Review: For All Mankind, "House Divided" | Season 4, Episode 4
Margo gets her groove back, but there's only a dirge to dance to
As Margo enters Star City for the first time as an invited guest, Jeff Russo and Paul Doucette’s score is a solemn piano melody, a reflection of the bleak Soviet winter that is seemingly endless. While new Starcosmos director Irina Morozova wants Margo—sorry, Margaret—there, Margo is still clearly an outsider at a time when the geopolitical climate in Moscow is a powder keg waiting to blow (as was clear in the episode’s opening when an argument between two Soviets at Happy Valley turns violent).
But as soon as Margo finds herself in a small office going over the Soviet accident report about the failed Kronos mission, Russo and Roucette’s score changes—the piano becomes a full jazz quartet, no doubt inspired by her character’s love for the genre. The message is clear: for the first time since her arrival in Moscow, Margo has her groove back, and she even runs into a young engineer while getting coffee who no doubt reminds her of Aleida and the potential difference she co…