Now that Netflix has green lit a second season of Lost In Space, we need to discuss why Penny is the true hero of season one.
This isn’t to say that the other characters are unimportant or don’t fill necessary roles. But when you step back and look at how the Robinson family’s adventures unfolded during their inaugural voyage into the final frontier, you really have to tip your hat to their red headed middle child.
Video Netflix
The first thing you have to remember, outside of some shenanigans by momma Robinson and the person we would come to know as Dr. Smith, every colonist who was headed to Alpha Centauri passed rigorous testing. The human race was essentially sending the cream of the genetic crop to their far flung colony in the wake of a (vaguely described) natural disaster that would soon render the Earth uninhabitable.
But while it’s easy to see what the other Robinsons bring to the table, the only thing the show reveals about Penny (played by Mina Sundwell) is that she’s an aspiring writer. And while we can debate the merits of having English Lit major on Humanity’s first interstellar colony, the fact is she doesn’t possess the engineering or scientific resume most of her family members do (while Dad didn’t graduate school with any PhDs in science, his military skill set makes him just as valuable as the other Robinsons).
Yet Penny becomes an invaluable member of the space faring clan despite that. When her sister Judy (the family’s medical expert) is trapped in ice, Penny steps up and performs life saving surgery on her mother in the middle of a crisis with only Judy’s instructions over the radio to guide her. And while the normally gung-ho Judy is recovering from her icy ordeal, Penny (who may not even have a driver’s license) charges into a hostile alien environment in the family’s outer space SUV to rescue her parents from a killer storm (describing it as “bumper cars where everyone dies” was one of the more priceless lines of the show).
And while she does make a pretty sizeable error in judgement when she reveals the planet the colonists have been squatting on is doomed to the son of the colonial administrator (who then tries to abandon everyone else), she makes up for it by saving said boy’s dumb ass from a giant carnivorous bat later on.
But other than the heroics (and perhaps more importantly), Penny provided the emotional glue her family needed. Particularly when it was on the verge of flying apart at the seems.
After getting conflicting instructions from her parental units, Penny’s trademark sarcasm about who she should be listening to was the hint her parents needed to get themselves on the same survival page. When asked by her mother Maureen if she expects too much of her children, Penny grows unusually sombre before responding “No, but I don’t think you expect too little from Dad.” It was the nudge needed for a necessary reconciliation between the two senior Robinsons.
And Penny was the first to appreciate and respect the emotional rapport Will shared with his mysterious Robot, a complicated relationship that wound up saving them all in the end.
This isn’t to undermine the contributions made by and importance of the rest of the family. Maureen is the scientific genius and unquestioned leader, father John is the muscle and, when on top of her game, Judy is the tenacious doctor who provides the family with their moral compass. And let’s be honest, while Will has plenty of scientific know how himself, his biggest role is as the occasional leash holder for a highly advanced, killer robot.
Even Dr. Smith plays a part in the family dynamic. She’s the personification of cold, selfish survival instincts as well as the inevitable redemption story. The once hopeless orphan who find salvation.
But so far Penny has been the heart of the Robinsons. No more so than in times of need (which happen a lot during a show called Lost in Space). And while brains, muscles, tenacity and killer robots will all come in handy during the voyage to safety, I have a funny feeling it will be heart that carries the day at the end of the Robinsons journey
Image Netflix Studios
