Netflix’s Space Force Season One Early Review

With an admittedly ridiculous title of Space Force, there’s definitely room for comedy and who better to bring it to us than Netflix and the co-creator and star of The Office among many other credits, Greg Daniels and Steve Carell. Considering the forces behind it, it would be hard not to have expectations for this series. Just like any new series, it takes time for it to find its footing. Meanwhile, this series’ premise, on the surface, limits how far it can go before becoming repetitive. While the first season of Space Force does lose some steam by the end, it still offers plenty of compelling moments. However at the end of the day, the writing can’t quite support the premise in a satisfying way by surrounding it with enough to sustain a 10-episode season.

Space Force follows decorated four-star Air Force general Mark R. Naird (Steve Carell) who would find himself selected to lead the sixth branch of the US Armed Forces: Space Force. The determined Naird subsequently uprooted his family, including his wife Maggie (Lisa Kudrow) and his daughter Erin (Diana Silvers), and moved to a remote base in Colorado. From there, the workplace comedy began as the macho, bafoonish military man Naird would be out of his element amongst the scientists in charge of quickly getting American boots back on the ground on the moon and achieving United States space domination, led by Dr. Adrian Mallory (John Malkovich). Suffice it to say that Naird and Mallory did not get along as the series played this contrast for laughs which worked for the most part until the moment they inevitably came together. Naird also have to prove to himself that he could lead Space Force while also proving its worth to the other branches of the armed forces which saw him and it as less than and the ridiculous bureaucracy that was the United States government and a president that may or may be modelled after the current U.S. president.

Getting to space was certainly not going to be easy as the Space Force team faced several challenges along the way from the outside and from within which saw Naird and Mallory often at odds with one another as the scientific approach took on a military one. This season served as a learning experience for the stubborn Naird as he finally opened his eyes to the possibilities of science while also embracing a team approach to overcome adversity. The same was more or less the case for Mallory who also somewhat had an opening up experience as he began to embrace some of Naird’s principles. While the team may not have always succeeded, their perseverance and heart led the way. The outcome of the season may have been predictable but offered some promise on where the series could go. The actual end of the season left much to be desired.

Space Force may not always have been about space but it faltered whenever it moved beyond Naird and Mallory though it occasionally failed to give them enough compelling things to do while using them to service lesser subplots. Meanwhile, the third main character of the series was Space Force’s publicist F. Tony Scarapiducci (Ben Schwartz) whose purpose was to balance out Naird and Mallory’s oldness with his youngness in an obnoxious way. Erin and her teenage angst struggled to adapt to her new environment, facing the usual issues pretty much alone, with the occasional contribution by Naird, and armed with her quick wit as her father was busy. While the point of this family subplot surely was to flesh out Naird, however, it went nowhere as it also wasted Maggie Naird.

For a television series given a boost by the financial resources of Netflix. the production value was surprisingly good, from the special effects to the production design. Though ultimately, the best part of Space Force was the performances from Carell and Malkovich as Naird and Mallory and their great chemistry. Though Naird may be an exaggeration of a solider character with some bafoonish tendencies who grows over the course of the season, Carell definitely has the ability to pull it off and does so here with a fun and engaging performance. Naird was arguably the most developed character but Malkovich still made it work as Mallory, balancing out Carell’s Naird with his screen presence. While it would have been nice to see more from Mallory, he and Naird had plenty of fun banter with one another and were fun to watch together.

In the end, Space Force may not all work but is still well worth the watch as far as Carell fans are concerned. While it’s unclear where a season 2 could go should it be renewed, hopefully the writers will change things up and flesh out the other characters as the series runs the risk of getting old and repetitive fairly quickly as it can’t live on Carell and Malkovich alone.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.