Space Force Season 2 Early Review: Steve Carell's show makes a stronger return with wittier writing

Space Force Season 2

Space Force Season 2 Cast: Steve Carell, John Malkovich

Space Force Season 2 Creators: Greg Daniels and Steve Carell

Streaming Platform: Netflix

When Space Force was initially announced, the thought of getting a fresh workplace comedy with Steve Carell in lead seemed like an excellent idea. Even as the show may have seemed way more potent on paper, the show's first season which released in 2020 didn't turn out to be as great as it was expected to be. Although given the kind of year that 2020 was, it's a mistake worth forgiving if artists like Carell, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow among others didn't deliver to their potential. With the show returning for another season, it seems the writers Greg Daniels, Ben Schwartz and Carell himself gave some serious thought about where the show should be headed and it seems somewhat in the right direction.

I won't deny that the announcement for a second season to Space Force sounded a bit surprising given how the first one remained a sort of a mixed bag. After taking off on a fabulous note with the concept of Carell's General Mark R. Naird and his team being offered to establish a US Space Force. Although midway through the season, the show seemed to have lost its way and as far as the beginning of the second season goes, there's definitely been course correction done. 

The second season begins with Naird and his team sitting down with the  Department of Defense to answer about the pranks that the United States Space Force pulled off on the astronauts from China while camping out on the surface of the moon which was seen in Season One. Right off the bat, there's one thing you notice and that's the obvious tonal change in the show. The characters seem much more realised this time and it comes closer to being a The Office-style comedy than the heavy satire it initially started out to become. Besides Carell's character who seemed to remain the focus of the first season, the good thing about the new season also seems to be the changed focus on supporting characters of Chan (Jimmy O. Yang), Naird’s daughter Erin (Diana Silvers), Brad (Don Lake) and publicist Tony (Ben Schwartz). 

The ambitious nature of Space Force's storyline seems to have taken a more humble nature this time and it's a delight to watch the show finally embrace its expanse when it comes to finding the sweet sport between satire and comedy. Among these changes, the ones that I certainly appreciated was the changed dynamic between Naird and chief scientist Mallory (John Malkovich). Following their season one banter, the second season gives their oddball workplace relationship more space to become an entertaining one. 

ALSO READ: Space Force Review: Steve Carell & John Malkovich save the Netflix series from a complete crash landing

In terms of performances, Carell manages to make the perfect shift from season one to the second season by dialling down on his character's careless antics following the poorly handled mission last time. Ben Schwartz continues to be a delight and impresses even in the silliest scenes like that in episode one where he's asked to deposit his phone before appearing in front of the Department of Defense for questioning. There's also the return of amazing Jimmy O. Yang and Tawny Newsome's awkward chemistry that was quite adorable in the first season. To top it all though, John Malkovich comes across as the winner with some of the funniest moments. 

Overall the second season of Space Force seems like it's a show that has worked on its feedback from the previous one and corrected quite a few wrongs from there. With Season 2, Space Force manages to get a wittier approach and it's lighter on the viewing as compared to its previous season when there were points that left us wondering where was the show headed.  After watching the first episode o the show, it does seem like there's hope for Space Force to deliver a much better season as it returns with lesser episodes as well. Since the review is based on the first episode of the show, no stars have been assigned to it.