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Spoilers "For All Mankind" Discussion Thread (May Contain Spoilers)
- Thread starter AustinIllini
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- for all mankind
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BTW, I do agree with you that Ed just “assigning himself” was a bit ballsy, but I’m also assuming he was still fully qualified and listed on the roster as an active astronaut. And I would have thought (although not shown in any episode) that Gordo would have received guidance from the flight surgeon that he needed to drop the weight, etc.
I am impressed that the actors that play Ed (who is Swedish/American) and Gordo (from New Zealand) sound appropriately American with no slips in accent.
Yay, Ed is still alive and scheduled to fly, despite the Molly hairdryer treatment.
the cheese pyramid on top of the Spaghetti lol (I know such a someone too, in the name of effectivness I just turn the cheese bowl upside down though
)
Karen loosing it is understandable, but pretty much a 180 from the "I'm fine, you go Ed" in prior episodes or all of it was fake, which would suck, since they finally were able to talk/open up about Shane.
Molly Cobb for Presdident!
That was a hilarious and awesome "prinicpals office" talk with all 4 (Ed, Gordo, Margo and Thomas) being the students
Despite her developing ilness related symthoms I do hope she'll stick around for many more episodes.
She's such a fun character.
Aleide "nerdying" out, thankfully in the soundproof room behind mission control, then the super awkward "not much of a talker" scene = hilarious
Nice to see Gordo improving, both mentally and physically, especially also being more honest with his kids.
Was kinda hoping he'd reveal the truth to them though.
He's trending upwards while Tracy pretty is in freefall.
As for Ellen, regardless of the old flame hookup, I hope she'll be able to live her real life without hiding soon, just as her husband.
the cheese pyramid on top of the Spaghetti lol (I know such a someone too, in the name of effectivness I just turn the cheese bowl upside down though
Karen loosing it is understandable, but pretty much a 180 from the "I'm fine, you go Ed" in prior episodes or all of it was fake, which would suck, since they finally were able to talk/open up about Shane.
Molly Cobb for Presdident!
That was a hilarious and awesome "prinicpals office" talk with all 4 (Ed, Gordo, Margo and Thomas) being the students
Despite her developing ilness related symthoms I do hope she'll stick around for many more episodes.
She's such a fun character.
Aleide "nerdying" out, thankfully in the soundproof room behind mission control, then the super awkward "not much of a talker" scene = hilarious
Nice to see Gordo improving, both mentally and physically, especially also being more honest with his kids.
Was kinda hoping he'd reveal the truth to them though.
He's trending upwards while Tracy pretty is in freefall.
As for Ellen, regardless of the old flame hookup, I hope she'll be able to live her real life without hiding soon, just as her husband.
Everything I’ve read about the astronauts and their screwups aligns with how Molly treated him. For example, Gene Cernan (the last man to walk on the moon) had a stupid helicopter accident that nearly took him out of the commander spot. It was never made clear that he was chewed out, but there was an accident board that cleared him. I have to imagine Deke had a word too.Yay, Ed is still alive and scheduled to fly, despite the Molly hairdryer treatment.
the cheese pyramid on top of the Spaghetti lol (I know such a someone too, in the name of effectivness I just turn the cheese bowl upside down though)
Karen loosing it is understandable, but pretty much a 180 from the "I'm fine, you go Ed" in prior episodes or all of it was fake, which would suck, since they finally were able to talk/open up about Shane.
Molly Cobb for Presdident!
That was a hilarious and awesome "prinicpals office" talk with all 4 (Ed, Gordo, Margo and Thomas) being the students
Despite her developing ilness related symthoms I do hope she'll stick around for many more episodes.
She's such a fun character.
Aleide "nerdying" out, thankfully in the soundproof room behind mission control, then the super awkward "not much of a talker" scene = hilarious
Nice to see Gordo improving, both mentally and physically, especially also being more honest with his kids.
Was kinda hoping he'd reveal the truth to them though.
He's trending upwards while Tracy pretty is in freefall.
As for Ellen, regardless of the old flame hookup, I hope she'll be able to live her real life without hiding soon, just as her husband.
Karen is starting to annoy me.
I think with the ERA in place and fake hubby at Boeing that Ellen will get to come out soon.
