An absurd first season that has yet to find its footing but has potential to grow and become one of Netflix’s best comedy series.
If Michael Scarn from The Office’s Threat Level Midnight episode had his own series as a military general in charge of a United States military branch, then you would basically get Netflix’s new comedy, Space Force. The dream team of Steve Carell and Greg Daniels team up once again since their prime Office days to bring us a comedy series based on a hilarious, but also very real concept. On December 20th, 2019, a new military branch centered on the final frontier was incepted as the sixth and youngest branch of the United States military: The Space Force. No, this is not a joke. This isn’t Halo, this is real life. And sooner or late people probably expected it to be parodied in some form of entertainment. Well, it finally happened.
Here’s the thing about Space Force. It’s not meant to be taken seriously. Not even a little bit. This is a ten-episode long SNL skit making fun of the United States government, including its president, the high-ranking generals, and even senators like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Filipina-Dutch actress Ginger Gonzaga plays a young New York senator named Anabela Ysidro-Campos. It’s very obvious who they are poking fun at, and it’s kind of brilliant how well it works.
There are several ways that the show could have executed a concept like this. Think of it as a scale from completely serious to absolutely ridiculous. The series basically breaks this scale and goes to the extreme route of absurdity. And it works, for the most part. There are episodes that are so insane that you’ll be asking yourself just what exactly is happening. The problem is that in today’s political climate, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for comedians and writers to figure out what’s politically correct or not. Where is the line that determines what jokes are too far and what topics are okay to create comedy out of? In a show centered around the U.S. military, there are some dull moments that could have been filled with jokes that push past that line and take direct aim at our society and how crazy this current time period is, but it doesn’t really do that. With a cast as stacked as the one in Space Force, they don’t all get that much time to shine and there are storylines and characters that are just not as interesting as our protagonist, General Mark Naird (played by Steve Carell) and his chief scientist, Dr. Adrian Mallory (played by the great John Malkovich).
Carell and Malkovich have great chemistry, and some of their moments together are nothing short of comedy gold. General Naird is simply a guy who’s trying to prove himself to his peers and superiors but is unfortunately held back by his own stupidity and the problems in his family life. He is the leading general of a branch that is ridiculed in the public eye and the rest of the armed forces, so there is obviously an immense amount of pressure on him. Dr. Mallory has a simple reason for working in Space Force, and that is to further advance humanity and help mankind expand to the far reaches of space. He is probably the only rational character in the show, although at times he stoops down to the same level of insanity the other characters portray. Both Carell and Malkovich are the standout performances and they play their characters to perfection.
There are a few fillers that try to focus on some of the supporting cast and it’s not executed as well as the episodes focused on the main story line. However, there are still hilarious moments throughout and near the end of the season, the show begins to slowly find its footing and the jokes start to land a little more consistently, which makes me think that as the show continues to develop with future seasons, they will begin to figure out what works and what doesn’t. If this happens, I can see Space Force becoming a popular fan favorite, especially for those of us who wanted to see the legendary Steve Carell starring back in a comedy series since he left The Office.