In the penultimate episode of season two, For All Mankind delves back into its cherished theme: the sometimes exhilarating, sometimes nauseating cycle of international and interplanetary stakes, individual actions, and their far-reaching consequences. Let's delve into this world of escalating tensions with some vivid examples of how to turn an already dire situation into a potential war threat, not just on Earth but also on its moon. To achieve maximum effectiveness in shattering the fragile goodwill between two superpowers armed with nuclear weapons, consider the following ingredients:
1. A Shocking Triggering Event: Imagine U.S. marines shooting two cosmonauts in a tragic miscommunication, resulting in one's tragic death in his spacesuit and the possible severe injury of the other.
2. Complicating Dynamics: To further intensify the potential military conflict, have the injured cosmonaut declare his intention to defect as soon as he regains consciousness. (The Soviets will doubt the authenticity of this defection, suspecting that their man is being interrogated by... well, they're not sure by whom. Since we don't have a Space CIA yet, they'll deeply believe it's true, and by Lenin's beard, they'll take action.)
3. Decades-Long Mistrust: For maximum chaos and violence, deep-rooted mutual distrust between the superpowers, fueled by both legitimate and paranoid reasons, without consensus on which is which. The goal is to keep the waters murky, making calm, good-faith decision-making nearly impossible. If you don't have this type of fast-acting political and military disaster sourdough prepared from scratch, store-bought ingredients will suffice.
4. Saber-Rattling in Diverse Forms: Include but are not limited to: loud, incensed political speeches broadcast globally; launching a "fully armed" space shuttle; establishing a space blockade; launching a space convoy of nuclear weapons in defiance of that blockade; issuing handguns to astronauts tasked with protecting these weapons en route to the moon; moving entire naval fleets to strategic locations and canceling leave for military personnel; and let's just go ahead and move to DEFCON 2 because that will truly signal to the world that emotions are running high. Let's get everyone involved in this existential dread!
5. If you want to cling to the hope of escaping this interplanetary mess, it's always reassuring to have something nice to look forward to, like the Apollo-Soyuz-Apollo space-handshake mission continuing as planned.
Mixing and matching your interplanetary catastrophe likelihood boosters, or ICLBs, is a potent way to throw individuals for a loop. For instance, Karen is already on edge, grappling with her decision to sleep with Danny and its reverberating effects on her relationship with Ed. But when Ed's mission as the commander of Pathfinder is expedited by two days to safeguard NASA's nuclear-capable Sea Dragon from the Soviet-armed Buran space shuttle, the news catapults her into such a whirl that she blurts out the bare bones of her infidelity. She slept with someone else—a decision she made, not an error in judgment that can be excused by being drunk or high—and she wants Ed to accompany her to counseling once he returns from this mission. Here’s where ICLBs strike for a third kill with one stone: Ed is already on edge, knowing the heightened risks of the adjusted mission, and Karen’s news ignites his fury, causing him to demand several impossible things right away, wanting to know whom she slept with and what her plans are for their future.
ICLBs also present opportunities for individuals to rise to the occasion. We see this with Ellen, who continues to grapple with reconciling her professional ambitions and abilities with her desire to build a life out of the public eye with Pam. Throughout crises that keep rolling downhill and gaining momentum and significance as they go, Larry has been supportive, agreeing to an amicable divorce down the line. He functions as her effective and astute chief of staff, embracing Pam as she moves into their home. Pam has gained a clearer understanding of Ellen’s responsibilities and how skilled she is at fulfilling them. It seems as though Ellen has been pleasantly surprised by how well she’s doing under less-than-ideal circumstances and amidst her grief for Tom. Understandably, the rapidly unfolding crisis on the moon has overshadowed the tragedy of Flight 007 being shot out of the sky, but it’s always lurking in the background.
We see Larry sharing a drink in his and Ellen’s breakfast nook with someone called Lee, discussing how great a Republican candidate Ellen would be for a congressional run in Texas’s 22nd Legislative District and, in the future, maybe even the first female president. Pam overhears the end of this conversation. Following a conversation with Larry, she decides to break up with Ellen, leaving her a “Dear Ellen” letter explaining that she’s decided to get back together with her former partner, Elise. Ellen is devastated, and Larry is of course very comforting, but there’s a tiny seed of uncertainty here: Is some of his apparent surprise at Pam’s departure performative? Did he ever-so-slightly maneuver Pam into breaking up with Ellen? We’ve seen in previous episodes that Pam is acutely aware of what a gifted politician and devoted public servant Ellen is. Even as she sincerely admires Ellen’s gifts (or maybe because of that admiration), she’s had a visible-to-the-audience worry that she could be standing in Ellen’s way. She doesn’t want to be the reason Ellen doesn’t pursue her ambition. On the other hand, Ellen is the one who should be making decisions for her own career and life.
Speaking of making life decisions, we now return to Second Chance at Love: The Gordo and Tracy Stevens Story. When last we saw our maybe once and future lovebirds, Gordo had come clean about his intent to win Tracy back, and she’d made no commitment, just left the door open to the possibility. In this episode, he surprises Tracy by waiting in the galley and popping out (from behind a curtain?) to serenade her. I love how Tracy becomes the audience surrogate for a moment here—wondering aloud how long Gordo has been there waiting, what he thinks he’s doing, why he’s serenading here. Aren’t these the kind of cheap moves he employed with other women during the bad old days when he was rapaciously unfaithful to her? Her tart unimpressedness balances out the silly, heartfelt sweetness of Gordo’s corny moves, which he describes as representing “no expectations, just feelings.” I consider this a quietly explicit homage to the scene in Sense and Sensibility in which Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant) makes a strikingly similar speech to Elinor Dashwood (Emma Thompson) about having no expectations, only wanting her to know at long last that his heart is, and always will be, hers. The reigning king and queen of making eyes at each other pop into the airlock for a smoke and maybe more.
Finally, we arrive at the climactic scene of the episode, a scene that rightly deserves a place in the Hall of Fame for Harrowing, Dread-Filled Cliffhangers. A team of astronauts, tasked with the formidable challenge of repairing and restoring power to Jamestown Colony's nuclear reactor, is tantalizingly close to completing their mission. They're on the verge of switching back to the backup power source when one of them spots a cosmonaut outside. Before the word "détente" can even be uttered, the cosmonaut fires at the window, shattering it and sending the astronauts into a full-blown panic in that tiny control room. In mere seconds, the room is depressurized, and three of them manage to escape just as everything not bolted to the floor is hurled out through the shattered window, including a fourth astronaut, who is tragically sucked out onto the lunar surface.
Our next glimpse is of a lone gloved hand grasping the window frame, followed by three, four, five armed cosmonauts scaling through the opening. It turns out that the Soviets are not only equipped with space guns but have also come to retrieve their man. The tension and drama of this moment are palpable, leaving us on the edge of our seats and wondering what will happen next.
