If you were a fan of Friends (1994) and The Office (2005), imagine if, in a parallel universe, Phoebe Buffay was married to the crazy and funny Michael Scott, and instead of running a paper company, this time, he runs the Space Force of the United States. That’s what Space Force, an original Netflix comedy, is all about.
The show tells the story of General Mark Naird (Carell), who was chosen to run the new Space Force of the United States. After moving with his family to Colorado, Naird faces a lot of challenges – such as helping his daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) fit in at a new city and his relationship with his wife Maggie (Kudrow). But he has a bigger problem: he needs to be successful in his mission to send men to the moon again by 2024.
Naird faces his own inability to occupy one of the highest positions in the U.S government. He has to lead a team of scientists and astronauts, but he doesn’t know anything about science. In some scenes, it’s like we’re seeing the old Michael Scott when he had to make decisions towards something he’s not sure of. To help him with that, he has Dr. Mallory (Malkovich) by his side, a scientist that supports him in almost every situation. Throughout the series, we are able to see these two different characters develop a good friendship despite all the mockery and fights.
The series is a clear reference to 2018, when Donald Trump created the Space Force and the project didn’t sit well with the public, who thought it was a crazy idea to colonize space. It’s also a satire of the trade war between China and the United States. But the show is not all about comedy, it also speaks about love not being the only thing that sustains a relationship, the difficulties of parenthood, and the importance of friendship.
With songs by The Beach Boys and old jokes we’ve already seen in The Office, Space Force mixes strong and melancholic moments with a lot of comedy scenes. If you want a sitcom to laugh to, but also to get you emotional, this is the one!
The article above was edited by Laura Okida.
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