WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the reboot of Lost in Space, steaming now on Netflix.


Netflix had stipulated that early reviews of its Lost in Space reboot leave out details about the shady backstory of Parker Posey's manipulative antagonist Dr. Smith, and with good reason: She's not Dr. Smith; not really.

Sure, she serves the same purpose as Jonathan Harris' character did in the 1960s sci-fi series, that of a self-serving stowaway whose machinations complicate the lives of the Robinson family. But as we learn in a flashback at the end of the premiere episode, Posey's version is an impostor who assumed the identity of the real "Dr. Z. Smith" (played in a clever cameo by Bill Mumy).

RELATED: How Netflix's Lost in Space Reboot Pays Tribute to the Original

This Dr. Smith is a con artist who's willing to do most anything to ensure her own survival; stealing the coat of a wounded physician so she can assume his identity and escape a colony ship under attack likely ranks among her less-nefarious acts. We know this Dr. Smith is fast-thinking, though, as she swiftly adopts the air of authority that comes with her new title, and enlists a pair of mechanics aboard The Resolute (one of whom is Don West, played by Ignacio Serricchio) to pilot "her" Jupiter shuttle to relative safety.

lost in space

Like the Robinsons' Jupiter 2, this ship also crashes on the planet. When Don asks Dr. Smith to help his colleague, whom he believes is only injured, she says she's not that kind of doctor; she's a psychiatrist. That's a nod to one of the professions attributed to Harris' Dr. Smith on the original series, but it's also a way for Posey's character to maintain her charade. When Don realizes his colleague is dead, Dr. Smith insists she be buried, but it's only so she can use the grave to hide a photo album she found in the wreckage belonging to the real Dr. Smith.

RELATED: Bill Mumy's Lost in Space Role Takes Cameos to the Next Level

So, who is Posey's character, and how did she end up aboard The Resolute, an interstellar vessel transporting the best and brightest from an increasingly uninhabitable Earth to a new colony on Alpha Centauri? Clues to her past are scattered throughout the first season of Lost in Space, mostly in flashback.

Episode 3, "Infestation," takes viewers back to a "goodbye brunch" in the upscale home of her sister, Jessica Harris (Selma Blair), who's been selected for the elite colony program. Posey's June Harris -- her actual name is a tribute to original Lost in Space stars June Lockhart and Jonathan Harris -- is clearly the black sheep of the family, and resentful of her sister's success. Viewing herself as somehow wronged, June implies that she's due an apology. "Why would I apologize for being a productive member of society?" Jessica responds. "At some point you have to take responsibility for your choices."

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Dr.%20Smith%20Insists%20%27I%27m%20a%20Good%20Person%2C%27%20But%20Is%20She%3F']

lost in space

June is revealed in the exchange to be a criminal, although the details of her past are left a mystery. Still, Jessica offers to leave June her home, car and, with a little prompting, her wardrobe. "So, I could just be you," June says behind crocodile tears, telegraphing her next move: She drugs Jessica with her own champagne, removes the I.D. chip implanted in her wrist, assumes her identity and then boards The Resolute in her place. The ruse is relatively short-lived, however, as she's spotted by a crew member who's been having an affair with Jessica. Desperate to maintain her secret, June pushes the man out of an airlock and into space. She's rattled by the act, suggesting her list of crimes hadn't previously included murder.

June is caught, of course, but her interrogation is cut short by the mayhem that follows the hull "breach." It provides her with an opportunity for escape, and to start over, again. As "Dr. Smith," she takes her sister's advice to become a better version of herself, even if stealing someone's identity probably isn't what she meant. Rescued by the Robinsons following the crash, as a psychiatrist she becomes a confidant first to the family and then to the other colonists, ensuring her own survival, and relative comfort. However, their interests don't align, because Dr. Smith knows if she were to return to The Resolute, she'd immediately be apprehended and punished for the death of the crew member. That is, unless she had a protector, like the extraterrestrial robot that's so devoted to Will Robinson (Maxwell Jenkins).

And so Dr. Smith plays the long con, using her role as therapist to manipulate the colonists to get what she wants: control of Robot.

lost in space

But more revealing than any flashback is Dr. Smith's response to a question from Maureen Robinson (Molly Parker) about how she copes with being "the keeper of all those secrets." She's of course referring to her position as psychiatrist, but Dr. Smith's answer goes deeper, shedding light on her character. "You have to find the place inside where you put things you don't want anyone else to know, where it can't hurt you or anyone else," she says. "It's just part of the job."

We might consider that a form of denial, but it's clearly how June/Dr. Smith is able to distance herself from her bad acts. But even she needs a confessor, and she finds it, in the dissembled Robot.

REVIEW: Netflix's Lost in Space Reboot Trades Camp For Genuine Thrills

"When you spend so much time trying to be someone you're not, sometimes you have to say things out loud to remind yourself of what's true," she says as she gathers the pieces of the robot at the bottom of a cliff. "My name's not Smith, it's June Harris. The truth: I'm no different from the Robinsons. I want to put the past behind me, have a fresh start, just like them."

June mentions "true" and "truth" numerous times in her soliloquy, although it's uncertain whether her definition matches that of everyone else. "I'm a good person," she says to Robot as much as to herself. "I'm not a violent person, I'm not a killer, like you. You were made to kill. The truth is I'm not going to do any of the bad things that are going to happen. You are."

With that, June completely divorces herself from any responsibility for what may have to be done to ensure her well-being. It's not clear whether she was capable of experiencing guilt before, but with those comments she quiets what passes for a conscience.

Still, though, she later demonstrates there is some good within her when she rescues John Robinson (Toby Stephens) in what, if we didn't know any better, might be considered a selfless act. It was apology for everything she's done, she explains to Maureen. But when pressed, she responds, "I said it because it's the right thing to say. That's what I do."

That much is true.


Steaming now on Netflix, the 10-episode first season of Lost in Space stars Toby Stephens, Molly Parker, Maxwell Jenkins, Taylor Russell, Mina Sundwall, Ignacio Serricchio and Parker Posey.