'Lost in Space' Recap: 'Transmission'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

​Often times, the middle of the season is where television shows new and old make the mistake of slowing down their story with filler episodes in order to fulfill their season order. These are the stories that tend to provide the audience with either a one-off tale or something that drags a little bit since these tales are merely placeholders until the plot can kick back into overdrive. It’s something fans of T.V. have just come to live with since its unavoidable, and thankfully…it’s a tradition that Netflix’s Lost in Space is outright going to ignore in its freshman year.
 
Because the fifth episode of this series, ‘Transmission’, had the opportunity to fall into this pattern, and for a brief moment, it seemed as though it was going to, since it featured a simple plot wherein the survivors on this planet were working together to prepare a giant light tower to signal the Resolute. But that plot line was in fact, quite the smokescreen, because this episode featured more than just mere unity and harmony, this turned out to be one of those rare midseason tales where unresolved plot lines start to come together and advance and of course…this series just so happened to throw a little danger into the mix to keep things interesting as well.
 
As for how all of those threads came together and advanced, well that was accomplished by way of the working together storyline. Because with everyone that survived the disaster in space working near the Jupiter 2 to build the tower in question, familiar faces crossed paths. Like Don and Doctor Smith, whose reunion was awkward and unsettling as June did her best to talk her way out of this one, and the pressure was on for her since Judy eventually figured out she abandoned Don and Angela as well, which left Smith scrambling for a sense of safety and well…she in turn forced another plot line to advance…the whole matter with the Robot.
 
Oddly enough, her push to get the Robot back in her vicinity for her own gain is where the first taste of danger arrived in this episode, because she turned off the perimeter warning system in order to attract a predator that feasted upon creatures that were attracted to light like moths are on Earth and the arrival of this predator, allowed for her to push Will to bring the Robot back into the fold and while the ‘Bot was able to save the day, the colonists remember what it did aboard the Resolute, leaving them uneasy and of course, since June is clearly willing to cause great harm in order to achieve her goals, she’s now a serious threat to everyone…
 
Plus, to make matters worse, there’s the whole matter of the Black Hole that Maureen discovered is hiding right next to this planet’s sun and well, that’s going to be a major problem going forward no doubt. But in the here and the now, this was quite the enjoyable episode. It was nice to slow things down just a little bit and give the story an opportunity to catch up to itself and I like that we are seeing everything move forward in logical and organic fashion. But truly, June is starting to make me a touch nervous with how she continues to escalate dangerous situations, and that Black Hole is some seriously bad news and well, I kind of need to know where this story is headed next, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to watch another episode. Until next time. 

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