REVIEW: Lost In Space, Season 2 Episode Two 'Precipice'

 REVIEW: Lost In Space, Season 2 Episode Two 'Precipice'

Life is never easy for the Robinsons. It seems that as soon as they solve one problem, another arises. Nothing is straightforward when it comes to this family. As space voyagers, they really don't seem to have had much luck, and they're probably long overdue a break.

Not that they're going to get it anytime soon. For as usual, things go very wrong here. Maureen (Molly Parker) and Polly (Mina Sundwall) fall down the gap between the sea glimpsed in the previous episode, and the entire episode sees the rest of the Robinsons trying to help them out of this predicament. The visuals are as ever stunning, with the beautifully realised CGI work of this strange parting in the middle of the sea, and some gorgeous shots of lightning towards the end about to hit the Jupiter 2. This show truly has some of the best visual effects in television, and it deserves greater recognition for the VFX for sure.

This separation from the rest of the family allows us to have some greater exploration of Maureen and Polly's relationship to one another. We get some lovely quiet moments between this mother and daughter partnership here, as Polly confesses to how she believes Maureen doesn't value her as much as the rest of the family and gives her the more basic jobs. Honestly, you have to feel sorry for Polly. Her mother hasn't even read her book, which she is extremely proud of, and she clearly doesn't feel as though she is being treated the same as the rest of the family. Feelings of favouritism is not something anyone should have to experience.

Will (Maxwell Jenkins) still seems to be struggling himself, with how much he misses his robot friend. He has his own heart-to-heart with Dad John (Toby Stephens), and God does it make you just want Will to be reunited with the robot soon. That poor kid is clearly not coping very well, and it highlights just how good of an actor Maxwell Jenkins is. He really sells these dramatic scenes, and gets you rooting for Will and the robot to be reunited.

Doctor Smith (Parker Posey) can do one though. The way she tries to manipulate Will by claiming they both have a shared connection with the robot, and later Penny by feigning an overly enthusiastic reaction to her book, is truly despicable. She really is the kind of villain you love to hate, so very cunning and devious with her mind games. It will be interesting to see what happens here, as it's clear that she seems to be planning to turn the Robinsons against each other.

It puts just how willing she is to help the Robinson family into a certain perspective. When Don (Ignacio Serricchio) ends up intoxicated by the kelp and Doctor Smith is the only compatible type to perform a blood transfusion with, she jumps at the chance and agrees to give her blood straight away. It's a great way of showing the lengths she will go to in order to gain their trust; the fact that she will even give up her own blood shows that she is desperate to do whatever it takes to exact her plan, and there's something quite cunning about that. The screenplay is brilliant at showing Doctor Smith's mind ticking over like this, as though she is calculating every little detail, and fine-tuning the little details she needs to do in order to succeed and reach the end goal she is aiming for.

One thing I really did not expect was for the Robinsons to make contact with the colony ship the Resolute at the end of the episode. Given that there are another eight episodes to go of this season, as well as a whole third and final run, as a viewer this development came as a total surprise. It does seem to suggest that the next two seasons will be going at a rollicking pace however, which I am totally down for. A fast pace is never a bad thing, so long as a show like this still remembers to give us those little pieces of character development in-between all of the action taking place.

Overall, Precipice is an excellent character episode within Lost In Space's second season. It helps to develop the characters of the Robinson family considerably, whilst also offering some highly engaging scheming from the evil Doctor Smith. There's a great deal of promise for the show's future here, promise which appears to hint at episodes developing at quite a fast speed. It's clear that the crew of the Jupiter 2 have no intentions of slowing down anytime soon.

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What are your thoughts on the second episode of Lost In Space's second season? Let me know in the comments section.