Too soon! “Space Force” laughs at the unlaughable and flops spectacularly

Artikkel - Matei Norbert Balan

Movies and TV shows flop for various reasons. Sometimes the overall execution doesn’t quite hit the spot. At other times it’s the unfortunate historical context. With “Space Force”, Netflix’s attempt to put a smile on our faces when it comes to Donald Trump’s disastrous presidency and international influence, we have both. The show spectacularly botches both the baking and the frosting by trying to recycle the recipe that made “The Office” great, and then by laughing at something that just isn’t funny anymore.

Foto/ Imdb

“The Office” (US) concluded seven years ago and thankfully nobody is directing an extra season, or a feature film that’s either a sequel or a prequel. That is if you don’t count the series’ writer, Greg Daniels, and main star, Steve Carell, trying to recapture the same comedic recipe in the new Netflix series, “Space Force”. This time around Carell is Mark Naird, a decorated four-star Air Force general, who is handed the perplexing task of turning a Tweet, Donald Trump’s rant about a new military branch, into a credible governmental entity.

The newly-formed Space Force’s agenda is to put “boots on the moon” and from there to establish American dominance over Space. But from the government’s new program to Naird’s personal life the whole plan runs into a few setbacks. The sky-high budget needs to be constanly defended amid failed launches, some diplomatic conflicts with competing nations must be handled with utmost care, a “chimpstronaut” must be guided to repair a satellite, Naird’s wife, Maggie, played by Lisa Kudrow, ends up in a maximum security prison, and his daughter, Erin, played by Diana Silvers, pulls the old teeanger forced to move from sweet life to middle-of-nowhere life routine. From the get-go, it becomes clear that the show carelessly mixes serious and silly elements, not being able to decide if it wants to be some sort of clever satire, or a farcical and goofy imitation of a political thriller.

Steve Carell might not be Michael Scott anymore, but he’s still managing an office of oddballs and clueless buffoons. Except this time the trick doesn’t work the same for us. The cast, mostly made up of comedians who are not cut from the same cloth, like Ben Scwartz, who plays Naird’s PR manager, and Fred Willard, who plays Naird’s father, fails to cohere, like the cast for “The Office” did in its depiction of a highly dysfonctional but somehow productive workplace.

Naturally, the show throws a few punches at the current US admnistration. Trump is never mentioned by name and remains an outside the screen character for the entirety of the show. But when characters discuss his tweeting habits and slur you can’t miss which world leader they’re referencing. There’s also the Russian spy who strolls around the top secret Space Froce headquarters with permission from the POTUS - an obvious wink to Donald Trump’s presidency and the Russia probe. And then we have the eager-to-please first lady who takes over the designing of the new space suits, which turn out to be a complete disaster and a laughingstock - Melania Trump once more turns out to be an easy target. And this is maybe the biggest reason why the show flopped.

Donald Trump’s tweets might have seemed funny to the world in the first months of his presidency, but ever since he has used them to escalate diplomatic tenssions with nations like Iran and North Korea, childlishly attack political rivals, threaten companies who oppose or question him, and scare the current Black Lives Matter protesters with military force, nobody is in the mood for lauhing at his erratic behavior anymore. Trump’s rule by tweet may be played for laughs in “Space Force”, like in the scene where the generals at the top of the US military food chain await their briefing via a public tweet, like the rest of us, but in our world these very same tweets spark panic.

It is true that a staple of a good Greg Daniels show, like it has been the case with both “The Office” and “ Parks and Recreation”, is a disappointing debut season. But with the way Trump is handling things at the moment, this time around Daniels might be against more than jokes that don’t stick the landing, and a cast that needs time and patience to make us laugh.