'Vagrant Queen' Episode 2 Review: A karaoke battle, space gorillas and Amae's rockstar act make for a fun watch
Spoilers for 'Vagrant Queen' Episode 2: 'Yippee Kay Yay'
Syfy's intergalactic action-comedy notched up a decent 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes along with mixed reviews, but that seems to be a thing the writers are not really bothered about. Instead, it seems the idea is to give the audience and the newer-generation a taste of what it means to be an '80s kid. The green aliens, space gorillas, a green Lil cutey of a rabbit that's pretty much competition to Baby Yoda, and some great music were all elements that made space dramas an enjoyable affair back in the day, and the series probably aims to do just that.
The title is borrowed from Bruce Willis' 'Die Hard' and the phrase does find some use when Isaac (Tim Rozon), Elida (Adriyan Rae) and Amae (Alex McGregor) fend-off a cannibal tribe attack after landing on planet Griebos to fuel up. It does give off a bit of the 'Thor: Ragnarok' vibes as the planet is basically a space dump yard infested with gorillas and cannibals, and if imprisoned, the only way out is by winning a karaoke battle against a fellow prisoner.
Predictably, the trio manage to get caught by the cannibals and despite a sliver of hope after Amae saves them, Isaac and Elida's enmity ensures they're captured again. Speaking of the duo, the episode also gives a flashback about how they met and why they hate each other. Isaac is helped out of a situation by Elida and in return gives her the ship, Winnipeg. They scavenge and make a living for quite sometime before he finds out Elida's true background. Isaac looks at the background as a way to make more money which sees Elida cut him off.
'Yippee Kay Yay' uses these storylines to simply explain the importance of teamwork and friendship — themes that form the crux of almost every superhero/team-up series, cartoons or movies for that matter. While the majority of the first half deals with Isaac and Elida's past while they attempt to break out of the prison and contact Amae, the second half is at its funniest. The cannibals' idea of the karaoke battle is to flash a song on the big screen and whoever wins, lives to see another day, while the loser literally is barbecued as their meal.
It may come across as amusing and mindless that these cannibals have a DJ in the house and the song of choice is 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now' by Starship. Challenge: Croon to perfection or be cooked to perfection. The hero of the trio is undoubtedly Amae as she manages to save the team each time they're in dire straits, and her attraction to Elida is pretty evident. In the end, it's all good as they fight their way out of the karaoke battle.
There's a minor storyline about Lazaro (Paul du Toit) torturing one of Elida's creatures about her whereabouts, and it ends badly for the latter as he commits suicide instead of telling the truth. While there's surely going to be enough Lazaro vs Elida in the episodes to come, 'Yippee Kay Yay' comes across as refresher. For those who liked 'Vagrant Queen', this one's worth the watch.
Created by Jem Garrard, 'Vagrant Queen' airs Friday on Syfy at 10 pm ET/PT.