One thing you can confidently say about "For All Mankind": This story is stirring. At the start of episode three, there were no women astronauts at NASA – but by the end of this week’s episode, Molly Cobb is headed to the freaking moon. Witnessing this steady and swift progression is just one of the aspects of “Prime Crew” that generates a lot of excitement about the rest of the season. If we’ve gotten this far already, what could possibly happen next?
With the launch of Apollo 15, this alternate universe is already vastly different from the timeline we currently live in: the Vietnam War has ended by 1970, Ted Kennedy is running for President against Nixon, and a woman is going to the freaking moon. The resulting what-ifs are tremendous.
For the characters, though, the impact of these events isn’t clear yet. Instead, the bulk of the episode centers on preparations for the Apollo 15 mission, in the immediate aftermath of Patty’s death. Molly is convinced that the accident means the women’s program is dead, and she’s not wrong to worry about that. The White House has decided that one dead female astronaut is worse optics than no female astronauts.
Thus, Deke gets told to drop it and refocus entirely on establishing a permanent moon base. But Deke, bless his heart, is pretty stubborn. So he flat-out defies those orders, holding a press conference to announce that all four of the remaining women have completed their training, and also deciding to bump Gordo from Apollo 15 in favor of Molly.
Apollo 15 matters a ton to NASA because, under political pressure from Nixon, it will serve as a scouting mission for finding a moon base location (which is a big deal since the Russians are also working to establish a base, and despite a recent crash that may have killed at least one cosmonaut, they may once again be ahead of NASA).
Over the course of the training, many of the show’s women unveil some key secrets: Margo has a secret passion for playing jazz piano, which also seems to help her with her equations. And Molly, despite what everyone assumes about her, appears to be quite happily married to a nice man named Wayne. "Ed probably thinks I'm a lesbian," Molly says as she and Wayne enjoy a leisurely joint bubble bath (as well as a joint). "I have often thought of myself as a lesbian," Wayne replies.
And Ellen actually is a lesbian, and she and Pam the bartender have been sleeping together! It’s a well-executed twist thanks to a key bit of misdirection when Ellen and Larry get a drink together at the Outpost. While everyone thinks Larry and Ellen are dating (building upon their previous movie chatter in episode three), he has known the truth for some time and delivers more than one warning that getting caught will cost her her chance at space. He’s willing to help her by playing the role of boyfriend in public, perhaps because he too is concealing a secret about his sexuality, as hinted by the line "believe me, I know." But secrets have a funny way of getting out.
The training process is not as seamless as it could be, as Molly's stubbornness clashes with her new crewmates, and in particular, Ed becomes increasingly frustrated with both her attitude and the fact that she might not be as ready as she needs to be for the mission. However, it's Margo who manages to kick Molly's ass into gear, reminding her that she's not "just a pilot" - she's an astronaut and she has to be perfect.
On launch day, Molly seems ready as she, Ed, and crewmate Sedgewick strap in. "Buncha people cheering for shit. I haven't done anything yet," Molly grumbles.
And then Ed says perhaps the funniest thing he's said so far in this entire series: "You did just strap your ass on top of a quarter million tons of high explosives for government pay. It's not smart, but it's something." They start laughing in the moments before blastoff, while Wayne holds hands with the other astronaut wives in the bleachers, and Deke gets a call from the White House, with Nixon warning him that "if the girl screws up, it's your ass." It's quite the tease for next week's episode - but Molly doesn't seem even slightly scared.
