“Make My Day, (Season 1)” directed by Makoto Honda and created by Yasuo Ohtagaki, feels like an old-school video game. The animation style and the obstacle-based storyline of the protagonist would appear to make so. The eight-episode miniseries, currently streaming on Netflix, is thus quite rudimentary in its execution, which is not necessarily a negative thing. If you can get used to “Make My Day’s” basic animation style, there are some predictable yet engaging surprises along the storyline to keep you invested.
Make My Day (Season 1) Recap:
Planet Coldfoot is not as grand as it is so advertised. Rookie prison guard Jim starts to learn that the hard way. Jim, who has the skills with the pencil, aspires to become a successful artist. His only family is his elderly grandfather. However, it seems he has a soft spot for the girl living next door, Marnie. Jim’s neighborhood is of the lesser privileged folks. Of the low strata of hierarchy in Planet Coldfoot. But not the lowest. For that belongs to the residents of the prison.
The inmates are used to mine Planet Coldfoot to extract what is known as ‘Sig.’ Sigs are the source of energy in this world. It is the oil of this generation. The only value for the inmates is in the number of sigs they can help procure. One day, a disturbance is heard when a group of inmates mines the field for sigs. The investigating party, which includes young Jim, is led by a ruthless Captain Bark. The group of soldiers and their helping robots encounter a clutter of fossils.
Before Jim or anyone can do something, the seemingly dormant fossils start to wake up to reveal a horde of grotesque alien creatures. These tardigrade-looking creatures seem to be indestructible. And soon, the swarm overpowers the human population of Coldfoot. Captain Bark wants Jim not to care about the people left behind, but Jim cannot do so. He saves one of the inmates from the swarm. In return, this prisoner, named Walter, helps Jim return to his neighborhood. To save his grandfather and a pregnant Marnie. Marnie is revealed to be a surrogate mother for a wealthy couple. Being the surrogate was her only way to get out of Coldfoot.
But Jim and Walter are too late to save Jim’s grandfather and others. They could only save Marnie with help from some reinforcements. Ignoring Bark’s orders, Jim carries on with Walter and saves a few more lives. The lead doctor who accompanied the reinforcement party, Doctor Hudson, helps Jim and Walter in this regard—further angering Captain Bark. This leads to Captain Bark betraying Jim and arresting him on false charges.
Meanwhile, a massive horde of swarms keeps on coming toward the headquarters. Jim is able to get out of his holding cell thanks to one such creature. He immediately reaches Doctor Hudson and Marnie. They tell him that Walter is taken away to some other cell. Jim decides to go there and asks the authorities to release Walter. With some arguments, Jim convinces the leaders to let Walter go, citing the perilous hour. While rescuing Walter, Jim meets Doctor William Boyd and his assistant, Rachel Wise. William Boyd is a scientist who knows a lot about swarm species.
Make My Day (Season 1) Ending Explained: How did the survivors escape planet Coldfoot?
With William and Rachel’s help, Jim gets his whole team back together. Only to find that the headquarters had decided to leave them behind, while the last interplanetary shuttle would leave in a few minutes. Just at that moment, Marnie goes into labor too. Time seems to stop there. Forgetting whether they will be able to leave the planet, everyone focuses on Marnie’s imminent childbirth. Walter and Professor William Boyd take perimeter duty. Ensuring no swarm creature gets inside the room.
Doctor Hudson guides Jim and Rachel to deliver the baby. Jim professes his love for Marnie, and Marnie reciprocates the same. When Marnie gives birth to a boy, they decide to raise the child together. However, the happiness lasts only a few minutes as they all get the notification of the space shuttle leaving. The group escapes the plant which explodes minutes later. While escaping, they find Captain Bark and the leading diplomat of ColdFoot, Cathy Beck. The two of them left on a lifeboat with some fossils of the swarm. But they could not reach the outer orbit.
Despite not wanting to, Jim still saves Bark and Cathy. The lifeboat gives professor Boyd an idea. They plan to use tankers full of sig to provide them a boost, which will help the lifeboat launch into orbit. A final battle ensues with a horde of swarms. The lifeboat’s trajectory also seems to be hitting debris in space. At that moment, the massive predatory worm-like creature appears, as Boyd predicted. This gigantic creature gulps the swarms and in the commotion, changes the trajectory of the lifeboat.
What are the swarms?
The swarms are the tardigrade-looking creature. They feed off sigs, the material humans are also after. The swarms also represent the natives who have been there for a long time. And due to human greed, conflict arises. Professor Boyd, especially, felt that the swarms were intelligent beings and could communicate. There is a commentary on the inherent human nature to take whatever we feel like it.
What is the gigantic creature that appears at the end?
The gigantic Dune-esque worm-like creature is another dormant species of Planet Coldfoot. Professor Boyd expected these creatures to make an appearance. According to his theory, these worms eat the swarms that have terrorized human lives so far. In the end, the worms indirectly save Jim’s group as they change the route of the lifeboat’s path. Thus, the lifeboat avoids the debris. The group survives and looks forward to living life on a better planet. Probably without greed and its associated perils. Jim decides to follow his aspiration to become a cartoonist. A new planet demands a new life, after all.
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