The ‘Lost in Space’ Finale Is a Beautiful Subversion of Gender Roles

The original Lost in Space has a lot going for it. If you’re into retro-futurism, humanoid carrots, or high camp, the show is definitely one you need to stream. But while the 1960s adventures of the Robinson family are out of this world, the original show is very much grounded in the gender politics of its time. Episodes primarily focused on young Will Robinson, the Robot, and the sniveling saboteur Dr. Smith. And when that trio ran afoul of a cosmic circus or interdimensional toymaker, it was action dad John Robinson and pilot Don West to the rescue. Mom Maureen and daughters Judy and Penny kinda just… hung around, doing chores, in outer space. Bummer.

Thankfully Netflix’s Lost in Space reboot jettisoned the retro gender roles, immediately evident by the decision to cast Parker Posey as Dr. Smith. That shake-up transformed the character from a mincing menace to a revolutionary female villain unlike any we’ve seen before. The upgrades don’t stop there, as the new Maureen (Molly Parker), Judy (Taylor Russell), and Penny (Mina Sundwall) not only get integral roles in the Robinson family dynamic, but they actually get stuff to do. Like, they go on adventures! In every episode! In fact, there’s a real argument to be made that Penny is the best Robinson–and hey, I made that argument!

While this welcome gender parity is evident in every episode of the series, namely because the women aren’t relegated to baking a cake for the Robot’s birthday, it plays as just another way that the show is fulfilling the promise of the show’s original premise. That changes in the thrilling season finale “Danger, Will Robinson,” though, when the show’s restructured Robinson family dynamics are put through the wringer in parallel plotlines that show just how marvelously the show has subverted traditional gender roles.

Spoilers ahead for the Lost in Space finale, obviously.

After a season of constant time-constraint tension, the clock finally runs out in the finale. As the alien world nears a black hole, the planet adds “volcanically active” to its already extensive list of hostile attributes. The space station Resolute is peaceing out ASAP, whether or not the Robinsons’ Jupiter ship is docked or not. Complicating matters, the Jupiter 2’s trip to the Resolute isn’t a straight shot as John Robinson and Don West are drifting in orbit on a bit of wreckage from their failed takeoff–and Maureen intends to rescue them. But that rescue mission isn’t a guarantee either, since Maureen and the kids are essentially being held hostage by Smith and the alien Robot, which is now in her control. So we got two plots in the finale: one is a battle of the matriarchs as Maureen and Smith fight for control of the Jupiter, and the other features Don and John just… waiting to be rescued.

You see how that flips everything the original series did? Not only do we rarely get a female villain like Smith, it’s even rarer that she goes up against a similarly willful female protagonist. On top of that, it’s even rarer that the female protagonist’s main objective is rescuing one man, let alone two men. The players involved in the climactic action are four women, one boy, and one robot; that’s a gender ratio that you rarely see in any movie (partially because relatively few movies feature robots).

The Jupiter plotline is all action, and Maureen and Smith get to play off each other like Batman and the Joker. Maureen knows that Smith can’t pilot the Jupiter, and Maureen uses that leverage to launch her rescue mission. But Smith, ever the master manipulator, needles Maureen by dredging up memories of her and John’s estrangement. Maureen responds by thrusting the ship downward on a collision course with the planet, thus activating the Robot’s protect-Smith-at-all-costs protocols. Once Smith is whisked away against her will to the crash-proof hub in the center of the ship, Maureen pulls up and locks Smith in what becomes a crash-proof cell. This is a total power play.

Meanwhile on the wreckage, Don has to learn how to cry.

Seriously.

While trying to rig the remaining fuel oxidizer stored in their tiny bit of ship to send out a signal flare for the Robinsons to track, a bit of dried up anti-fogging agent gets in Don’s eyes. Blinded, he can’t rig up the flare and he can’t guide John through the steps. John tells him that the only way to save their lives and restore his sight… is for the macho and emotionally checked out Don to literally cry his eyes out.

Meanwhile on the Jupiter, Maureen has to protect her kids from the Robot after Smith finds the hub’s override. In order to draw the Robot out, she does the kind of risky, pragmatic thing that I love her for: she uses her son as bait. Will, the Robinson that the Robot used to have bond with, takes on a passive role as he lures the Robot out into the open so Maureen can do this:

It’s a real Ripley moment, for sure, the kind of fist-pumping badassery usually reserved for, well, characters like Don and John. And what of Don and John?

They’re getting in touch with their feelings. Don unwittingly divulges info about his estranged parents, which leads John to get all mushy about how much he loves his kids and how proud he is of them. That does the trick.

Maureen knocks the crap out of a marauding mechanical terror, and Don finally acknowledges his daddy issues!

From there, the two plots converge as Lost in Space barrels towards its finale. While the season ends up exactly where we knew it would (the Robinsons are even more lost in space), the way it got there was a massive surprise. Lost in Space is no longer a franchise wherein the men get all the glory while the women figure out how to get alien dust out of velour jumpsuits. Instead, Maureen is a nurturing mother that also grits her teeth and proclaims, “We’re Robinsons, live together or die together.” And the men are thrill-seeking manly men, but they also recognize the life-saving power of a good cry.

Where to stream Lost in Space