Molly, who annoyed me for most of season 1, is just killing it this season. I love that scene, when just as she was about to justify herself she thought better of it and told them to F off.Yay, Ed is still alive and scheduled to fly, despite the Molly hairdryer treatment.
the cheese pyramid on top of the Spaghetti lol (I know such a someone too, in the name of effectivness I just turn the cheese bowl upside down though)
Karen loosing it is understandable, but pretty much a 180 from the "I'm fine, you go Ed" in prior episodes or all of it was fake, which would suck, since they finally were able to talk/open up about Shane.
Molly Cobb for Presdident!
That was a hilarious and awesome "prinicpals office" talk with all 4 (Ed, Gordo, Margo and Thomas) being the students
Despite her developing ilness related symthoms I do hope she'll stick around for many more episodes.
She's such a fun character.
Aleide "nerdying" out, thankfully in the soundproof room behind mission control, then the super awkward "not much of a talker" scene = hilarious
Nice to see Gordo improving, both mentally and physically, especially also being more honest with his kids.
Was kinda hoping he'd reveal the truth to them though.
He's trending upwards while Tracy pretty is in freefall.
As for Ellen, regardless of the old flame hookup, I hope she'll be able to live her real life without hiding soon, just as her husband.
Karen? Oh Karen, stop being such a Karen, Karen. Being upset about Ed getting into a crash is one thing, but when she flat out told her daughter "THIS is what it's like for your loved ones," I just wanted to smack her. That was some cold manipulative nonsense and there is no excuse for it. Hope she was able to dance her way back to sanity in that last scene.
Oh, and anyone else getting a weird vibe between her and Gordo Jr.? I swear I thought they were going to hook up more than once in this last ep.
I thought the same thing between Gordo Jr and Karen. Until Jr mentioned Shane of course...
I’m waiting for Danielle to fly her Apollo-Soyuz mission. I loved the way she looked at (and touched) the command module. It might be a tin can but it’s her tin can.
Right? My first vehicle was a beat up ‘84 F-150 short box with a 351 modified V8. It had blown struts, enough play in the wheel that you could turn it a full 60 degrees before the wheels turned an inch, and it chewed through gas like it was going out of style but to me it was BEAUTIFUL.
Something I really appreciate about this season versus the first are the character moments like this. Season 1 felt like a bunch of caricatures making a statement whenever they could, whereas this season is inhabited with actual people making human choices, good or bad, and dealing with the consequences in a believable way. It’s a nice change even if there’s less space action versus season 1.
Not really. I fast forwarded through a lot of it because it was boring. I just don’t really care about the racial/sexual storylines because they feel so hamfisted. The discussion about Laika was sweet, though, more than such a horrible chapter in Russian space exploration deserved to be. And the scenes regarding the creation of the universal docking collars were interesting.
Next week should be better because all the pieces are falling into place and a lot of stories are reaching their zenith. It’s pretty clear Helen is going to be flying those space commandos, and Gordo keeps getting more and more of his mojo back. Can’t wait for the payoff.
All I am interested in is the PathFinder story arc....that futuristic 1st man on Mars mission sound so cool in theory....I am so interested to see how it plays out. Everything else - the Soyuz-Apollo mission, the individual story arcs of secondary characters, and others just seem padding to me at this point. The show could do without these secondary story arcs, I think.
While I agree with the first, and has you asked me last year I would have agreed with the second, season 2 has offered some surprisingly strong well acted character moments and I find myself caring about characters this season that I couldn’t stand last season.
That said if they waste any time on Kelly going into her past to unravel some deep dark secret about her adoption, I will absolutely be fast forwarding through that because I really don’t care.
I agree with both points here.
On the first, I've also enjoyed some of the more character-development story arcs in this season. After the action-packed 1st season, if this show is going to have legs, I think it's better to be character-driven, and let the plot / sci-fi / space-race part come with it together. At least for me, those are the kinds of stories I prefer. So with that, I feel you need to invest time in developing characters for payoffs in later seasons to make a bigger impact. That's not to say I don't disagree with others that the space/sci-fi action is lots of fun too.
On the second, I'm also in agreement. They've sort of dropped Kelly into the story as part of this time-skip, with very little backstory. While it's interesting, to me at least, it is in so far as it relates to Ed and Karen, and how they've re-directed their parental energies to a Vietnamese adoptee post-War. It's interesting from our perspective of Ed/Karen, who are the characters we're invested in. If they do suddenly look into a storyline of her looking into her adoption, I agree this isn't something I'm interested in. And I say this as an Asian-American, I'm all for diverse storylines if they make sense. This feels forced, and there's enough other characters and stories here that could use exploring, that we've already gotten to know in the first season, over this one.
