To be the first to do something entails taking risks, being bold, and accepting the fact that the initial launch might not go smoothly. This statement aptly encapsulates not just the 1960s space race but also the first episode of For All Mankind. On an even more meta level, it extends to the new subscription service upon which it will be launched. However, given that Apple TV+’s success largely depends on the quality of its programming, it makes sense to delve deep into what might be its true flagship series (sorry, Jen and Reese).
For All Mankind begins with a bold swing, but the power of its opening twist hinges entirely on how much audiences already know about the show. If a viewer happens to be randomly exploring the brand-new Apple TV app on their brand-new Apple TV box (remember, kids, you get a free year of Apple TV+ with the purchase of any new Apple product!) and decides to give it a try, then the extended introduction, capturing a seismic moment in global history as millions of people watch their televisions, waiting for news from the moon, might have ended with quite a punch.
But if you’ve watched even one full-length trailer for the series, you would have known that the premise hinges on the fact that, somehow, the first man to land on the moon was a Russian cosmonaut on June 26, 1969, and not Neil Armstrong on July 21, 1969. Thus, that long opening sequence, which does some loose but necessary work in introducing the show’s ensemble, is ultimately like watching The Sixth Sense while knowing what’s up with Bruce Willis.
It’s a dark night for the men and women of NASA as they witness a Russian expedition to the moon beat the planned Apollo 11 mission. NASA is using Mission Control as a giant television to watch the arrival, and because it’s 1969, there’s a bit of a gender split among the Americans. Ed (Joel Kinnaman) and his fellow astronaut buddies gather at a local bar in Houston (the legendary Outpost Tavern, a real place) to watch, while their families watch from home.
Due to the Russians' unprecedented achievement of reaching the moon first, everything that follows will be vastly different from what we know, ranging from the drastic to the minor (though, of course, even the minor changes may have their own impact). At this very moment, no matter where Americans are, their reactions are uniformly: shock, awe, and shame. The latter emotion particularly weighs heavily on the minds of everyone involved in the space program, particularly Ed, as he was part of Apollo 10, the so-called "dress rehearsal" for Apollo 11. His mission was not to land, but he had all the equipment, and if he had perhaps decided to press that button...
It's intriguing that a show built on the premise of "what if" also has other "what ifs" in the chamber, especially one based on real-life events. And it's that "what if" that haunts Ed as the NASA team gathers in the aftermath of the Russian victory. First, they gather for an all-hands meeting with their boss Deke, who tells them to take the weekend off and "get drunk, kick your dog, gnash your teeth or howl at the moon" to overcome the frustration of losing the right to be first on the moon. (For the record, NO ONE should have done that second thing.) After that, they head back to the Outpost Tavern, where they engage in a fun little car race featuring some truly sexy 1960s cars. (They might be gas-guzzlers, but, c'mon.)
Late into the "getting drunk" phase of the day, a reporter comes into the bar. This is where Ed makes his key mistake - one that a more media-savvy person might have recognized. In fact, given how many other members of the space program previously declined to talk to this reporter, you'd think that Ed would have some clue that maybe he shouldn't criticize the entire NASA organization and gripe about how safety precautions have become a priority after the Apollo 1 fire.
Ed's comments are part of a front-page Newsweek story that asks "Have We Lost the Space Race?" which gets him demoted and nearly fired. But then he takes a back seat to the real story - Apollo 11 will still happen, except now it has even bigger stakes. As expressed more than once by various figures, if this mission fails, America's interest in the space race is over.
An element of this is due to the fact that at this time, Nixon is the president. The show spares us an actor in facial prosthetics and instead takes a Post-esque approach with an impersonator "being recorded" via his infamous tapes, stewing over how these events might affect him. When Nixon learns that the Russians won the race to the moon, he talks about it like a blown football play. When NASA figures tell a political operative that they want to set things up so Nixon can make a phone call to astronauts on the moon (a thing that even in 2019 sounds pretty damn cool), Nixon's representative says that the president "doesn't usually call the silver medalist." Never mind, of course, the point that this would show off America's technological superiority - just throwing this out there, but maybe Nixon was a jerk?
There's a pivotal moment later in the narrative where Nixon reveals a glimpse of his humanity... all it takes is the presumed demise of the Apollo 11 crew. The mission launches successfully, but the descent of the lunar module is fraught with peril, and there's an extended period where they're assumed to be dead. To the point where we hear Nixon rehearsing aloud the speech he'd prepared for the failure of the mission – a speech that truly exists.
Here's the truth: The first time I watched this episode, there were a few minutes where I genuinely believed they were going to cut Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin off. I know! But it speaks to the prowess of storytelling that I was literally breathless, and that's the thrilling aspect of engaging with a brand-new show that aims to create a brand-new reality – we know where we're starting from, but who knows where things are headed? This could be the show that leaves Neil and Buzz to perish on the moon! It's Apple TV+, folks! Who's to say what could happen!
And what's going to happen remains a mystery at the end of the episode, once we all catch our breath after listening to the eerie sound of static for minutes, interrupted by contact with the surface. There are only two American men left on the moon. We sent them there. It's time to bring them back home.
