The Notorious Mrs. Goodspeed

“***Gary**: Can I ask you one thing? Why don’t you want anything to do with me?
**Sheryl**: Truth? The day I lost your dad, my heart shattered. Whatever was left was too small to love anything anymore.
**Gary**: Yeah. See, I would have taken even a tiny piece - just one piece.
**Sheryl**: Yeah... Maybe in another life, eh? But not this one. I'll see you 'round, kiddo.*”
―Gary and Sheryl
**The Notorious Mrs. Goodspeed** is the fifth episode in the second season of the *Final Space*. It aired on July 22, 2019 on Adult Swim, July 20, 2019 on San Diego Comic Con, and July 29, 2019 on TBS.

## Plot

Gary reconnects with the mother who abandoned him; Mooncake misses Gary's attention.

## Summary

Gary, Tribore and Little Cato are on an ice world to salvage a wreckage for its power cells. On their way back to the Crimson Light, they run into David Dewinter and his sons, who want revenge on Gary for what happened to Melanie. The three protagonists have to run for their lives, though Tribore sympathizes with the Dewinters when he hears why they hate Gary. Gary calls Nightfall for help. The chase ends at a cliff, where the Dewinters corner the three protagonists. David threatens to not just kill Gary, but also hunt down Gary’s mother. Gary is surprised since even he doesn’t know where his mother is, but David claims he traced her to a prison on Sorbo.

Back on the Crimson Light, H.U.E. tries to offer the crew his pancakes, but nobody is interested. Gary turns on the Sorbo news channel, and finds out his mom is about to be executed for her various crimes. Clarence and Little Cato are delighted to find out Gary has such an infamous mother. Gary doesn’t share their opinion; his mother was never there for him. But he is still determined to see her before her execution. If only to tell her how he felt about her leaving him.

The team thus heads for Sorbo and the Supermax prison. There is only 1 guard on duty at the gate, and he easily falls for the Team Squad’s story that they are here to survey the cells for saberbats. Once inside, Gary rehearses what he wants to say, but gets nervous as they get closer. And once they find Sheryl, she easily charms Gary and the others. Then two guards arrive to escort her to her execution. Gary changes his mind and decides to help her escape, but Sheryl easily kills the two guards on her own. More guards rush in, but Sheryl easily defeats them. Gary tells her he has a ship, and offers her to join them, which Sheryl gladly accepts.

Once escaped, Sheryl easily charms the rest of the Team Squad with her stories and advice, except Nightfall, who warns Gary to be careful. Once she has practically everybody wrapped around her finger, Sheryl casually mentions a job she had planned for some time; steal something from the Polyhedron Fortress. Nightfall points out it sounds like Sheryl is planning a robbery, but Sheryl claims they are stealing back a valuable heirloom that the current owners stole from the real owner. She wants just Gary along for the job, so Mooncake has to stay behind. Clarence offers to help with the Eye of Fer, which can teleport him anywhere, but Gary dismisses him. Nightfall gets more suspicious of Sheryl.

Feeling neglected by Gary, Mooncake begins to eat away his sorrows. H.U.E., Ash and Fox find him in the mess hall, where he has eaten all of H.U.E.’s pancakes. The Crimson Light meanwhile approaches the fortress. Little Cato blasts a hole in the walls, so Sheryl and Gary can enter on their motorcycle, dodging and destroying the missiles from the fortress’ defense mechanism along the way. On the ship, Mooncake’s condition worsens; when there are no more pancakes, he begins to eat the kitchen utilities. Fox has an idea. They set out a trail of pancakes, and lure Mooncake to an intervention where he can discuss his problems.

In the fortress, Gary and Sheryl approach the vault, but the walls begin to close in on them. Soon the hallway is too small for the cycle, and they fall off. It seems they won’t make it. But then the walls retract again. Clarence is already at the vault and saved them both. He teleported in with the Eye of Fer. Unfortunately, he drops it and it breaks, robbing the group of an easy retreat. In the ship, the intervention does not go as planned, and Mooncake begins to eat the Team Squad, starting with Fox.

Clarence is selected to be lowered into the vault to get the heirloom. But there is one more defense; a Zargon Slug is guarding the vault. Clarence quickly seizes the loot (a red diamond), and is pulled out of the vault. As the three robbers flee, the slug breaks out of the vault and chases after them. Gary takes control of the cycle, and tricks the worm into breaking through a wall, after which Sheryl finishes it off with her gun. They then escape the fortress through the slug. Sheryl congratulates Gary for the good job, and Clarence begins treating Gary as if he and Sheryl are married (referring to him as “my boy”).

On the ship, Mooncake continues his eating-rampage. He finally stops when the others convince him that they too love him, and that for Gary, Sheryl will never replace him. Mooncake begins to spit out everything he’s eaten. Fox first. Mooncake is back to his old self, but H.U.E. lost his greatest customer. Sheryl, Gary and Clarence return to the Crimson Light. Gary invites Sheryl to celebrate, but Sheryl retreats for the night. Once she is alone however, she opens the diamond and reveals there is a dimensional key inside. On the bridge, Nightfall is alerted to this.

Sheryl prepares to leave, but Gary awaits her. When he asks her why she abandoned him, she claims that John’s death left her so broken-hearted that she couldn’t love anyone else anymore. Gary can’t convince her to stay. As she leaves, Gary recalls how he lost his dad, and his mom began to neglect him after the funeral. Eventually, she left him to fend for himself. He lived in his treehouse, until he burned it down and left home. The episode ends with Nightfall warning Gary Sheryl just left with a dimensional key, something Gary figured out by now. Finally remembering what his mom is truly like, Gary vows to find her and make her pay.

## Cast

* Claudia Black as Sheryl
* Olan Rogers as Gary, Mooncake, Tribore and David Dewinter
* Tika Sumpter as Nightfall
* Tom Kenny as H.U.E.
* Fred Armisen as KVN
* Ashly Burch as Ash Graven
* Steven Yeun as Little Cato
* Ron Funches as Fox
* Conan O'Brien as Clarence
* Jane Lynch as A.V.A.

## Final Thoughts

For behind the scenes about this episode, see https://www.adultswim.com/videos/final-space/final-thoughts-s-2-e-5.

## Trivia

* The name of the episode is a parody of the American rapper Notorious B.I.G.
* First episode of the show to get released on San Diego Comic Con.
* Watched by 660.000 viewers when it premiered on Adult Swim.
* This episode revealed what happened to Gary’s mother and why she abandon him.