All that said, enjoying this season so far, and look forward to both a little more "space-action" and how they build-up to the end of this season.
Yeah, the Kelly story line is the weakest and most ham-fisted of the bunch for sure. The writers needed an escape/explanation for the redemption of Ed's and Karen's relationship, and as this latest episode proved, Kelly was that reason....Otherwise, I don't think realistically, how these two would still remain together...Ed would be blaming Karen for Shane's death, and vice versa.
best episode of the season yet IMO.
I kinda expect them to "off" the current characters to lighten the character roster and free up space literally and keep the budget within a certain limit, as that usually goes up, the longer a series runs.
I was worried about Ed when he had to eject, Gordo was in a bad place, Molly got the solar storm overdose.
Really sad about Tom, though his passing/plane being shot down served multiple purposes and story/character paths.
Depsite not showing details on screen, expect a slight flash/bump. It was done in a "tactful, yet impactful". Sorry for the lack of better terms.
Also glad Tracy so far has escaped harms way while the superpowers starting military stuff on the lunar rock.
Who was the excuse me lack for better term "Vodka/Saussage guy" visiting Danielle in the "legendary" Cosmonaut "hotel" room?
Also, nice that she still left her name there too!
Hope Ellen and Pam have a future togehther publicly and private, with her (ex)husband as her friend and adviser and her keeping the politicans and military folk in check with her role becoming permanent.
Margo's vending machine advice and talk with Aleida was positive and I really applaud her for passing the coded warning Sergej.
the bar kiss was inevitable. Would be good if that story line is just done now and won't come back.
I kinda expect them to "off" the current characters to lighten the character roster and free up space literally and keep the budget within a certain limit, as that usually goes up, the longer a series runs.
I was worried about Ed when he had to eject, Gordo was in a bad place, Molly got the solar storm overdose.
Really sad about Tom, though his passing/plane being shot down served multiple purposes and story/character paths.
Depsite not showing details on screen, expect a slight flash/bump. It was done in a "tactful, yet impactful". Sorry for the lack of better terms.
Also glad Tracy so far has escaped harms way while the superpowers starting military stuff on the lunar rock.
Who was the excuse me lack for better term "Vodka/Saussage guy" visiting Danielle in the "legendary" Cosmonaut "hotel" room?
Also, nice that she still left her name there too!
Hope Ellen and Pam have a future togehther publicly and private, with her (ex)husband as her friend and adviser and her keeping the politicans and military folk in check with her role becoming permanent.
Margo's vending machine advice and talk with Aleida was positive and I really applaud her for passing the coded warning Sergej.
the bar kiss was inevitable. Would be good if that story line is just done now and won't come back.
Agreed. The sudden increase in pacing is much appreciated. It feels like things are beginning to wrap up now.
Also, Kelly had an Apple II.
As soon as I heard “flying to Korea“ I thought about KAL007. I really started to like him as a character...I guess they were warming us up for his finale.
Carter as a Georgia Senator was a nice touch.
i don’t applaud Margo’s coded message, as it would technically be construed as treason. I also thought she was too blunt with it - she could have left out the specifics and just said “I’m sure it’s something your engineers could figure out”. After all, the Morton Thiokol engineers knew low temperatures were an issue.
WHAT? There's been many, many middle-aged folks on NASA missions. Modern day astronauts have to be in decent physical shape but nothing extraordinary.
The two folks Space X sent up for their first manned mission last year - both NASA astronauts - were 49 and 53 at the time.
Scott Kelly, who holds the American record for the longest time in space, was 51 when he went up for that mission.
As for what NASA will accept for training, with the implication being a multi-year career (some have been doing it for decades, like the folks mentioned above):
"There are no age restrictions for the NASA Astronaut Corps. Astronaut candidates have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34. Candidates must be U.S. citizens to apply for the program."
