Katelyn (Kit Quinn) has always loved cosplaying as her favorite heroes, no matter how much crap her friends give her, but when she hits her head at a convention and wakes up thinking she is Trinity Infinity, the character whose costume she’s wearing, her friends are going to have to find some unique way to help her cope with the real world.
Sweethearts of the Galaxy‘s first episode can roughly be broken down into two parts, the Katelyn half and the Trinity Infinity half. The handoff between the two is rather silly but does its job of setting up our delusional heroine for the remainder of the series. Quinn embodies both characters: the shy and nerdy girl next door right down to her “Bifrosted Loki Charms” t-shirt and the courageous intergalactic superhero who is not afraid to beat up someone she perceives as a villain. The change between the two is immediately apparent; Quinn’s Katelyn is adorkable and wears her shyness on her sleeve, but it’s her ability to play the “straight man” as Infinity and act a little crazy that sells the show.
This first episode does breeze past the other character introductions. Blink and you’ll miss an important character detail, but if your attention is glued to the screen, there’s a nice overview of each: we have Katelyn’s more adventurous roommate, Lilly (Lola Binkerd); her best friend Silvia (Tallest Silver) who cosplays as Element 47, Trinity Infinity’s partner; the boy next door, Paul (David Dickerson), who has a crush on Katelyn; and Paul’s roommate and ex-girlfriend Morgan (Megan Alyse), who is sure to stir up some trouble in future episodes. Each character has a perfect moment in “Wish Granted” that makes each of them stand out; there isn’t a character I don’t want to see more of. I will confess to having a hard time separating Lilly and Silvia at first. A quick line from Katelyn confirms that they are two separate characters, but the stacking of Silver and Binkerd’s names in the credits, Quinn and Silver using their cosplay names in some places in the opening and credits and their legal names in others, and some similarity in appearance between Silver and Binkerd threw me off for a while. Although another line from Katelyn and some of the promotional images make me wonder if my confusion isn’t part of their design and that we’ll see Binkerd in the Element 47 costume, as well.
The first half of the episode, the “Katelyn half,” is filmed from the perspective of a vlog post Katelyn is making. It’s a shaky cam that’s disorienting and further complicates character introductions, although it’s because it’s a vlog post that gives the excuse for Katelyn to introduce everyone. I’m glad the rest of the episode moved away from the camera as a character trick in order to give viewers a better perspective on events. Regardless of how they orient the camera or introduce their characters, the ending of this episode and the preview for episode 2 had me laughing and eager to see what antics our heroine will get up to next time.
Four Last-Minute Trinity Infinity Capes out of Five
