This is nitpick, but Bill Clinton was presidential nominee in '92 — that who Ellen Wilson beats to get into White House.
Anyway, me glad to see Episodic is reviewing show, and me agree that even without race-to-Mars-level stakes, it seem to be setting up some potentially great (and Stevens-free!) character drama. And one thing me liked about asteroid mission was that we got to see astronauts at work close up. It really felt like Kuz and Parker were in space, not just on Mars-red-tinted soundstage, and for me, at least, astronauts-at-work stuff is one of highlights of show. Sure, it exciting that Moon is shaped like cookie, but it more exciting to think about how we might be living there in real life one day.
I got the impression from Parker that he did truly believe in the mission, and just hid it behind this "aw shucks, I'm just here for the money" demeanour. The fact that he was right behind Grigory, and didn't take the out that Massey gave him about following orders, suggested to me that there was something more going on there with him (but I do agree with you that his death was tragically needless, but this show's great at the "space will kill you" thing).
Speaking of Miles, it's my first exposure to Toby Kebbell, and I like him already. And I hope you have Oscar Isaac's "I can't believe this is a thing" meme face ready in case of "Somehow, Danny Stevens returned."
But I am glad to have this show back, and have your recaps to go with it.
As far as I was concerned, to be a satisfying premiere the bar to clear was "no Danny Stevens", which they did with flying colors. I'm cautiously optimistic that this show's third season will be considered like Friday Night Lights' second or Justified's fifth (a disappointing outing that didn't tarnish much the show's legacy because they bounced back).
Quick note, Myles: I think the astronaut who died with Grigory was named Parker, not Peters. Peters is the commander of Happy Valley (AKA the guy Daniel Stern wants to replace with Danielle)
Even if the bar was "exploring a definitive new frontier" the opening credits quickly established that For All Mankind is in its Daniel Stern era, something as simple and scrutable as Season 2's "the dynamics of this new front of the cold war" theme.
Of note, Jodi Balfour made a post on instagram today that all but declares Ellen's time on the show is done. Her and Pam are off living in happily wedded bliss, not to return.
She could've been faking to throw us a curveball, but if not, it is fascinating that of the original women's cohort, Danielle is the last remaining active member, and even so, that's reluctantly.
I'm excited to follow along with the reviews here in real time this season!
Genuinely made me emotional when Arkady died. Oops, I mean Kuznetsov. TUSK!
The score was also great this episode. I think For All Mankind is the only current/contemporary drama I'm watching with a notable instrumental soundtrack.
I am SO excited to be spending time again in the alternate reality of For All Mankind. IRL, things have been very bad recently in terms of world news and Twitter discourse and all that, so, despite the intensity of the show—my partner fully had to leave the room when things started going wrong in space—it's actually kind of a wonderful escape into a world so different from (if similar to) our own.
Removing Danny offscreen was also *chef's kiss* another perfect way to reduce the stress of watching this show. The Official Podcast for S3 kept coming back to the fact that Ron Moore (and maybe other writers, unclear), felt that being criticized for Danny in S2 meant they needed to double down in S3. With that having gone, somehow, EVEN WORSE, I'm delighted to see that they didn't continue to double down, again (or at least have not yet). And hopefully that's all of the discourse I'll have to engage in about any Stevens related story! And now we can focus on Ed and Dani and Margo etc.
And if they do get a S5... I just really hope that we get more younger(ish) cast members introduced in S4 than just Kelly and Tyler and Aleida and now Miles (I was expecting a lot more of that in S3). But who knows, maybe they'll jump so far ahead eventually that we'll be happy to spend time with Kelly and Danny's respective children dealing with their familial legacies in S7 or something.
Agreed that it feels like some of the central story threads of S3 got dropped (Danny, etc.) but since those were my least favorite, I'm glad to see them gone, and hopefully more of a pivot back to an emphasis on space exploration. The opposition of a government vs. private investment in space should be interesting. As for a potential S5, well, there is more of the solar system (and beyond) to explore. I love that we have the Molly Cobb Space Center now. Very curious to see where Margo's story is going.
I would strongly doubt we never find out what happened to Danny. Maybe it's just a line of dialogue, but there's no way they just completely let it hang loose. I agree it's a good thing they've moved past his storyline, but it'd be such a glaring hole to not explain what happened to him.
