Solar Opposites Has Best Season Yet With Season 5
Solar Opposites Season 5 Review
When Solar Opposites first came out, I only watched it because it was co-created by Justin Roiland, the co-creator of Rick and Morty. Fast forward to season five, and not only has Roiland fallen from grace, but I might be more of a fan of its other co-creator, Mike McMahan. It helps that I spent the off-season binging Mike’s other hit show, Star Trek: Lower Decks. Watching that and seeing his style of humor has made me appreciate Solar Opposites’ ability to stand on its own, Roiland’s reputation be darned. With the fifth season now out, I can safely say that the show that has become three shows-in-one is better than ever. The humor of the Opposites is hilariously on-point. The story of The Wall has evolved past its original premise to my enjoyment. Even the Silvercops story has taken off! It’s just a really good time!
Status Quo is Back Already?
If you’ll recall, last season of Solar Opposites ended with our favorite Shlorpians turning into humans, a result of them going too long without terraforming Earth. To change back, they left Earth to settle on another planet to reset everything. Anyone who had hoped for this to become a season-long arc, though, will be disappointed by the season premiere. The Solar Opposites return to normal, and after a misadventure on their second adoptive homeworld, they return to Earth. The status quo is God trope is in full effect here.
While some might see this as a way for the show to get out of new and exciting stories, I don’t mind Solar Opposites resetting almost everything. That’s because this lets it explore a new development that came about in the Valentine’s Day Special earlier this year: Terry and Korvo are now married. The chance to see Terry and Korvo navigate life as newlyweds more than makes up for missing out on seeing the show start over on another planet! The show and its staff seems to be aware of this, as the second episode revolves around the two discovering what a honeymoon is and enjoying the perks. And, in true Solar Opposites fashion, they use sci-fi to extend the week so they can keep milking it.
The Solar Opposites are Funnier than Ever
That’s only the second episode. The rest of the season includes things like:
- Fighting off Jesse’s ex-boyfriends
- Korvo’s rivalry with another dad straight out of Looney Tunes
- Terry bailing on a Live Die Repeat adventure
- The Pupa’s dynamic with JK Sevens.
Yes, the Pupa ends up gaining a frenemy this season in the form of the alien robot JK Sevens. As the series itself lampshades, Sevens’ is a character shoehorned in for potential merchandising purposes. What saves Sevens from being a full-on Scrappy is the fact that this gives the Pupa someone else to interact with, and the dynamic they have is pretty fun. It’s like a little kid having to deal with the fact that he’s no longer the youngest child and the perks that come with it. It works pretty well.
In addition to this, there’s one episode late in the season that winds up revealing something crucial that changes the narrative of the series. As it turns out, there was another member of the team that was meant to be leader, but that everyone had forgotten about. Furthermore, had they remained in charge, Earth would’ve been terraformed a long time ago. What makes this even more important is that at this point, the Solar Opposites recognize that their planet wasn’t perfect. It could benefit from some of the things that Earth has to offer. With this missing leader still out there, that sews the seeds for conflict down the road, and I’m looking forward to it.
I’m Growing to Like the Silvercops Story
Speaking of conflict, the Silvercops story continues, and like The Wall, it’s become a big selling point for the show. With Glen having changed his appearance entirely, he becomes set on his mission to get back into the Silvercops and take them down. So, the show throws him a curveball and gives him a friend who wants to reform them from the inside. In other words, Glen gets a Suzaku to his Lelouch from Code Geass. Much like Code Geass, though, the events that follow only validate Glen’s perspective: the Silvercops need to go down. And by the end of the season, he’s made new allies to help him with it.
I didn’t think that I would enjoy the Silvercops story as much as I have, but like The Wall before it, it’s a really good show-within-a-show. It gives the series a chance to tell stories that it couldn’t with the Solar Opposites, and it’s showing the consequences their actions are having on the rest of the universe. That, and I hate corrupt cops and like seeing them go down.
The Wall Expands to the Backyard!
In the past, I’ve made my reviews for each season primarily about The Wall. That was the aspect of Solar Opposites that everyone liked the most, with the show and Hulu acknowledging how important it is. They even made a separate season trailer for the show focused entirely on it. Ironically, this season doesn’t follow anything taking place in the Wall. Instead, it shifts its focus to the Backyard, home to all those who fled the Bowinian Church’s assault.
The decision to expand the world of the Wall to include the Backyard felt like a smart decision. After four seasons of exploring Jesse and Yumyulack’s prison from top to bottom, it was time to grow the story beyond its initial premise. And much like the Wall, getting to see how the shrunken humans adapted to life in what is essentially a new wild west frontier was just as fun. From building cities out of basketballs and digging up alcohol bottles in the sandbox to taming the local animals, the Backyard proves just as interesting a setting as the Wall. As an added bonus, one of the new POV characters is voiced by Clancy Brown!
Surprisingly, though, the Backyard doesn’t really continue the story of Cherie until near the end of the season. As the Backyard is gripped by a drought and a conspiracy (which is awesome), Cherie wants nothing more than to stay out of all the nonsense for good. She refuses to take power for herself because she’s seen what it does to people. However, events inevitably drag her back into the plot, and the results aren’t pretty. Seemingly hitting her breaking point, Cherie decides to take power over the Wall as its new Queen. Given the fate of all previous leaders, this bodes ill for her.
If that wasn’t enough, though, the final moments of the Backyard story see the return of a character long dead thanks to Terry trying to fix the Backyard. What a twist!
The Show Keeps Getting Better and Better
Overall, this was the best season of the Solar Opposites to date. The series has come a long way from being that show that people watched because Justin Roiland co-created it. Now it’s capable of standing on its own two feet. While it’s sad to know that we have to wait another year for the sixth season, we’ll have a special coming in the fall to tide us over.
I Give Season 5 of Solar Opposites a 4.5/5
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