The Grand Surrender

“*You can't save someone who doesn't know they're lost.*”
―Little Cato
**The Grand Surrender** is the third episode in the second season of *Final Space*. It aired on July 8, 2019 on Adult Swim and July 15, 2019 on TBS.

## Plot

The search for a dimensional key leads the Crimson Light to Ash's home planet; H.U.E. hosts a bachelor party for an unexpected visitor.

## Summary

Gary and Clarence have another argument, though they don’t know what it is about. Ash breaks it up, and convinces them to settle their dispute with a game of Thimbles, like they do on her homeplanet of Serepentis. Clarence agrees since Gary doesn’t know what Thimbles is, but Little Cato comes to his aid, claiming to be Ventrexia's Thimble Elite Junior Champion. After some explaining of the basic rules, Clarence and his kids take on Gary, Nightfall and Little Cato. During the game, Ash rolls up her sleeve and reveals a tattoo. H.U.E. recognizes the symbol as that of one of the Dimensional Keys. Ash claims on her planet everybody has a tattoo like this, so Gary deduces one of the Dimensional Keys is there. He asks A.V.A for more information, and she informs them the inhabitants of the planet worship a fire serpent named Werthrent.

Ash however absolutely doesn’t want to go to Serepentis, and threatens to use her powers on anyone who tries to make her. She doesn’t listen to Gary’s arguments. Little Cato and Mooncake however convince her to tell her story; back in her youth, she and her sister where brought before Werthrent since they had been chosen. However, they were chosen to be sacrificed. Ash was forced to watch her sister get devoured by Werthrent, and the trauma awoke her powers. She accidentally used them to kill her parents, which angered the rest of the people present. As Ash fled from the angry mob, she ran into Fox and Clarence and joined them. She has been with them since, and never saw her sister again.

That night, Ash has a nightmare in which Werthrent attacks the ship and she tries to fight him. After Nightfall wakes her up, Ash changes her mind and decides to go to Serepentis after all. Once there, H.U.E., Fox and Nightfall stay on the ship, while the others go with Ash. Clarence’ Money compass will lead them to the key. They soon find themselves in a village, which his quite unnerving for everybody but Ash. KVN spots some Forever Balls, which he always wanted.

The way to Werthrent is blocked by a long line of pilgrims, waiting to sacrifice themselves. Estimated waiting time is 8 years. To distract them, Gary has KVN disguise himself as Sentella, the goddess of good fortune whom everybody on Serepentis hopes to say once. It works, and the Pilgrims leave the line to chase after the goddess. Unfortunately, KVN leads them straight off a cliff and they all fall to their deaths. On the flipside, KVN gets his forever ball. On the Crimson Light, H.U.E. tries to invite Nightfall and Fox to come check out his new room (actually just the janitor’s cupboard), when A.V.A. detects an intruder on board. They find him on the bridge. He explains that he is going to miss his wedding unless he can get a ship to take him there. Fox offers to help, and H.U.E. offers to throw the soon to be groom a bachelor party. During the party, the groom expresses his doubts if he truly deserves his fiancé. Fox cheers him up, but also demands to be the man at the wedding.

The group reaches the temple. Ash tries to lure Werthrent out, since the dimensional key is inside him. The wicked god appears, and refuses to return Harp. Instead, he decides to eat Ash, and Gary tricks him into eating the rest of the Team Squad as well. Inside of Werthrent, they find themselves in a stone building, where all the people Werthrent ate have been turned into zombies. The Team Squad fights itself past the zombies to Werthrent’s hearth. The Dimensional Key is inside of it. However, the hearth is guarded by an old man named Septim. To get past him, they must answer three riddles. KVN reveals himself to be a great riddler, and easily answers the first two. When asked by Ash, KVN reveals he knows thousands of riddles, since it’s his job to keep people entertained. Septim tries to catch KVN off guard by making the third riddle a bunch of nonsense with no answer. Enraged, KVN throws the Forever Ball at Septim, and kills him with it.

Little Cato rips open Werthrent’s heart and gets the key. This naturally kills Werthrent. As his body dies, Werthrent’s heart turns into a portal, and Ash orders the others to go through it. She keeps looking for Harp. Little Cato stays behind to ensure she is safe. Ash finds Harp, but she is too far gone to save, and is consumed by the fire as Werthrent dies. Little Cato and Ash escape just in time. Once save, Gary and Clarence fight over the key, which ends with Clarence accidentally swallowing it.

Back on the Crimson Light, Little Cato and Ash have a hearth to hearth. Nightfall claims Ash’s powers may be used for something great later on, even if she couldn’t save her sister now. KVN still has his forever ball and H.U.E. spends his time playing darts in his room. The groom is ready for his wedding, and Fox gets emotional. Clarence retreats into the bathroom to get the key back. Next stop; the wedding. Unfortunately, Fox accidentally pushes the groom out of the ship while it’s still up in the air, and he falls to his death, right in front of the bride.

## Cast

* Ashly Burch as Ash Graven
* Steven Yeun as Little Cato and Mr. Graven
* Olan Rogers as Gary, Mooncake, and Tribore
* Tobias Conan Trost as Werthrent
* Tika Sumpter as Nightfall and Harp Graven
* Fred Armisen as KVN and Groom
* Tom Kenny as H.U.E. and Septim
* Ron Funches as Fox
* Conan O'Brien as Clarence
* Jane Lynch as A.V.A., Mrs. Graven and Bride

## Final Thoughts

For behind the scenes of this episode, see https://www.adultswim.com/videos/final-space/final-thoughts-s-2-e-3.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode directed by a woman in the show.
* Watched by 496.000 viewers when it premiered on Adult Swim.