So... what now? Well, it's hard to say. And I've spent the past five days milling over how to go about addressing Chapter Ten, and it's not any easier than it was before. There's a lot to discuss here, so let's take a quick moment to get those feels worked out. Take your time. Deep breaths. Ready? Good. Let's go.
First of all, and before we tackle the meat of anything else, Chapter Ten is a spectacle of animation. Final Space has consistently proven itself to lovingly understand the craft, but the cinematography on display here is unparalleled and a perfect demonstration of how strong of an effect it can have on the atmosphere of the show: there's tension, there's drama, there's anguish. Everything about Final Space goes hand-in-hand with no component more important than the other.
And just as the animation is a culmination of the show, so too is the narrative. Final Space understands, perhaps ironically, finality; it's something the show has taken advantage of time and time again, and Chapter 10 is the most ruthless episode yet. (At least until the ending, which we'll get to.) On paper, it's an episode that slowly goes through our heroes, but in practice, it's an intense study of character relations, of increasingly helplessness, and of loss, both glorified (Quinn) and unglorified (Little Cato, who Gary accidentally knocks into space after ramming him with the Galaxy 1 on-course for the Lord Commander's ship).