, and this offered up some interesting results. Because Don and Judy have accomplished wonders in the stars, but here they were nothing more than line level employees, something they definitely needed to adjust to mentally, and that was no easy task since they’ve been out of the loop for ages. Plus, we came to learn that this temporary home for humanity happens to host a nasty little native bacterium, one that loves to eat through metal and that unexpected surprise has trapped John in a well, with no hope of escape at the moment.
 
In the end, this really turned out to be quite the impressive transitional episode. Because only that particular kind of tale would inject this many plot lines into a single hour. But rather than drag on and bore us, everything that happened here was crisp and entertaining and it all did a fine job of setting up the future for this already fascinating season. Which means I cannot wait to see what becomes of Smith since she is at quite the crossroads right now. Because this is her chance at a fresh start, one free of evil, and it should be interesting to see if she chooses the high ground at last. Plus, I’m sure the secrets of this planet will play a big part in future episodes, especially if any of that metal eating bacteria found its way aboard the Resolute. Either way, this season continues to deliver, and I truly cannot wait to see how all of these plot points are going to blend together, down the line. Until next time.

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