I can only assume that the For All Mankind writers' room has a big ol' white board where they jot down ideas for new and exciting ways for shit to go south in space. "Moon + machine gun?" was inspired but "space hotel + wedding + disaster movie" is next level. I'd love to see what other combinations they've come up with so I can steel myself for the weeks to come.
Margo is in so, so deep and she's got no idea. She's on the ball enough to turn down the smoked fish gift from the Helios people without a second's hesitation but she absolutely melted over that record that Sergei bought her without even a second thought. She just can't possibly fathom that their relationship could be leveraged in any way. That's gonna go great.
Certainly did not expect the show to launch with such an adrenaline rush. Thrilling stuff.
Have to say though: the degree to which the music for that final sequence was so close in tone to the Interstellar score makes me think Hans Zimmer should be owed some residuals or something.
Overall this was up there with the most thrilling hours of this show which was not what I was expecting from the premiere and a wonderful surprise (I love the slow burn alt history reveals too of course but the tension was just excellent). The gravity slowly ratcheting up was done so so well
She wasn’t in this much but Ellen has historically been a strong touch point for me in this show and she is clearly going to make me hate her this season. Very curious to check in on the state of her marriage and Larry’s take on this political career, seems likely they have regressed pretty far from the middle of last season when they were psyching themselves up to come out
Gotta figure Danny is on the mission to Mars, and Danielle seems more likely to command after events here, but do we think Aleida is going too? I considered her more of a Margo type but the moon mission seems like it might be setting up for more
So excited to have this show back! I always love the opening montage. My wife and I gasped with the Thatcher headline!
The Polaris running into issues was perhaps somewhat obvious, but I think it was a good call to have such an exciting moment in the premiere.
Myles, a mechanical question if I may: Based off this review, am I correct that you'll be writing about the season without having watched future episodes? I believe you did something similar for Ted Lasso back on the AV Club.
Just curious, since there definitely didn't seem to be any foreknowledge in the review, but you did mention having watched screeners.
Do you think Ed's insurance covers jewelry "lost in space"?
I'm not a scientist but curious if anyone thought anything was off about the North Korean debris. They told Margo a booster exploded or something, which would indicate they'd only reached a low orbit. But the debris seemed to be at a slightly higher orbit than the space hotel. Since that's in permanent orbit, shouldn't it have been higher? I'm surely overthinking it. This cartoon explainer has remained my go-to for understanding just how scary orbital mechanics really are: https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
I binged the first two seasons these past weeks and I am very excited to have finally caught on and be able to read your reviews, Myles!
I have to say I was thrilled by this episode but I do not share all of your enthusiasm for season 2. While season 1 was a masterpiece to me in terms of how well it balanced exciting things happening in space and characters evolutions and interactions, I found that season 2 lacked much in the space events area, with relevant action being compacted in only a few episodes at the end. So I spent a lot of time wondering where the nail-biting scenes had gone before getting excited again. And don't get me wrong, I really like the attention to characters, dialogs and societal issues! It's just that it is not enough to sustain the show, in my opinion.
I've been proselyting For All Mankind since I caught on to it last year, and now I have my dad and sister hooked too. This season premiere did not disappoint. I'm impressed with the main actors' ability to provide the necessary illusion that they are 10 and now 20 years older than when we started.
I can only assume that the For All Mankind writers' room has a big ol' white board where they jot down ideas for new and exciting ways for shit to go south in space. "Moon + machine gun?" was inspired but "space hotel + wedding + disaster movie" is next level. I'd love to see what other combinations they've come up with so I can steel myself for the weeks to come.
Margo is in so, so deep and she's got no idea. She's on the ball enough to turn down the smoked fish gift from the Helios people without a second's hesitation but she absolutely melted over that record that Sergei bought her without even a second thought. She just can't possibly fathom that their relationship could be leveraged in any way. That's gonna go great.
Certainly did not expect the show to launch with such an adrenaline rush. Thrilling stuff.
Have to say though: the degree to which the music for that final sequence was so close in tone to the Interstellar score makes me think Hans Zimmer should be owed some residuals or something.
Loved the episode. Got caught up a few months ago, and so glad to have a show of this quality to sit down with every week for the next two months.
Overall this was up there with the most thrilling hours of this show which was not what I was expecting from the premiere and a wonderful surprise (I love the slow burn alt history reveals too of course but the tension was just excellent). The gravity slowly ratcheting up was done so so well
She wasn’t in this much but Ellen has historically been a strong touch point for me in this show and she is clearly going to make me hate her this season. Very curious to check in on the state of her marriage and Larry’s take on this political career, seems likely they have regressed pretty far from the middle of last season when they were psyching themselves up to come out
Gotta figure Danny is on the mission to Mars, and Danielle seems more likely to command after events here, but do we think Aleida is going too? I considered her more of a Margo type but the moon mission seems like it might be setting up for more
So excited to have this show back! I always love the opening montage. My wife and I gasped with the Thatcher headline!
The Polaris running into issues was perhaps somewhat obvious, but I think it was a good call to have such an exciting moment in the premiere.
Myles, a mechanical question if I may: Based off this review, am I correct that you'll be writing about the season without having watched future episodes? I believe you did something similar for Ted Lasso back on the AV Club.
Just curious, since there definitely didn't seem to be any foreknowledge in the review, but you did mention having watched screeners.
Do you think Ed's insurance covers jewelry "lost in space"?
I'm not a scientist but curious if anyone thought anything was off about the North Korean debris. They told Margo a booster exploded or something, which would indicate they'd only reached a low orbit. But the debris seemed to be at a slightly higher orbit than the space hotel. Since that's in permanent orbit, shouldn't it have been higher? I'm surely overthinking it. This cartoon explainer has remained my go-to for understanding just how scary orbital mechanics really are: https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
Hooray! I’m a huge For All Mankind fan and delighted you are covering it here.
Finally watching Season 3. That was a thrilling episode! Looking forward to the season and reading these recaps.
I binged the first two seasons these past weeks and I am very excited to have finally caught on and be able to read your reviews, Myles!
I have to say I was thrilled by this episode but I do not share all of your enthusiasm for season 2. While season 1 was a masterpiece to me in terms of how well it balanced exciting things happening in space and characters evolutions and interactions, I found that season 2 lacked much in the space events area, with relevant action being compacted in only a few episodes at the end. So I spent a lot of time wondering where the nail-biting scenes had gone before getting excited again. And don't get me wrong, I really like the attention to characters, dialogs and societal issues! It's just that it is not enough to sustain the show, in my opinion.
I've been proselyting For All Mankind since I caught on to it last year, and now I have my dad and sister hooked too. This season premiere did not disappoint. I'm impressed with the main actors' ability to provide the necessary illusion that they are 10 and now 20 years older than when we started.