Recap

QT falls in love with a coffee maker, but unfortunately a machine having emotions is forbidden…

Zigg’s Thoughts

This sweet, wryly funny episode is pretty much the perfect way to cap off the first season of Space Dandy. It’s less innovative or experimental than most of the stuff we’ve seen from the show, but that’s no knock against it, as the excellent characters and goofy fun factor still prevail to make it a very well rounded viewing experience.

One thing I don’t quite get though is how many people told me how emotionally moving they found this episode. Yeah, it’s designed to tug at the heartstrings, but I’d hardly call it an epic love story or anything. For the most part the writers are using (and riffing off of) pretty classic clichés, and the show is more about using them for comedy than actual pathos. Yes, there’s a fair few ‘awwwwww’ moments to be had, but the episode is way more about making you laugh than giving you the warm fuzzies, and in that regard it’s pretty successful.

It’s also very typical of the show in that it adopts several stylistic techniques that have been exploited throughout. The shift between the first and second halves of the story isn’t quite as prominent here as it was in, say, episode 4, but it’s definitely there. Going from low key love story to epic giant robot fight is a pretty great joke in its own right, and the build to the insane finale is really organic and smooth, rather than the slightly forced and contrived route you might expect. There’s also the by now recurring plot point of the Empire being around only to provide colossal deus ex machinas through their increasing incompetence. Normally that’d be a bad thing, but it’s so lighthearted and up front about the whole thing it’s pretty easy to be charmed away.

That’s a pretty good summary of this episode really. It’s not the best the show has been, but then the standard of this first season has been so high that’s not really a criticism. Instead, it’s an enjoyable romp with a touch more heart than the standard Space Dandy fare. But perhaps a touch less enjoyable weirdness too. A fine way to close out round 1.

Random Observations

• Though their screentime is brief, Dandy and Meow still get some pretty good jokes in this one, and their stoner-roomate chemistry is delightfully obvious.
• We’re not doing a ‘Final Impressions’ post here because the show is at best going on hiatus. With its return scheduled in July, and no real narrative climax here, it simply doesn’t make sense to sum up. Thus, Space Dandy coverage will resume when the show returns. Thanks for reading guys. See you, Space Dandy.