The Set Up

Season 2, Episode 11

 **The Set Up** is the eleventh episode in the Final Space series. It aired on September 9, 2019 on Adult Swim and September 16, 2019 on TBS.

## Plot

An act of betrayal shakes the crew; H.U.E. and Mooncake have a day out for themselves.

## Summary

The episode opens on Tera Con Prime, where Sheryl Goodspeed steals the Dimensional Key from the ruins of the Lord Commander’s castle (the same key the Team Squad tried to steal in the past in “The Remembered”, but were forced to give up again). She and the Team Squad now both have 2 keys.

On the Crimson Light, the crew celebrates Carnivolo with a group dinner, though Gary and Nightfall would rather spend their time looking for keys. Clarence invites everybody to lavish praise on each other, but to his dismay nobody praises him (while A.V.A. finally admits she likes H.U.E.). Even his own adopted kids choose others to praise, with Fox choosing KVN. Fed up that nobody praises him on the holiday he invented, Clarence disowns Fox and Ash and storms off. Once he is alone, he is contacted by Sheryl, who asks him he if thought about her offer. Clarence has.

A little later, Clarence summons everybody to the bridge, claiming to have found a Dimensional Key. He also apologizes for his outburst earlier. He claims a contact of him named Horace will wait for them on the Darga Space Port, at the Drilling Factory. H.U.E. and Mooncake plan to have a night out while at Darga. As the Crimson Light arrives at Darga, Clarence announces he won’t come to the Drilling Factory. He claims he has 2 tickets for his favorite singer and wants to go see her performance. Fox would like to come too, so Clarence asks him to get the tickets. Once everyone is gone, Clarence disables A.V.A.’s security protocol and takes the keys. When A.V.A. objects, he deactivates her.

Mooncake and H.U.E. begin their night out with a shopping spree. H.U.E. has his eyes set on a fancy hat, but doesn’t have enough dropnoids to pay for it. He decides to enter the Battle Royal; a fighting match for robots, with the grand prize being 10.000 dropnoids. The other robots are far more advanced and stronger than H.U.E.. This actually works to his advantage, since the other robots ignore him and take out each other, leaving H.U.E. as the last robot standing, and thus the winner.

On the Crimson Light, Clarence sneaks off with the keys when Fox unexpectedly returns and catches him in the act. Clarence snaps, admits he made up the whole concert, and that he has found someone who loves him. He no longer needs the Team Squad or his kids. Fox points his cannon arm at Clarence to demand the keys back, but Clarence gets the drop on him and zaps him with a taser.
Fox collapses, and bumps his head in the process, giving him a severe head injury. With his last strength, he drags himself to the bridge and turns A.V.A. back on. The others meanwhile arrive at the drilling factory, which turns out to be a brothel and there is no-one named Horace waiting for them there. Then Fox calls Ash to warn her about Clarence’ betrayal. Ash hurries back to the ship to help Fox, while Nightfall, Gary and Little Cato go after Clarence. Gary sends KVN to go with Ash.

At the Battle Royal arena, H.U.E. demands his price money. The announcer
claims the money is being kept safe on top of the tallest tower in the space port. H.U.E. has to go get it. When H.U.E., Mooncake and the announcer get to the top floor, they find some shady types waiting for him. The announcer’s name is revealed to be Ziznack. And he wants H.U.E. to take back the loot these criminals apparently stole from him. As a gunfight begins between Ziznack and the gang, H.U.E. grabs a suitcase, and he and Mooncake jump out the window. Then three police ships arrive and open fire. H.U.E. uses his stretching arms and legs to descend from the building, only to find more police officers waiting for him on the ground floor.

Nightfall, Gary and Little Cato find Clarence. As they chase him, Clarence reveals he was wearing a skinsuit the whole time, and is actually a snakerat. He flees with a hovercar, so Nightfall steals an animal named Chucky to pursuit him. Gary promises his owner they will bring him back. On the Crimson Light, Ash uses her powers to get Fox to the infirmary. Fox’ mechanical life-support system is shorting out, and A.V.A doesn’t have the Tritanium to fix it. Ash can’t believe Clarence would sink this low. KVN recalls the good times he had with Fox and Ash, and decides to sacrifice his falanger to give A.V.A. the tritanium. This at the cost of losing his own sanity. It works;
Fox is stabilizing.

Chucky catches up with Clarence, and Gary and Little Cato jump on the hovercar. Clarence jumps out of the car, forcing Gary and Little Cato to follow. As they corner him on a train, Clarence sheds another skinsuit and reveals himself to be an insectile alien. In this body, he can fly. He easily escapes Gary and Little Cato and makes his way to Sheryl. Then he sheds the insect skinsuit too, and revels his true form, which is identical to his first skinsuit. He gives Sheryl the 2 Dimensional Keys. She in return reveals she knows the final key is on Rugaro. When Clarence tries to come with her however, she coldly rejects him, stating they will never be together. It’s Clarence’s own fault he sacrificed everything. After she’s gone, Nightfall and Gary catch up with Clarence again. He tells them everything he knows to try and regain their trust, to no avail; Gary has enough of Clarence’s backstabbing and they leave him behind.

At the tallest building, H.U.E. gives up the briefcase with the 10.000 Dropnoids. The police officers recognizes it as the stolen loot from the Zirdoninix Robbery. Mooncake and H.U.E. are promptly declared heroes for retrieving the stolen money, and given the planet’s highest honor. They receive medals, a reward of 50.000 Dropnoids, and to top it all off, the hat H.U.E. wanted the money for in the first place.

Later, on the Crimson Light, Gary is barely holding on after losing all the Dimensional Keys. He feels he failed Quinn. Ash reminds him they need a win, not just for Quinn but also for Fox. Nightfall assures Gary they will get the keys back. But first they have to return Chucky, who is still on board with them. Meanwhile, Sheryl and Todd get to Rugaro. Using the Nymerian Cube, Sheryl contacts another Titan which she is apparently working for. He has promised her to get John back in return for the Dimensional Keys.

## Cast

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

## Final Thoughts

For behind the scenes about this episode, see https://www.adultswim.com/videos/final-space/final-thoughts-s-2-e-11.

## Trivia

* Watched by 549.000 viewers on Adult Swim.
* During his flashbacks, KVN remembers himself being part of the Mega-KVN from The First Times They Met. However, he wasn’t part of this KVN in that episode.
* Claudia Black and Christopher Judge both starred in the series *Stargate SG-1*.