Things are picking up in a galaxy that is, admittedly, not ours. Vagrant Queen episode five has picked up in a big way. The team has been reshaped in irreversible ways. New villains were revealed. Former villains have been vindicated. Sand as far as the eye can see. And of course, Tremors! We were given the obligatory slow-motion, 3d panorama early on in the episode to make way for some strong character development. Elida, Amae, Issac, Hath, Krob, and Dengar all crash land exactly where they need to be, all relatively intact, with no lasting injuries. This kicks off a wild trek through a desert planet in search of Elida’s mother. Lazaro loses his job, but we finally understand why he’s so obsessed with Elida. It was a surprisingly fun episode with a surprising level of momentum. Bravo V.Q. Let’s jump in. As usual minor spoilers ahead. Actually, there are quite a few big spoilers ahead but whatever. Let’s do it.
1. Issac, we hardly know you.
The most substantial pieces of episode five revolve around Issac Stelling and his journey to whatever-the-hell galaxy we are currently in. So far, we have no real idea of who Issac is besides a smarmy opportunist with several lucky rabbit’s feet rammed up his tailpipe. Getting a look at his wife, unborn child, and clean-shaven face was just the jolt his character needed to become relatable. He has mentioned wanting to get back to this phantom wife on a planet no one in this galaxy has ever heard of. To see his pregnant wife and know she is real humanizes Issac in a way no extended scene of yearning could accomplish. We also get a call out to Jupiter, a planet that Neil DeGrasse Tyson has assured me exists in our galaxy.
2. Crashes in that galaxy (not yours) seem to be a non-issue
I refuse to look up the depressing stats of how many people are killed yearly in any type of crash here on Earth, but I know it’s a lot. Regular ass (what a weird way to phrase that) car collisions claim way too many lives, to begin with. Planes, while less common, are exponentially more devastating. Now, in whatever-the-hell galaxy Elida and her crew reside in, the laws of crashing seem very lax. These people escape full on spacecraft crashes with minor nicks and booboos. To top it all off, they have a spray that heals impalements. Not even a compression bandage. A mother flipping spray. I can forgive their emergency landing in episode two, but this was a full-on, Launchpad McQuack crash landing. Ejector seats were deployed. Smoke was jettisoned from vents. Issac ended up across a sand dune. Everyone turned out ok. Sure it was in service to the tiered destruction of the group later on but still. Just have them land safely.
3. What version of Tremors are we on now?
This was an ode to Tremors, right? That opening worm monster was totally a Graboid (That is actually the monsters from Tremors. I looked it up. The 80’s, am I right?). Issac happens to dispatch it in relatively easy Issac fashion. Then we are treated to a slithering sand reptile that everyone, once again, dispatches with ease. All of it felt very Tremors-like. On a side note, Hath tells everyone the slithering alien reptiles can’t be outrun, then they all proceed to outrun them. When they get away, someone says, “We should be out of their range now.” What is the range of a hungry sentient being? Not sure about you, but I have taken late night drives to Popeyes. There is no distance too far for a delicious chicken sandwich. Those space snakes just sound lazy. Or like a guard from Metal Gear Solid.
4. Not without my momma
So, the twist is Elida’s mother has been dead this whole time. Hath and his zealots were lying, all to get Elida to the Royal Temple to collect some ultimate power. You know the shtick. We all knew Hath had something up his sleeve; finally, the shoe has dropped. I never trusted that guy. He showed up too suddenly and had that real clandestine meeting in the dark with his followers. People in shadowy meetings are not to be trusted.
5. The team is running lean now.
Damn, everybody died. Well, all the people we know would eventually die or just go away. R.I.P. to Dengar, who caught the worst case of dismemberment I have ever seen. I still think the loss of good-hearted lying snake Ihred is the worst of the bunch, but Dengar had all his limbs slowly ripped off, so he gets a salute. Hath gets buried in the rubble of the Cave of Wonders, while Krob is shot unceremoniously, as he should have been. Issac’s betrayed is revealed, and Elida vows they are done, leaving the budding romance of Amae and our hero to be free to happen. When I say, a lot happened, I mean a lot. Elida was double-crossed on two fronts, both by men she trusted. Jeez, they should have had her dad show up out of nowhere, say they were going to leave in his delivery truck for the summer, and then not show up. You know, really tear her heart out. Does anyone get that reference? I won’t tell you what it is. I refuse.
The wrap-up
Jam-packed episodes like this can’t happen all the time in a series. Still, when they do, they are very welcome. We finally get clarity on Issac’s situation, his motivations, and the reasoning behind his turn. I would sell all those pointy-eared idiots out to get back to my family, so Issac is a little less gross in my book. Despite his blatant and egregious betrayal. Even Lazaro got a bit of redemption as his villain role was getting harder to justify the more he failed. Now he has the ultimate power McGuffin, a Sterzaad, that can control the minds of fake stormtroopers. If that power extends to regular people, Lazaro has a real claim to power. The team has been downsized, and we can now tell some interesting, smaller stories between our heroes.
All in all, Episode five was a massive leap in the right direction for the wavering series. I am finally looking forward to the proceedings. In whatever galaxy they occur in.
