Lost In Space – Season 3 Episode 1 “Three Little Birds” Recap & Review

Three Little Birds

Episode 1 of Lost in Space Season 3 begins with Penny keeping an eye on Judy as she heads aboard the abandoned Fortuna shuttle. It’s abandoned, for the most part. However, the lander is missing. As she makes her way to the main console, Judy tries to make contact.

Unfortunately Judy doesn’t get long to work with the controls, as an extra-large asteroid is inbound to the shuttle. Thankfully Judy manages to make it back to her ship, but it’s certainly touch and go for a while.

We then cut forward 349 days later. It’s been almost a year and the Robinson kids have made a neat little home for themselves, next to the shadow of Jupiter 2. It turns out the planet died a long time ago but how or why is unknown.

The Jupiter’s computer found a place deep in the valley allowing life to thrive. So that’s good enough for our 97 kids to make a place of their own. Corn yield is up 3%, solar rays are optimized and batteries are back to full charge. Falling asteroids are still a problem though, as time begins to run out. What should have taken a few weeks to get back on track to Alpha Centauri, is now taking months.

Penny is distracted too, while the lack of adults turns this into a mash-up of Lord of the Flies and The 100, without the conch, bickering and infighting… for now. One thing’s for certain though – they’re not going anywhere without Will being able to refine titanium. And for Smith, she’s angsty about how long that’s taking.

Unfortunately an incoming meteor completely disrupts their plans as Judy works to organize everyone into the bunker. Thankfully they’re okay, which is just as well given Liam and Penny were busy hooking up while the rocks shattered into the planet. Judy reminds her of her responsibilities; she’s part of the crew and it’s about time she acted like it.

These falling meteors are part of a larger problem though. With debris crowding the orbital field, they need to leave before it’s too late. If they don’t, the gang are going to be stuck on the planet. Will needs more titanium and confirms if he does manage to obtain enough, they’d be able to leave in 4 days – enough time before everything gets crazy. So naturally, Judy leads an expedition to find more.

Luckily though there’s a raw titanium extract two miles away. It’s a risky operation, they need their space suits and they’ve only got one shot at getting this right. No pressure!

While Will and the others begin their ascent up the valley, Smith stays behind on ground level. She senses Will is hiding something and tries to pry that information from Robot. However, it stays quiet.

Smith instead heads over to Will’s office, desperate to find out what he’s working on. “Will Robinson… not such a hero after all,” She smirks, looking over the documents strewn across his workspace.

Up on the cliff-face, Vikjay ends injured so Liam is forced to descend with him and take the guy back to base. This leaves Penny, Judy and Will to press on and find the titanium. However, they’re attacked by strange rock termites that begin taking the rock out from under them. With time of the essence, the kids decide to press on and grab the titanium. There’s no way they’ll be able to go down now.

After flying up and grabbing the gear, thanks to some ingenious fly-gear, the Robinson kids make it back to camp triumphantly. However, Smith immediately confronts Will about what he’s hiding. Apparently he’s bee cooking the books, with a lot of titanium ore that just went missing inexplicably. Smith deduces that Will has been sabotaging their chances of getting back to Alpha Centauri.

Only, in a nice little twist it’s not actually Will after all. It was Robot. His core directive – “Help Will Robinson” – came into play and he did what he thought was right. Will decides to confront the much larger problem plaguing him head-on. Once they reach Alpha Centauri, Robot and Will will go off together, alone, to face the danger.

Meanwhile, John finds himself on a forest planet with two hours to get to safety until lightning strikes. He works with his troops to evade deadly predators and make it back to the ship. Unfortunately a stray flashlight gives them away. Beckett, the unfortunate soul, is obliterated for his troubles.

John manages to make it back to the Sunshine Base but their odds don’t look great. They need to be smart; bravery won’t get them far. Maureen eventually catches up with John, who breaks the news that they need to clear out the kids’ room. However, with the kids now gone, Maureen is struggling, burying herself in her work instead. At least to start with. John hasn’t given up hope and as such, they set out to try and bring their kids back.

Meanwhile, back with the kids, several meteors smash down onto the planet. Robot sees this take place and sets off, discovering a beautiful and mysterious alien city.

The Episode Review

So Lost in Space returns and the first episode gets off to a decent start. There’s lots of action, although some is a little contrived, but largely in keeping with the tone and mood of this series.

Likewise, the Robinson family are all just as likable as they were before, and there’s some clear tensions between the characters. Visually, Lost In Space continues to impress and the different worlds look brilliant, and unlike something like Another Life, this show is at least consistent and grounded in reality – to an extent.

The first season felt really rough around the edges at times but the second season certainly came into its own. This third season looks to be following suit, setting up a thrilling and exciting final season for the Robinson family to engage in.

Quite what the rest of the season has in store for us remains a mystery but one thing’s for sure – this is going to be an exciting season ahead of us!