Space Force is the latest comedy series from the people who created the American version of The Office starring Steve Carell and John Malkovich.

Carell plays a button down by the book career military man General Mark Naird who thinks he’s about to be promoted to being in charge of the US Airforce but is instead given the lead role of the new military wing Space Force, a name he scoffed at just moments earlier. General Naird has a complicated life and being given the task of putting boots on the moon by 2024 is about to make things more complex. 

The cast in Space Force is quite large and very strong with special emphasis on John Malkovich as Dr.Adrian Mallory. He absolutely delights and steals the spotlight in every scene he’s in. He’s cynical about the military program and sharply sarcastic and witty. His character is a delight and seeing him get lose his cool at someone over a video conference call where they tell each other to “F off” multiple times cracked me up.

It’s not all laughs and chuckles though. There is plenty of that to go around but I feel like they had too many side stories on the go. His complicated relationship with his daughter Erin(Diana Silvers) who is trying to figure herself out in the midst of being the General’s daughter and her mom spending time in prison. His feud with nemesis Kick Grabaston (Noah Emmerich). The Russians who are trying to steal technologies. These are just a few of the side stories that never get fully fleshed out. And that’s not even all of the side stories

All this to say that I really enjoyed my time with the Space Force. I was able to find some great humor in each of the 10 half hour-ish episodes. Some more than others (episode 2 about killed me at one point). I’m hopeful we’ll get a second season and that they turn down the number of side stories bit. I’d like to see what happens next. 

Space Force is out May 29th on Netflix

Kaneda