The show Solar Opposites boasts a second season even more bombastic than its first, with more pop culture references, humor, and body horror than ever before. Looking for things in the background of each episode has become commonplace for fans of the series, who count on a lot of moving parts in every frame, and the show has managed to play off of its own inside jokes well enough to give it a level of self-awareness that provides infinite rewatchability.
This irreverent comedy, about aliens begrudgingly living among humans after the destruction of their planet, doesn’t shy away from what made it unique in the first place while providing even more easter eggs for its fans to seek out.
All The Sci-Fi References
From Korvo using Star Trek lingo discussing “M Class planets,” to Terry calling people “Jar Jar Dinks” and wearing Poe Dameron pajamas, the series is filled to the brim with references to science fiction in popular culture. Even Yumyulack’s dinner party sniffing dogs bear a striking resemblance to the creatures from Stranger Things.
Then there are “E-cogs”, a blatant reference to the Precogs from Philip K. Dick’s classic Minority Report, and in a criminal lineup, Yumyulack, Terry, Jesse, and Korvo stand side by side with Mork, Alf, and a member of the Coneheads.
Even More Movie References
Whereas the first season had homages to The Shining and other movies, Season 2 takes the cinematic references a step further, creating entire episodes around their plots, like Episode 3’s ode to The Lake House and Episode 4’s homage to The Wolf of Wall Street.
Episode 6 simply eludes to The Great Escape and The Shawshank Redemption, while other episodes are more blatant in their use of storylines from Jurassic Park and AVP.
The Lake House Device Looks Like The Lake House
The Lake House, the sci-fi romance about two people separated by time using a lake house mailbox to communicate may seem like an odd movie to take narrative cues from. However, the tearjerker starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock is used as the basis for Episode 3’s plot involving Korvo trying to manipulate past Terry into making future Terry more bearable.
Fans caught up in the story may not have realized that the oddly-shaped device aboard the Schlorpian ship actually resembles the Lake House from the movie, something even Korvo didn’t seem to grasp when he made it.
The Pupa Talks Differently
At the end of the first season fans were delighted to hear the mysterious pupa speak its first words, but even more surprised to find out that the pupa had the stentorian voice of Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos from Game of Thrones).
In Season 2, he begins to chime into the occasional conversation with monosyllabic sentences more suited for infant alien, though it’s about as strange as Stewie Griffin from Family Guy turning to Peter and saying, “Da da”. This only happens a couple of times, but the loss of pupa’s loquaciousness happens to paradoxically coincide with its evolution into a potential killing machine.
Law & Order In The House
When Korvo, Terry, Jesse, and Yumyulack get sent to prison for what they did to Peter, they’re given council by a smartly dressed lawyer with blonde hair and glasses, which eagle-eyed fans of Law & Order: Special Victims unit should recognize as ADA Alex Cabot.
Actress Stephanie March even provides the voice for the Alex-look-alike, and the tough, determined personality she had on SVU shines through when she doesn’t believe the Schlorpians and informs them firmly of what their consequences might be.
Tim Dressed Like Pop Culture Heroes
Though fans might have thought that Tim was going to be a true hero in Season 1, he ended up being no better than The Duke, orchestrating a coup only to supplant the former leader of The Wall and take control for himself.
In Season 2, he’s depicted as two major heroes in pop culture; Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (from Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Conan the Barbarian, “destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow,” sitting on a throne after he was crowned king. Clearly, Tim doesn’t see himself as a murderous, greedy despot but a well-respected, valorous icon.
One Piece
On the first Cherie Day in The Wall, residents wear a mask of Cherie’s face and celebrate her as a hero of the revolution that freed them from The Duke’s tyranny. As the crowd assembles, in the closest right corner and farthest left corner two citizens can be seen wearing Ace’s hat from One Piece.
One Piece, a popular manga (and anime) from the late ’90s created by Eiichiro Oda, has close to 1,200 different characters and now over 1,000 chapters, but despite its length and cast, Ace remains one of the most popular rogues. His trademark hat, with smileys and red beads, has become an iconic piece of imagery associated with the series.
The Unlikely Demise Of Terry’s Favorite Shot Glass
Season 2 continues the Season 1 tradition of naming an episode after something inconsequential to the overall plot. In Season 1, “Terry And Korvo Steal A Bear”, focused on the revolution brewing inside The Wall, and Terry and Korvo stealing a bear was featured for about ten seconds.
Season 2’s “The Unlikely Demise Of Terry’s Favorite Shot Glass” focuses again almost entirely on The Wall’s Cherie and The Duke’s survival in the backyard, but shows Terry (and his shot glass) for about five seconds.
Lone Wolf And Cub
Once a prominent part of the revolution that brought about prosperity to The Wall, Cherie was betrayed by its new leader Tim in Season 1 and left to die in Terry and Korvo’s backyard. Shunned and disgraced, she was forced to give birth to his son in the wilderness in Season 2, and survived long enough to bring about her revenge and give her child a better life.
Cherie’s journey is not unlike the heroes of the venerated Japanese manga and movie franchise The Lone Wolf And Cub, about a disgraced ronin and his son who traverse feudal Japan as mercenaries for hire, always working towards restoring their family honor and seeking vengeance against those who dishonored their name.
A Handmaid’s Tale
While on her journey to The Duke’s perceived utopia, Cherie’s only beacon is a prominent “Wallgreans” billboard peeking over the top of Terry and Korvo’s backyard fence. It takes Cherie months to reach it, as evidenced by the fact that an employee changes its advertising from a Christmas-themed holiday to one showing the Fourth of July.
But it doesn’t celebrate just any Fourth of July; A Gilead Fourth for a Handmaid’s Independence Day Spectacular. This is an unsettling reference to the dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale, which is also on Hulu, and is anything but focused on independence.