NASA Astronaut Corps - Wikipedia
The average for the Mercury 7 selection, arguably when physical fitness was of utmost importance, was similar (several doing missions in middle age, including Alan Shepard walking on the moon at 47):
"Their ages at the time of selection ranged from 32 (Cooper) to 37 (Glenn)"
Mercury Seven - Wikipedia
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Finally got around to watching last week's episode. Agree with others, probably best episode of the season. Really moving the storylines forward in stretch run to the season finale. A few observations from my end:
- Ellen / Tom. It was a nice moment with them in the bar (very happy that Tom didn't end up trying anything with Ellen, which I felt there was some of that energy at one point). Which in the end of course made his death that much more impactful. I was a little surprised with final scene with Ellen in the board-room - not that she's taking control / exuding confidence, but that she was very much pushing a "gov't" type agenda, vs being "one of them" (NASA). In the end, I guess she was trying to show she wasn't purely one-sided so the General wouldn't have an excuse to try and take over.
- Re-taking moon mining site: cool scene, great that Tracy came through in the clutch with some expert flying, and I rooted too when they took back the site without a fight
- Margo letting the Russians know of the rocket o-ring flat: I was conflicted here. I agree with @MarkAtl that I thought she was a little too blunt / obvious with her messaging. I think Sergei already understood what she was saying without it being so on-the-nose. That aside, I can see this coming back to bite her, as with this fix, the Russians can get weapons up to the moon faster, potentially leading to a real armed conflict on the moon sooner. I get why she did it - her and Sergei had a "connection" as engineers, he had helped her out getting the astronauts back from Russia, etc. And from a human perspective, it's the right thing to do... But I'm thinking we may see the ramifications of this decision later on...
- Bar kiss / dance. This was odd, though as someone else mentioned earlier from the prior episode, they seemed to be setting up this scenario / energy in previous scenes between the two of them. I agree, I hope this is one-and-done and they move on from this specific storyline.
- Ellen / Tom. It was a nice moment with them in the bar (very happy that Tom didn't end up trying anything with Ellen, which I felt there was some of that energy at one point). Which in the end of course made his death that much more impactful. I was a little surprised with final scene with Ellen in the board-room - not that she's taking control / exuding confidence, but that she was very much pushing a "gov't" type agenda, vs being "one of them" (NASA). In the end, I guess she was trying to show she wasn't purely one-sided so the General wouldn't have an excuse to try and take over.
- Re-taking moon mining site: cool scene, great that Tracy came through in the clutch with some expert flying, and I rooted too when they took back the site without a fight
- Margo letting the Russians know of the rocket o-ring flat: I was conflicted here. I agree with @MarkAtl that I thought she was a little too blunt / obvious with her messaging. I think Sergei already understood what she was saying without it being so on-the-nose. That aside, I can see this coming back to bite her, as with this fix, the Russians can get weapons up to the moon faster, potentially leading to a real armed conflict on the moon sooner. I get why she did it - her and Sergei had a "connection" as engineers, he had helped her out getting the astronauts back from Russia, etc. And from a human perspective, it's the right thing to do... But I'm thinking we may see the ramifications of this decision later on...
- Bar kiss / dance. This was odd, though as someone else mentioned earlier from the prior episode, they seemed to be setting up this scenario / energy in previous scenes between the two of them. I agree, I hope this is one-and-done and they move on from this specific storyline.
Moon
Shot first, ask later, just instead of on the streets, it's up on the moon. Many
Escalating and extending the unfortunately inevitable superpower sh!tshow to Space.
Also what a horrible way to go for the Cosmonaut!
Gordo owning up to his past and being frank and straight with Tracy about it and that he's up there to get her back, if she lets him, was good character development.
I was extremely worried something would happen to Gordo and the Shuttle at launch though, specially after him being all smiles. Ed helping Gordo suit up was a nice moment.
the bar
They should have let that storyline end with last weeks episode.
This is just turning up the "drama" knob.
Molly
It got dusty quickly in my place, when she reached out to space.
Glad she told her partner the truth.
Hope she's not deteriorating quickly
Ellen
Hoping for a public coming out and keeping/taking the job.
Fearing the breakup and potential throwing the towel job wise too.
Kelly
Of Corse her biological father is alive and has a happy new family...
Depending on how Ed/Karens relationship continues, a tale of two very different worlds.
Bill/Aleida
It was getting dusty again, as Bill told the full story and Aleida hers.
Hope they can mend what's broken and work together or even support each other going forward in a non romantic way.
Margo & Sergej and the personal assistant
the personal assistant was just hilarious and as competent as one can be too.
