'Space Force': Steve Carell is a working father juggling home, a daughter and the POTUS in new Netflix series
Spoilers for 'Space Force' Season 1
Early on in Netflix's latest comedy series 'Space Force', Steve Carell, who plays the role of a four-star general named Mark R Naird, a decorated pilot with dreams of running the air force, is thrown for a loop when he is made in charge of the newly formed sixth branch of the US Armed Forces: the Space Force. Following this, he uproots his family from Washington DC and moved to a remote base in Colorado where he must now ensure that America has its "boots on the Moon" by 2024.
Mark has a teenage daughter, Erin Naird (Diana Silvers) who first comes across as insolent, but soon enough it is revealed that the family dynamics is not at all the way you have expected to be. As it turns out, Mark's wife and Erin's mother, Maggie (Lisa Kudrow) is actually in prison serving a sentence (and is going to remain in prison for the next forty years). Although her crime is not revealed, despite Maggie being in jail, it looks like she shares a good relationship with her daughter and husband. It goes without saying that Mark has a very stressful, high profile job. Heading the Space Force and making even the smallest of decisions are of utmost importance because the POTUS is literally on his neck. For instance, one time when things went slightly wrong -- for no fault of Mark's -- the POTUS cancels his conjugal visit with Maggie in jail.
At home too, things are not exactly easy. Mark, an out-and-out military man, is almost incapable of communicating with his daughter. A suppressor of feelings, he represses and he has no idea how he can convey his thoughts to his daughter. He is fully aware that the reason his daughter is nearly always mad at him is that she had been plucked out from her environment in Washington DC and brought here to this remote place in Colorado that she despises. Apart from constantly feeling like a fish out of water, Erin also feels lonely with Maggie in jail.
There are other moments where Mark simply cannot talk to his daughter, at least in the way she hopes him to. Like a true military father, Mark's immediate response to getting his daughter to clean the kitchen counter after her is to give her a "direct order" -- one that she immediately walks out on. Yet it should be noted that Mark is a good father. After staying awake for almost two days, he returns home to Erin struggling with her trigonometry homework. Insisting that he help her out despite his fatigue, it shows that Mark wishes he had more time with his teenage daughter.
In Netflix's 'Space Force', Steve Carell plays the military man juggling quite a few balls: his dedication to his job, POTUS on his back constantly watching the runnings of Space Force -- also being a killjoy on several occasions -- a teenage daughter he has little communication with and a bit of a dysfunctional workplace. All while keeping the vision intact - "American boots on the Moon".
Season 1 of 'Space Force' is currently streaming on Netflix.