The First Times They Met

“*Yes. Now, shh... This is the first time we met.*”
―Nightfall
**The First Times They Met** is the seventh episode in the second season of *Final Space*. It aired on August 5, 2019 on Adult Swim and August 12, 2019 on TBS.

## Plot

Nightfall attempts to bring the past back to life, leaving the crew powerless against a pack of Evil KVNs.

## Summary

The episode opens with H.U.E. and Mooncake finding a machine that has been labeled “keep away”, but strangely also contains a button labeled “press here”. While H.U.E. is smart enough to heed the warning and leave the machine alone, KVN, who comes by shortly afterwards, is not, and pushes the button. The machine ends up releasing another KVN. The two KVN’s quickly get along.

On the bridge, Nightfall and Gary are having fun with the various buttons, but unbeknown to them almost kill Little Cato when they open the airlock while he is standing next to it. Nightfall tries to kiss Gary, but he freaks out. He is still longing for Quinn, though Nightfall warns him nobody survives in Final Space for long. She walks off, clearly upset, which worries Gary. He decides to follow her. Little Cato walks along for a moment, during which he and Gary bond. When Little Cato gets to his and Fox’ room, Fox accuses Little Cato of dipping his paw in Fox’ mouth. He even spits out a hairball to prove it. The two get into a heated argument about boundaries.

Gary follows Nightfall to the virtulazium, and against A.V.A.’s advice enters without knocking. He thus sees Nightfall using a chip in her head to have the virtulazium fabricate another Gary. Unfortunately, the simulation costs so much power the rest of the ship is left without any. Gary and Nightfall are locked in the virtulazium as A.V.A. shuts down and the lights go out. All windows and doors are blocked, locking the Team Squad in the rooms they are currently in. H.U.E. and Mooncake are locked in H.U.E.’s room. H.U.E. realizes the power has gone out, and sees this as his chance to prove himself by reactivating the ship. The KVN’s are still at the machine, which suddenly releases a small army of KVN’s. These KVN’s however are homicidal, and set out to murder Clarence.

In the Virtulazium, Nightfall runs a simulation of the day she and her Gary first met. Her Gary really was a member of the Infinity Guard, and bumped into Quinn on the street. The two instantly fell in love. Elsewhere, Fox and Little Cato blast themselves out of their room. Then they get into another argument about whom they should try to reach first; Gary and Nightfall in the virtulazium, or Ash and Clarence on the bridge. The argument is cut short when the evil KVNs show up to demand to know where Clarence is. The two hurry to the bridge to warn Clarence, but Little Cato also demands an explanation. Clarence admits he bought the KVNs at a sale, but put them away for 30 years when he found out they had a derangement virus. He doesn’t want to destroy them however since they are still his property. Plus, they are borderline indestructible, so the only hope for the Team Squad is to blast them into space.

H.U.E. keeps working on the power, and Gary keeps pleading with Nightfall to stop the virtulazium. Nightfall refuses and recreates a memory of one of her and Gary’s dates at a movie theater. Gary admits he can’t see Nightfall and Quinn as the same person, since he and his Quinn never had the same relationship Nightfall had with her Gary. Then the fabrication is complete and the other Gary steps out of the pod. Once he’s dressed, he and Nightfall continue their relationship where they originally left off. And they are so intimate with each other, it makes regular Gary uncomfortable.

Elsewhere, the evil KVNs find Clarence. The Team Squad’s own KVN tries to have both sides talk it out, but the evil KVNs ignore him and merge into a Mega-KVN to attack Clarence. They drive him, Fox, Ash and Little Cato into the elevator shaft. Nightfall meanwhile enjoys some time at the beach with Gary, but the virtulazium has trouble maintaining the hologram. Nightfall wants to get married now that they are back together, and her Gary agrees. The power surges get more severe. Still, Nightfall can’t let Gary go again after just getting him back.

The Mega-KVN drives the Team Squad towards the airlock. Clarence suggest someone should open the lock with the release lever, but it’s pretty high up. The team climbs up the shaft, and uses flamethrowers (and in Fox’ case, his arm gun) to hold off the Mega-KVN. Little Cato volunteers for lever duty. He jumps for it, but finds the lever is jammed. The Mega-KVN advances, with only Fox trying to hold him back now. Finally, the lever gives and the hatch opens. The Mega-KVN is sucked into space, where it instantly freezes. Then the lever breaks, and for the second time that day Little Cato threatens to be blown out the airlock, but Fox saves him.

That is one problem less, but the ship is still suffering from the extensive power use of the virtulazium. With tears in her eyes, Nightfall ends the simulation and restores power to the ship. In his room, H.U.E. is about to give up his attempts to restore power, when the ship is reactivated. H.U.E. thinks it is his doing, and instantly feels superior. At the airlock, the team finds out there is still one KVN on board. Fortunately, their own KVN destroys him.

Later, Gary seeks out Nightfall on the bridge. She admits that in every timeline she visited, Gary died when he closed the breach to Final Space. This is the first one in which Quinn made the sacrifice instead. Now she finally has a timeline in which Gary lives, but he doesn’t want her since he prefers his own Quinn. She may have to accept that there is no happy ending. She and Gary silently watch a sunrise together. Meanwhile, the evil KVNs are still active and planning revenge.

## Cast

* Tika Sumpter as Nightfall
* Olan Rogers as Gary, Gary Goodspeed (Nightfall's timeline), Mooncake and Tribore
* Fred Armisen as KVN and the Evil KVNs
* Steven Yeun as Little Cato
* Ron Funches as Fox
* Conan O'Brien as Clarence
* Ashly Burch as Ash Graven
* Tom Kenny as H.U.E.
* 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-7.

## Trivia

* This episode honors the death of Caitlin Alexander Burcham.
* Watched by 554.000 viewers when it premiered on Adult Swim.