Season 2 of Netflix’s Lost in Space provides more details and insights into Dr. Smith, the con-artist and career criminal whose real identity is June Harris. While season 1 of Lost In Space vaguely touched upon June Harris’ journey as a stowaway and identity thief onboard the Resolute spacecraft, the second season explores the character’s past more fully, including her tense relationship with her family and her origins as a criminal.
Portrayed by actress Parker Posey, Dr. Smith has been the main antagonist since the premiere season of Lost In Space. Not only does Dr. Smith manipulate her fellow colonists on the Resolute, but she puts many of their lives at risk in order to conceal her true identity and achieve a new life for herself on the colony of Alpha Centauri. Under the influence of the Robinson family, Dr. Smith appeared to be changing into a more compassionate person in season 2 until she faked her death to gain passage onto the evacuating Jupiter transport during the season finale. Season 2 of Lost In Space brought more dimensions to Dr. Smith’s character by not only exploring how useful she could be if she used her skills of manipulation for the betterment of the group, but also by delving further into Dr. Smith’s backstory.
Through a series of flashbacks in Lost in Space season 2, it’s explained that June Harris came from a wealthy family, that her mother died when June was young, and that her father, favoring her little sister Jessica (Selma Blair), cut her out of the family business. Unable to compete with her sister’s level of success and her parent’s favoritism, June resorted to a life of crime in order to appear successful and gain her father’s favor. In episode 3, “Echoes,” flashbacks exploring June’s childhood and young adulthood show how small mistakes seem to be June’s legacy, from accidentally breaking a martini glass that injures her sister to missing a few loan payments. While it’s unclear if these mistakes were caused by June’s own recklessness or if they are simply accidents out of her control, June is presented as having a rough past that made her an outsider within her own family.
Not only does June have a strained relationship with her parents but she struggles to connect with her sister Jessica as well, who appears to encourage June’s role as the pariah of the family. Further in Lost in Space season 2, episode 3, June ruminates over a time when Jessica caught her impersonating Jeri Vick, an investment banker who recently passed away. When June asks her sister not to reveal her crimes to their sick mother, who appears to be enjoying herself on the boat that June clearly stole, Jessica seems determined to disparage her sister’s reputation in her mother’s eyes at the risk of ruining one of her mother’s final days.
Coming from her own perspective, the flashbacks in Lost in Space season 2 are a bit biased in June’s favor but they ultimately explain how June turned out to be the manipulative con-artist that takes care of herself first and foremost. Since her family always favored her sister and put Jessica’s needs above her own, June was forced to find a way to survive by herself and choose crime as her outlet. The competitive nature of her relationship with her sister also kept her from forming any sort of familial support system. For someone who prides themselves on psychoanalyzing others, what stands out as the most compelling portion of the fake therapist’s backstory is the idea that she spent her whole life pretending to be other people, tried her entire adulthood to be more like her sister, and yet expects others to see the good in her when she’s so clearly unable to accept herself.
While Dr. Smith’s backstory doesn’t excuse her criminal behavior onboard the Resolute in season 2 of Lost In Space, it’s hard to blame June for being the way she is after seeing how she was pushed out of her own family. Knowing the details of her backstory puts her resentment of the Robinsons into perspective, since they represent the family she never had and the familial love she was never shown.
More: What To Expect From Lost In Space Season 3
