The Small Space Force Continuity Detail You Might Have Missed In Season 1

Season 2 of military workplace comedy "Space Force" premiered in its entirety on February 18. While the series has been met with its fair share of criticism — the Season 1 finale, for example, sparked a debate about whether or not its pace felt rushed — its streaming service home in Netflix believed in the show enough that a second season is now a reality, in spite of its prior season's flaws.

One factor that may have helped its producers at Netflix and viewers at large take to "Space Force" is its attention to detail. Perhaps most notably, "Space Force" includes many subtle references to star Steve Carell's prior work on "The Office." Furthermore, "Space Force" pays tribute to some space-themed works that have come before it, like when Carell's Mark Naird wears a space suit in Episode 4 identical to one that appeared in "Stargate SG-1."

That said, small details in "Space Force" are not just limited to references to other TV shows but include moments that exist within its own continuity as well, like when a poster featured momentarily on-screen reveals the fate of a minor character introduced a number of episodes prior.

In Episode 1 of "Space Force," air force general Mark Naird (Steve Carell) is attempting to reconcile his serious military aspirations with the fact that he's in charge of a branch of the military created to combat hypothetical extraterrestrial threats. Early on in the episode, Naird patronizes a gas station market, and what begins as an innocent conversation with its cashier results in his kidnapping after Naird determines his line of questioning to be a security risk. Naird ties up the cashier and loads him into the trunk of his car, before later telling someone at the Space Force base to let him free after an imminent rocket launch is completed.

However, as user dars1995 pointed out in a Reddit thread, in the Season 1 finale, the camera briefly focuses on a wanted poster for a man named Emmett Buntyn (Scott Michael Morgan). This is the very same gas station clerk from Episode 1, who is apparently still missing well beyond the date of the rocket launch after which he was supposed to be let go. Presumably, then, Emmett is still being detained indefinitely somewhere on the Space Force base. Given that the central members of the Space Force staff are frequently shown to be inept at their jobs, it's likely Emmett's ongoing imprisonment will simply remain a part of the reality in which "Space Force" takes place moving forward.