Lost In Space Season 3 Ending Explained: Trust, Will Robinson

For many shows, but especially one with a three-season arc as tight and cohesive as that of "Lost in Space," it's impossible to fully appreciate the ending without a reminder of how things started. The series finale may find the expanded Robinson family sitting around the dinner table in an atmosphere of warmth and affection, but that same family started out cold. And I'm not just talking about the ice-frosted planet that the Robinsons landed on in the "Lost in Space" pilot episode, "Impact."

When we first met the Robinsons, Maureen and John were barely on speaking terms and the kids didn't get along great either. In "Impact," Penny cheats at cards and, after being caught, stubbornly insists that Will hand over his card anyway. Penny and Judy also snipe at each other, setting a precedent for the bristly dynamic between the two sisters that would persist throughout the series. Once we learn that this is a family of exceptional over-achievers who passed the stringent tests required for the colony mission (all except Will, who failed the stress test but had his results fudged by Maureen), the in-fighting and tension between the Robinsons starts to make a lot of sense. 

The opening episode also sheds light on why, in "Lost in Space" season 3, Will Robinson feels the need to silently shoulder so much of the responsibility for keeping the colony and his family safe — even if it means sacrificing his own life. When the Jupiter sinks into icy waters in "Impact," John wastes no time in telling his young son that he'll have to be the one to dive down and retrieve power cells from the ship. After Will freezes up in fear, Judy dives into the water and, because she couldn't fit into the same tight gaps that Will could have, runs out of time and almost dies. For Will, it was an early and brutal lesson that if he doesn't answer the call to wade into danger, his hesitation could cost his family their lives.

In "Impact," we also see for the first time the "reprogramming" that turns the tide of the fight against the alien robots in the "Lost in Space" series finale. Though Will and the split-in-half Robot are caught up in the same raging fire, Will doesn't choose to save the alien in the hopes that it will return the favor. Instead, he simply says that there's no need for both of them to die, and after he frees Robot he leans back against the tree to accept his fate. It's an act of pure altruism, done with no expectation of reward, that radically disrupts Robot's programming.

The finale offers a callback to "Dr. Smith's" very first appearance in the show: once again, she is found in a position of power over someone helpless, whose death would be advantageous to her. But whereas in "Impact" she stole the real Dr. Smith's jacket and left him for dead, in "Trust" she is prevented from committing an unforgivable act of murder by Robot, who arrives just in time to "help Dr. Smith."

The pilot episode even lays the groundwork for the end of Don West's arc. In a flashback, Don is shown searching for an escape route during the initial attack on the Resolute. His friend Tam points out that the Jupiters are only meant for the colonist families, not for lowly mechanics like themselves. Three seasons later, it's safe to say that Don has firmly found his family.