Overall, I agree that the jump to 2003 is a bit abrupt in ending season 3 storylines. I'm pretty sure I called that in my comments on your review of the finale last year, since there was still so much unresolved tension with what's going on Mars yet the structure of the show means they were going to jump forward in time. Too bad they just completely glided over how the astronauts survived on Mars for an extra two years (though I guess that could tie back to the Danny resolution).
I don't have a specific prediction, but I got to imagine some of the existing American characters will have to figure out by the end of the season that Margo is still alive and has defected. Was that woman talking to her an American-asset trying to compromise her? Or a Russian trying to undermine the current regime?
Re: the timeline jump, my friends and I made some predictions ahead of seeing the episode (and avoiding spoilers). We all thought 9/11 would be mentioned in some capacity. So yeah a bit strange it was completely ignored. I guess that means it didn't happen? But hard to know definitively. We also thought it was disappointing that John Lennon played at Super Bowl XXXVI but they didn't show if the score was the same--some of us had predicted Tom Brady would lose or not even play in that Super Bowl, thus changing his career (the way they had the basketball goat MJ change teams). Overall, we did pretty poorly in our predictions, with only the Y2K bug causing issues being correctly predicted.
Anyway, very much looking forward to the rest of the season, especially the Danny Stevens-free element of it.
Great review, Myles! I am so very glad this show is back and you are covering it 😊
I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. Some parts were a bit slow (Margo's routine, for instance) but it was a good starting point. The addition of Miles is a very efficient way of getting a new, fresher take on the space perception by the everyday working man.
Is the Russian woman on the bench a series regular? I thought I saw a Russian name in the opening credits that I didn't recognize, so that's intriguing!
This is nitpick, but Bill Clinton was presidential nominee in '92 — that who Ellen Wilson beats to get into White House.
Anyway, me glad to see Episodic is reviewing show, and me agree that even without race-to-Mars-level stakes, it seem to be setting up some potentially great (and Stevens-free!) character drama. And one thing me liked about asteroid mission was that we got to see astronauts at work close up. It really felt like Kuz and Parker were in space, not just on Mars-red-tinted soundstage, and for me, at least, astronauts-at-work stuff is one of highlights of show. Sure, it exciting that Moon is shaped like cookie, but it more exciting to think about how we might be living there in real life one day.
I thought the montage said she defeated democratic Governor Brown, who I can only assume is Jerry Brown of California
That was re-election campaign. Clinton in 92, Brown in 96.
I got the impression from Parker that he did truly believe in the mission, and just hid it behind this "aw shucks, I'm just here for the money" demeanour. The fact that he was right behind Grigory, and didn't take the out that Massey gave him about following orders, suggested to me that there was something more going on there with him (but I do agree with you that his death was tragically needless, but this show's great at the "space will kill you" thing).
Speaking of Miles, it's my first exposure to Toby Kebbell, and I like him already. And I hope you have Oscar Isaac's "I can't believe this is a thing" meme face ready in case of "Somehow, Danny Stevens returned."
But I am glad to have this show back, and have your recaps to go with it.
As far as I was concerned, to be a satisfying premiere the bar to clear was "no Danny Stevens", which they did with flying colors. I'm cautiously optimistic that this show's third season will be considered like Friday Night Lights' second or Justified's fifth (a disappointing outing that didn't tarnish much the show's legacy because they bounced back).
Quick note, Myles: I think the astronaut who died with Grigory was named Parker, not Peters. Peters is the commander of Happy Valley (AKA the guy Daniel Stern wants to replace with Danielle)
Even if the bar was "exploring a definitive new frontier" the opening credits quickly established that For All Mankind is in its Daniel Stern era, something as simple and scrutable as Season 2's "the dynamics of this new front of the cold war" theme.
Of note, Jodi Balfour made a post on instagram today that all but declares Ellen's time on the show is done. Her and Pam are off living in happily wedded bliss, not to return.
She could've been faking to throw us a curveball, but if not, it is fascinating that of the original women's cohort, Danielle is the last remaining active member, and even so, that's reluctantly.
I'm excited to follow along with the reviews here in real time this season!
Genuinely made me emotional when Arkady died. Oops, I mean Kuznetsov. TUSK!