Too bad she interrupted the coupling maneuver
(for now, but at least she helped with the clothes)
Also, thankfully the Margo to Sergej rescue tipp off seems to be not an issue...until the inevitable "they shot our Cosmonauts, they weaponized Pathfinder, we must weaponized Buran etc."
Pathfinder Team
Hope they somehow refuse to use it, once it's up there.
To me it seems all 3 of them are not only unhappy but opposed to it, some more public and vocal so far that others.
Shot first, ask later, just instead of on the streets, it's up on the moon. Many
Escalating and extending the unfortunately inevitable superpower sh!tshow to Space.
Also what a horrible way to go for the Cosmonaut!
Gordo owning up to his past and being frank and straight with Tracy about it and that he's up there to get her back, if she lets him, was good character development.
I was extremely worried something would happen to Gordo and the Shuttle at launch though, specially after him being all smiles. Ed helping Gordo suit up was a nice moment.
the bar
They should have let that storyline end with last weeks episode.
This is just turning up the "drama" knob.
Molly
It got dusty quickly in my place, when she reached out to space.
Glad she told her partner the truth.
Hope she's not deteriorating quickly
Ellen
Hoping for a public coming out and keeping/taking the job.
Fearing the breakup and potential throwing the towel job wise too.
Kelly
Of Corse her biological father is alive and has a happy new family...
Depending on how Ed/Karens relationship continues, a tale of two very different worlds.
Bill/Aleida
It was getting dusty again, as Bill told the full story and Aleida hers.
Hope they can mend what's broken and work together or even support each other going forward in a non romantic way.
Margo & Sergej and the personal assistant
the personal assistant was just hilarious and as competent as one can be too.
Too bad she interrupted the coupling maneuver
Also, thankfully the Margo to Sergej rescue tipp off seems to be not an issue...until the inevitable "they shot our Cosmonauts, they weaponized Pathfinder, we must weaponized Buran etc."
Pathfinder Team
Hope they somehow refuse to use it, once it's up there.
To me it seems all 3 of them are not only unhappy but opposed to it, some more public and vocal so far that others.
I thought the same about Gordo...especially on Columbia.Moon
Shot first, ask later, just instead of on the streets, it's up on the moon. Many
Escalating and extending the unfortunately inevitable superpower sh!tshow to Space.
Also what a horrible way to go for the Cosmonaut!
Gordo owning up to his past and being frank and straight with Tracy about it and that he's up there to get her back, if she lets him, was good character development.
I was extremely worried something would happen to Gordo and the Shuttle at launch though, specially after him being all smiles. Ed helping Gordo suit up was a nice moment.
the bar
They should have let that storyline end with last weeks episode.
This is just turning up the "drama" knob.
Molly
It got dusty quickly in my place, when she reached out to space.
Glad she told her partner the truth.
Hope she's not deteriorating quickly
Ellen
Hoping for a public coming out and keeping/taking the job.
Fearing the breakup and potential throwing the towel job wise too.
Kelly
Of Corse her biological father is alive and has a happy new family...
Depending on how Ed/Karens relationship continues, a tale of two very different worlds.
Bill/Aleida
It was getting dusty again, as Bill told the full story and Aleida hers.
Hope they can mend what's broken and work together or even support each other going forward in a non romantic way.
Margo & Sergej and the personal assistant
the personal assistant was just hilarious and as competent as one can be too.
Too bad she interrupted the coupling maneuver(for now, but at least she helped with the clothes)
Also, thankfully the Margo to Sergej rescue tipp off seems to be not an issue...until the inevitable "they shot our Cosmonauts, they weaponized Pathfinder, we must weaponized Buran etc."
Pathfinder Team
Hope they somehow refuse to use it, once it's up there.
To me it seems all 3 of them are not only unhappy but opposed to it, some more public and vocal so far that others.
The bar...extremely disappointed. Like massively. And how trite.
Kelly...meh
Bill/Aleida...actually made me like her just a little
Margo/Sergei....meh but mildly amusing
Pathfinder...my prediction is kicking Sally off the crew
The last few minutes was great and will turn up the heat for sure
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Finally got around to start watching this. Watched the first two episode. Really enjoyed them. Interesting idea.
The first season or second season? A new episode came out today, but I haven't watched it yet.
Holy cow, you're going to enjoy season two. The latest episode had a very intense ending.
For those who watched it... thoughts and opinions?