The Other Side

July 22, 2019 (TBS)

**The Other Side** is the fourth episode in the second season of the Final Space series. It aired on July 15, 2019 on Adult Swim and July 22, 2019 on TBS.

## Plot

A collision with space time traps half of the Crimson Light in a perilous other dimension.

## Summary

The episode opens with Gary, Little Cato, Mooncake and H.U.E. congratulating themselves on finding the second Dimensional Key. Gary decides to celebrate with music from Kenny Loggins, and soon the whole Team Squad gets dragged into dancing (except for Clarence, who desperately tries to stop it). Everyone has a good time, but then the party is cut short when A.V.A. detects the ship is on a collision course with a space-time anomaly. The Crimson Light has flown into a field of solid shards of time. Collision with such a shard could disrupt time on board the ship.

Little Cato seizes the controls and tries to avoid the shards. He manages to get the Crimson Light out of the cluster and back into open space. But just when it seems they are safe (with Little Cato telling Gary it was easy), a time shard hits the Crimson Light and cuts the ship in half. Gary is knocked unconscious, and disappears into the shard before Little Cato’s eyes. Little Cato can’t do anything to help.

60 years pass as the Crimson Light is stuck in the shard. Little Cato has grown up now. The ship is falling into disrepair. Mooncake has a translator now that allows him to talk, but Little Cato considers the voice it generates too sexy. Tribore has gone insane to the point that he is paranoid towards anybody passing through his room. Little Cato has made a shrine for Gary, who is believed to be dead. KVN lost his arms (having replaced them with a fork and a spatula), and his sanity. H.U.E. has married A.V.A., and is growing purple plants for food. Nightfall is old, and has gone blind. She claims H.U.E.’s plants are what killed Fox and Ash. Little Cato has made a holographic projection of his father, but it can only say what he instructs it to say. Little Cato mainly uses it to try and encourage himself, but it’s not working.

Little Cato calls the others for a meeting, to show them something he has been working on in secret. Clarence is the last to join, dressed in a Gary suit, which angers Little Cato. KVN and Tribore have forgotten Gary by now. Little Cato shows his creation; a distress beacon. However, using it will risk depleting the ship of its last power, and thus stop the oxygen supply. Little Cato proposes to vote on using the beacon or not, but can’t get any support. Only Nightfall agrees, since it’s what Gary would have wanted. Little Cato thus goes through with his plan, but the beacon shatters a nearby time shard, which causes a rift in space. Then H.U.E. detects something colossal approaching the Crimson Light; it’s a Titan. And it prepares to attack the Crimson Light.

The scene then switches to the other half of the ship on the opposing side of the shard. Here, only a few minutes have passed since the collision. Gary, Ash and Fox are all on this side, alive and well, and desperately trying to break through the shard. A.V.A. informs them 60 years has passed already on the other side. On Little Cato’s side, the Titan approaches and Little Cato is at loss about what to do, until Nightfall tells him to stop thinking like Gary and start doing things his way. Little Cato thus arms himself and prepares to attack the Titan. Nightfall and Mooncake join him. H.U.E. warns Little Cato that he won’t survive, but Little Cato wants to prove himself.

Nightfall and Little Cato distract the Titan with gunfire, so Mooncake can enter his mouth and blow him up from within. The plan goes smoothly and the Titan begins to explode, but then Little Cato is injured. Nightfall brings him back into the ship. H.U.E. and Tribore don’t give Little Cato much chance of survival. Then a message comes in from a ship that picked up the distress signal. Nightfall informs Little Cato his plan worked. They share a final group hug, when everybody except Little Cato suddenly vanishes. Little Cato remains, talking to himself. Then it is shown Nightfall, Mooncake, Tribore, H.U.E. and Clarence are actually on Gary’s side of the ship. Little Cato was just imagining they were with him.

Since their guns can’t break the shard, H.U.E. suggests they reverse the drop drive, so Ash can direct it’s energy at the shard and break through. Ash agrees. It works, and the shard finally begins to break. As it falls apart, time synchronizes on both sides and the effects are reversed; Little Cato becomes a kid again and the worn down half of the ship is restored to former glory. Little Cato is saved, but he still remembers the 60 years he spend alone on the ship. Gary asks him if he is okay, but instead of answering, Little Cato retreats to his room. He uses the hologram of Avocato one last time to tell him he’s going to put the device away for a while.

## Cast

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

## Final Thoughts

For behind the scenes about this episode, see https://www.adultswim.com/videos/final-space/final-thoughts-s-2-e-4.

## Trivia

* The song that played in the episode is *Footloose* by Kenny Loggins. Olan mentioned that it's his favorite song of all time.
* The song Is also a reference to Olan’s YouTube video story The Popcorn King, which was about Olan’s job At a local movie theater where he danced to Footloose while on duty in his high school years.
* The episode was released 6 days before Adult Swim, presented by Olan Rogers and Coty Galloway in RTX Austin.
* Watched by 596.000 viewers when it premiered.
* The 60 year older version of Tribore looks like the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Yondu from *Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 & Vol 2*.
* Mooncake speaks English for the first time via a translator.
* Olan Rogers considers this his favorite episode of Season 2.

1. ↑ My Season 2 Episode Rankings (no spoilers)