Lost in Space Recap: A Father and Daughter Bond

This recap of Netflix Series Lost in Space Season 2, Episode 5, “Run” contains significant spoilers.

• Read the Season 2 review.
• Read the recap of Episode 6.
• Read the recap of the previous episode (4).
• Access the archive of all the episode recaps.

Episode 5 heightens the stakes. As usual, though, Lost in Space is obsessed with problem after problem for these characters. I’d have given up by now and just settled on a planet.

Episode 5, “Run” begins with a young Judy presenting at school on who her heroes are. She dedicates her presentation to Grant Kelly, her biological father. But then she dedicates the second half of her presentation to her adopted father — John Robinson (Toby Stephens) who is watching from a distance with proud tears in his eyes. In the present day, John is still stuck down the water well. In a moment of bad luck, the water well collapses even more and he falls to the bottom, and in the process of doing so, he impales himself.

20 miles away at the Colonist camp, Judy is helping patients. I wondered why Episode 5 gives the audience a distance but it becomes obvious later.

John radios into Judy about being impaled — a metal rod going right through him. He gives Judy his vitals and she gives him medical advice, which is mostly not to move. Judy heads out, but the well site workers say it is going to take 3 hours and 40 minutes until they can get to her father. She insists they cannot wait that long and states she will drive the Chariot to the other side to save him.

Meanwhile, Maureen, Ben, and Will are heading to the planet. Maureen admits to Ben that she does not understand Will’s connection to the Robot.

Back on the Resolute, and Penny notices that Captain Radic has collapsed. He had Dr. Smith in custody. Dr Smith has claimed to be a therapist and now has an office. Penny goes to visit her to check on Smith as her suspicions heighten. She notices that Dr. Smith has put a note in the trash.

In another moment of bad luck (there seems to be a lot of unlucky moments), Judy crashes the Chariot. The mysterious element that is turning metal to dust begins to eat through the vehicle. She radios in to her father and decides she will have to run back to the well as quickly as possible — it’s a lot of kilometers. Flashbacks reveal that she was good at track and field.

Back to Penny and she has a moment where she runs into her ex Vijay in class. She asks if she can partner up with him and tells Vijay about her suspicions regarding Dr. Smith. Penny needs Vijay’s help to get the note from the trash that Smith threw away.

The only problem with this subplot is we already know that Dr. Smith cannot be trusted but it forms a good story arc for Penny.

Episode 5, “Run” shows another flashback; Judy and John go on a run and race to the trash can in the park. In the present day, Judy is sprinting while her father is struggling at the bottom of the well — his heart rate and temperature are not looking good. Judy has to take a risk to speed up her journey and decides to run on the outside of the perimeter fence, which is a faster route. Meanwhile, Penny and Vijay trespass certain areas of the Resolute in order to check out the trash.

Judy gets herself into bother by breaching the perimeter; what looks like alien dinosaurs end up chasing her en route and she ends up trapped. A flashback shows her father giving rules on camping in the wild and always looking for options. Judy heroically jumps across multiple cliff edges to getaway.

In the trash dump looking for the note, Vijay asks if he and Penny are friends; he then asks what she meant by him being a bad kisser — it’s clear he has been obsessing over it. It is revealed that Vijay was Penny’s first kiss after a bit of back and forth. Penny finds part of the note that says “killed” in one of Smith’s trash bags. But, you guessed it! There’s another problem as one of the Resolute’s staff members turns on the compactor, which would squish both of them to death. Penny’s foot is stuck and Vijay leaves her to turn off the compactor — Penny in a panicked moment believed Vijay left her to die. After Vijay saves her, he admits that Penny was his first kiss.

In a slight segway to the main events in Lost in Space Season 2, Episode 5, Maureen tells Ben that Will acts very grown up now. Ben engages in the conversation and states that he has children of his own — twins in fact — but he did not go with them in the fifth colonist group as he had a job to do. Ben says that in the end, it was lucky that Will passed the test to come on this trip. Maureen slyly agrees knowing full well she fudged his test.

Back to Judy who continues running. A flashback shows John speaking to Judy as he returns to the family after leaving them. He expresses that he is back for good and that they can all be a family again. Judy quickly dismisses the conversation. Back in the present, a frail John tells the story of when he first saw Judy and that he knew his adopted daughter was going to be a “force of nature”. Judy questions why John is telling her this — “you don’t need your old man anymore”. Judy then describes life without John; her mother would become distant, Penny will become bitter and Will will retreat within himself, while Judy keeps the family together like she always does. Judy explains that she will hate her father for giving up because she needs him. We are then presented flashbacks of lovely moments between them both as father and daughter. This was a well-put-together emotional moment.

Judy reaches the water well and funnels the supplies down to John. After a moment of silence and not hearing from John, he injects himself and he is hoisted out of the well. Judy gives him an IV and assures him that he will be okay as a tearful John looks relieved.

As we near to the end, Penny and Vijay head back to class. Penny puts the note together that says “curiosity killed the cat”. Dr. Smith turns up and asks for Penny. She says, “I hope the note you found in the dumpster was worth it” — Dr. Smith knows Penny is keeping an eye on her. Dr. Smith then claims she is protecting Penny and she doesn’t want people to think Penny is delusional. I’m hedging bets that Dr. Smith claims Penny is having a mental breakdown and puts her under close supervision.

Lost in Space Season 2, Episode 5, “Run” ends with Ben, Will, and Maureen heading towards the planet. Penny, Dr. Smith, and Vijay notice that the ship floors in front of them are deteriorating. The mysterious element has reached the Resolute.

Space Logs

• In the trash dump, Penny finds Oreos and sees if there are any left.
• Don is looking into the chemical element that is turning metal into dust — it spreads through contact.