The score was also great this episode. I think For All Mankind is the only current/contemporary drama I'm watching with a notable instrumental soundtrack.
I am SO excited to be spending time again in the alternate reality of For All Mankind. IRL, things have been very bad recently in terms of world news and Twitter discourse and all that, so, despite the intensity of the show—my partner fully had to leave the room when things started going wrong in space—it's actually kind of a wonderful escape into a world so different from (if similar to) our own.
Removing Danny offscreen was also *chef's kiss* another perfect way to reduce the stress of watching this show. The Official Podcast for S3 kept coming back to the fact that Ron Moore (and maybe other writers, unclear), felt that being criticized for Danny in S2 meant they needed to double down in S3. With that having gone, somehow, EVEN WORSE, I'm delighted to see that they didn't continue to double down, again (or at least have not yet). And hopefully that's all of the discourse I'll have to engage in about any Stevens related story! And now we can focus on Ed and Dani and Margo etc.
And if they do get a S5... I just really hope that we get more younger(ish) cast members introduced in S4 than just Kelly and Tyler and Aleida and now Miles (I was expecting a lot more of that in S3). But who knows, maybe they'll jump so far ahead eventually that we'll be happy to spend time with Kelly and Danny's respective children dealing with their familial legacies in S7 or something.
Agreed that it feels like some of the central story threads of S3 got dropped (Danny, etc.) but since those were my least favorite, I'm glad to see them gone, and hopefully more of a pivot back to an emphasis on space exploration. The opposition of a government vs. private investment in space should be interesting. As for a potential S5, well, there is more of the solar system (and beyond) to explore. I love that we have the Molly Cobb Space Center now. Very curious to see where Margo's story is going.
Great episode and so glad to have this show back.
I've been a huge fan since the first episode and I can't wait to see where the season goes, also that it's being covered here.
Thanks so much and looking forward to following along this season.
“And yes, on a basic level, my hopefulness for this season increased once it was clear that Danny Baldwin did not leave Mars alive.”
I know you meant Stevens, and amen to that! Looking forward to watching this over the weekend.
Very excited this show is back!
I would strongly doubt we never find out what happened to Danny. Maybe it's just a line of dialogue, but there's no way they just completely let it hang loose. I agree it's a good thing they've moved past his storyline, but it'd be such a glaring hole to not explain what happened to him.
Overall, I agree that the jump to 2003 is a bit abrupt in ending season 3 storylines. I'm pretty sure I called that in my comments on your review of the finale last year, since there was still so much unresolved tension with what's going on Mars yet the structure of the show means they were going to jump forward in time. Too bad they just completely glided over how the astronauts survived on Mars for an extra two years (though I guess that could tie back to the Danny resolution).
I don't have a specific prediction, but I got to imagine some of the existing American characters will have to figure out by the end of the season that Margo is still alive and has defected. Was that woman talking to her an American-asset trying to compromise her? Or a Russian trying to undermine the current regime?
Re: the timeline jump, my friends and I made some predictions ahead of seeing the episode (and avoiding spoilers). We all thought 9/11 would be mentioned in some capacity. So yeah a bit strange it was completely ignored. I guess that means it didn't happen? But hard to know definitively. We also thought it was disappointing that John Lennon played at Super Bowl XXXVI but they didn't show if the score was the same--some of us had predicted Tom Brady would lose or not even play in that Super Bowl, thus changing his career (the way they had the basketball goat MJ change teams). Overall, we did pretty poorly in our predictions, with only the Y2K bug causing issues being correctly predicted.
Anyway, very much looking forward to the rest of the season, especially the Danny Stevens-free element of it.
Great review, Myles! I am so very glad this show is back and you are covering it 😊
I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. Some parts were a bit slow (Margo's routine, for instance) but it was a good starting point. The addition of Miles is a very efficient way of getting a new, fresher take on the space perception by the everyday working man.
They hinted at tensions in the Soviet Union. A coup is coming up?
Real late-period Americans vibes when the hardliners were prepared to stage a coup against Gorbachev.
TUSK!
Is the Russian woman on the bench a series regular? I thought I saw a Russian name in the opening credits that I didn't recognize, so that's intriguing!
it's a bummer but this show just doesn't interest me anymore. i wish they would have started season 3 with an all new cast.