Our intrepid heroes are off on their on-the-run adventure in their busted-up ship in episode 2 of Vagrant Queen. Elida (or is it El’ Dia), Issac, and Amae are forced to land on a random planet to make repairs to Elida’s ship, and all sorts of hijinks ensue. Can nothing be easy? The crew has to find a way to work together to survive not only the planet but each other. Episode two sheds the trappings of its homage heavy premiere and set off on a course of self-discovery. Sadly, they discover cannibals, which is never a positive. Time for five thoughts! Minor spoilers ahead.
1. Issac is a resourceful man
He says he was catapulted “here” two years prior from his home on earth, and he’s been trying to get back ever since. In two years in an unknown space territory, Issac was able to obtain a space ship, learn to fly it, find gainful employment as a “lawyer,” and a scavenger and generally survive. I once left my apartment without my phone and got lost immediately. Obviously, I am not that stupid, but it illustrates my point. Adjusting to new life scenarios is hard, and Issac is a true survivor. Buying a car is a complicated process. I bet buying a spaceship is at least 3x harder. If he stole it, bump it up to 5x harder.
2. Elida vs. Issac
We got some clarity on our heroes’ joint backstory, rather quickly I may add. Surprisingly their falling out had a lot to do with Elida being a queen. The fact that money and not friendship was the reason Issac was upset Elida never disclosed her royalty to him caused Elida to try and strand him. Which lead to Issac taking a shot at her and actually connecting.
My only take away from that scene was “that escalated quickly.” It seems like there was at least another 10-15 mins of discussion that could have happened before each party reached their extreme actions. To be fair to Issac, he did say they both could have benefited from scamming the republic with bogus Elida information. Sounds pretty friendly to me. And of course, Elida should be wary of anyone willing to share her location with the enemy. All I am saying is keep talking and maybe meet in the middle? No one ever has to get shot, or snatched by a taser bolo.
3. Why are the most insufferable people always in charge?
Lazaro is a lot. The man is a short-tempered, overreacting, middle management megalomaniac. That’s the worst kind of that person. He wreaks of old money privilege and tight underwear. We are privy to a conversation between him and his bosses and it really begs the question of why they put up with him in the first place. He has failed to kill Elida for literal decades and actively disobeys direct orders. I have never been a soldier or Admiralty but I believe disobedience is a no-no. Yet he is free to do whatever he wants and act like a total spoiled punk in the process. The smug interrogation of Nim was hard to watch. Not because of the perceived violence, but because Lazaro’s constant bitching and monologuing drove Nim to kill his freaking self! Good grief Lazaro sucks. Not in a “man, I sure hope he gets what coming to him” kind of way. More in the “someone, please tell the actor to tone it down a bit” sort of way.
4. Karaoke. Fighting. Excitement?
Vagrant Queen doubles down on its own brand of action this episode. Lots of neon lights, side kicks to sternums, and now the action freeze frame. The fight scenes in this show have been the most entertaining sections of each outing so far. I have done my best to appreciate each battle for what they are, action done by folks not used to doing action scenes. I couldn’t do better, so I can appreciate the effort. Elida does come off as a badass in most of her physical encounters, leading you to believe she could survive in the harsh scavenger space. Then you see her get pulled into an obvious trap (with one of the funniest “tased” acting ever put on screen), and you wonder just how well she would survive. Survival 101, don’t follow anyone to a second location. If they have space dreads and a long gun, doubly so.
5. “Nothing’s going to stop us now” by Starship is universal
I am ok with leaving my brain at the door and enjoying random bouts of nostalgia, especially when it has to do with music. But when I am done, my critical mind kicks in and I remember I still need to review an episode of a show. How do all those aliens X amount of time and space away from earth know, “Nothing’s going to stop us now” by Starship word for word? A popular song in the late 80s. So much so the bunny man Peter knew all the lyrics and sung like a bird. I will let this slide only if 80’s earth music is some sort of delicacy across the universe, and they are just now receiving the radio signals of these songs all the way out there. There, I wrote it for you writers. You are welcome.
Also, I caught the Peter Rabbit Easter egg. Eh.
The wrap-up
Vagrant Queen moved away from its homage fest of the first episode and has now begun the painstaking job of building its universe. It has quite a way to go, but the pieces are coming together slowly. Our heroes now have a mission to save Elida’s mother, their own DIY R2-D2, and some sweet coms bracelets. Now we just need our villain to step up and relax a tad, and we have ourselves a show.
See you all next week as we carve through the universe with Elida, Amae, and Issac in Vagrant Queen.
