Lost in Space season 2 finds the Robinsons still desperately trying to get colony ship The Resolute to their destination in the Alpha Centauri star system - but by the end, they’re more lost than ever!
The second season of Netflix’s sci-fi reboot picks up seven months after the climactic season 1 finale, with the Robinsons still stranded in a strange star system that the Robot warned was “danger.” They are eventually able to reconnect with the Resolute, only to find its colonists evacuated to a nearby planet and a terrible secret within the Resolute’s engine core: the entire colony ship was built around the remains of an alien ship that crashed on Earth, the so-called “Christmas Star,” and an enslaved robot called Scarecrow has been piloting the Resolute back and forth from Earth to Alpha Centauri. The Robinsons also meet Ben Adler, a senior Resolute crew member who had a bond with Scarecrow that was similar to the connection between Will and the Robot.
Unfortunately, the rest of the the alien robots aren’t quite so friendly, and in the season finale the Resolute is once again targeted by a wrathful band of machines who are intent on retrieving their engine - which also happens to be the only way to get the colonists to Alpha Centauri. When an initial plan to stop the robots fails, the Robinsons are forced to make a terrible choice… and split up.
The Alien Planet Rings and Ben Adler’s Sacrifice
One of the most interesting elements introduced in Lost in Space season 2 are the rings that encircle the planets of the robots’ home solar system. Either the robots or their original creators appear to have turned the planets in the system into, effectively, giant battery chargers. The rings around the circumference of the planets act as lightning rods, which trigger regular lightning storms and allow the rings to gather power. It’s only in Lost in Space’s season finale that we find out more about these rings: first, that the robots have markings on their bodies that correspond to markings on the rings; and second, that the robots appear to actually live inside the rings.
With Scarecrow dying from the effects of its ill treatment on the Resolute, Ben and Will follow Robot’s instructions and take its fallen friend to the desert planet where the evacuated colonists are living. Due to the lightning storm arriving sooner than expected, Ben decides to sacrifice himself by dragging Scarecrow out onto the ring while Will stays inside the Jupiter, which acts as a Faraday cage (protecting him from the lightning).
It appears that Ben dies when the lightning strikes, but since we don’t see his body (and since he’s such a great character) it’s worth pointing out a couple of indications that he might have survived. The first is, quite simply, that we don’t know how the robots’ healing process works, and Ben was touching Scarecrow when the lightning hit - which leaves room for plenty of creative sci-fi explanations for his fantastical survival. The second is Ben’s final words to Scarecrow: “Next time we meet, how about we do things differently from the start?” He could just be referring to some kind of shared human-robot afterlife, or it could be foreshadowing for Ben and Scarecrow actually meeting again.
How and Why The Resolute Was Destroyed
The Robinsons’ decision to “atomize” the Resolute is quite an about-turn after an entire season spent trying to get the Resolute ready for the journey to Alpha Centauri - but as with a lot of things in the show, it’s something they only resort to after Plan A goes awry. The original plan was to lure the pursuing robots onto the ship with the engine, then crush them inside a magnetic field (the same way Ben killed SAR earlier in the season). However, the robots arrive too early and are only frozen rather than destroyed. Moving a fraction of an inch at a time, they are able to disconnect the wires holding them in the magnetic field and manage to escape.
The robots reach the Jupiter 2, which is now carrying the colonists’ children, and Will unsuccessfully attempts to use his communication skills to placate them. However, a fully-healed Scarecrow jumps in and is able to hold off its fellow robots for some time, while Maureen and John decide that the only way to buy Judy enough time to get away is to destroy the Resolute itself. Scarecrow’s fate is left unknown at the end of the season, since we don’t see it die in the fight and it also doesn’t get onto the ship with the rest of the alien robots. Being made of metal, the robots can survive in the vacuum of space, so it’s possible that Scarecrow may have hitched a ride back down to the desert planet.
Since, in defiance of a classic sci-fi trope, the Resolute does not have a self-destruct sequence, the Robinson parents have to improvise in order to destroy it. The section of ship that was severed earlier in the season due to its alien rust infestation is still in orbit around the planet, so the Robinsons steer the Resolute into its path. At first it seems as though they, too, have sacrificed their lives for the greater good, when they are left without enough time to reach the escape pod bay. Fortunately, Don West swoops in just in time and rescues them both. The aliens reach their own ship and attempt to escape, but end up crashing into a section of the Resolute and exploding.
Where The Robinson Children Ended Up (It’s Not Alpha Centauri)
One possible point of confusion with regards to Lost in Space season 2’s ending is where exactly the Robinson kids and their ship ended up - because it’s not Alpha Centauri. Earlier in the episode, Hastings explains that the signal they’re following isn’t from the Alpha Centauri colony itself, but a radar signal from a human ship. He reasons that the only place that could have a human-made signal is Alpha Centauri, and when Robot uses the engine on the fleeing Jupiter 2, it follows the same signal. However, soon after arriving at their destination the young Robinsons realize that they are not in the Alpha Centauri system. There’s only one sun instead of three, and there’s an ominous half-destroyed planet waiting for them.
Tracking the signal that they’ve been following, the Robinsons see a human ship among the planet’s wreckage: the Fortuna. Judy immediately recognizes the name, as its the same ship that her biological father - the astronaut Grant Kelly - departed on twenty years earlier. Judy, who had believed that Grant Kelly died before she was born, may now get a chance to finally meet him, or at the very least find out what happened to him. We’ll have to wait for season 3 to learn more, though.
Dr. Smith Fakes Her Death and Stows Away (Again)
Whatever the Robinsons face in their strange new solar system, at least they’ll have a grown-up around… though not exactly a friendly one. Dr. Smith at first attempts to take off in the Jupiter 2 alone, leaving the children behind. However, the robot opposes this plan. When Dr. Smith asks it for one good reason why she should stay behind, the robot arranges the lights in its face to form five dots: the Robinsons. Smith later translates this word as “family” for Maureen Robinson, explaining that with her mother dead and a sister who hates her, the Robinsons are all she has left. She then seemingly sacrifices her life to fix the magnetic field in the airlock that holds the robots, but which also crushes her space suit.
Maureen sees the empty space suit floating out of the airlock and assumes that Dr. Smith is dead - but she’s not. Towards the end of the episode, after the Jupiter 2 has jumped through the rift, the Robot discovers a box containing Dr. Smith’s scarf, and a blue ball that she picked up earlier in the episode. Yes, Smith faked her death and found a way to smuggle herself onto the refugee ship. Has she really changed, or will she continue to plot against the Robinsons next season?
More: What To Expect From Lost In Space Season 3
