For All Mankind (spoilers)

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Omg the idea that a country still relatively destitute could leapfrog other countries to reach Mars first on tech that they bought from said superior countries…I can’t believe that was the ending.

 

it feels like a parody show at this point 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Omg the idea that a country still relatively destitute could leapfrog other countries to reach Mars first on tech that they bought from said superior countries…I can’t believe that was the ending.

 

it feels like a parody show at this point 

It just needed an organ sting (dum… Dum… DUM!!!…) to make it a little more hokey.

[Werthead]

A Ronald D. Moore show that was excellent for two seasons and the start of the third, and then abruptly nosedives in quality over the course of its third season. Say it isn't so!

At least if someone plays "All Along the Watchtower" in the season finale, it won't be a big deal.

[3CityApache]

The ending of the last episode really was ridiculous. That's a real shame they went this way.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Is there enough oxygen for a primer cap to ignite cordite in the atmosphere of Mars?  Not that I’d want to take that chance… but still.

[DaveSumm]

Honestly I didn’t even mind the Korean guy at the end just cos it was something other than the soap opera back at base. 

I do worry that this show has too much of a formula and won’t keep my interest for much longer. What made the first season so good was that we could still recognise ourselves in it, it still resembled the 60’s even though things got more advanced. That’s what makes scenes like the Russian shooting the window so striking, because internally we know how fucking horrendous that’d be for international relations.

But the more things deviate, the less familiar things become. And ultimately it’s plots are built on disaster; Season 4, one assumes, they’ll head to some other moon even further away? And it won’t go smoothly? And there’ll be some interpersonal conflict between a badly aged-up Danny, and someone’s kids or something? This could get old fast.

I enjoyed the press conference scene, as again, this is returning to the shows core premise - the space race keeps us all focused on a better future. And I love when they intersperse it with real historical footage. But I’m not sure how much they can draw from that well either, once we move into the next millennium.

[Mindwalker]

For me, it's gotten old already. Maybe the soapishness instead of real, relatable human drama stems from the fact that they have to do these huge time jumps... So if the Margo situation doesn't resolve next episode, I'll have to check reviews for next season. I don't care about anyone outside of this storyline anymore, and that's porobably more to do with the acting than the writing. Well, and Will, the actor does a good job, too.

And I wouldn't mind the fact that they're deviating more and more from our timeline, quite the contrary. But they don't really explore this reality outside of technology and the space race.

For example, AIDS has happened, but the gay civil rights movement that arose from it hasn't. Why? And that's just one of 100 questions I have. If some of them were addressed/ mentioned, it would be a much more interesting show. World-building, essentially. (With the space race still as the main focus.)

PS: They don't have enough room to take everyone back to Earth, right? Any votes for whom to leave behind?)

Edited August 8, 2022 by Mindwalker

[Maia]

I have finally caught up after missing a few weeks and... did the Mars expedition(s) actually undertake, like, any exploration and scientific discovery at all? All they seemed to do was dealing with the fallouts of Danny and Kelly screw-ups so that they could GTFO back to Earth. What a  disappointing contrast to the previous seasons!

No wonder that Helios had no enthusiasm for a Mars colony - though I guess that we are about to see Kelly give birth on Mars and she and her kid becoming the first permanent residents.

Oh, and didn't Helios have 2 landers? Was the second one completely destroyed?

North Koreans on Mars, while absurd, doesn't seem so bad by comparison. In fact, it appears to reference persistent rumors that were going around USSR for decades that some of the unmanned Moon missions had been secretly one-way manned ones, because  Soviet robotics wasn't up to snuff. I.e. Lunokhods, etc.

Regarding Wilson't coming-out, that wouldn't remove the threat of Larry being indicted for perjury, would it?   

[DaveSumm]

I’d forgotten about that; is this correct, that there is a tape recorder in the Oval Office that’s recording 24/7, and the President knows about it, but they still talk freely there, and they can listen back to the tapes anytime (while, it should be noted, talking freely about how they could destroy the tape)…? What if someone gets hold of that tape? Or is that literally the recorder, so there’d be a gap at that point? Does this make any sense at all?

[Ran]

59 minutes ago, DaveSumm said:

I’d forgotten about that; is this correct, that there is a tape recorder in the Oval Office that’s recording 24/7, and the President knows about it, but they still talk freely there, and they can listen back to the tapes anytime (while, it should be noted, talking freely about how they could destroy the tape)…? What if someone gets hold of that tape? Or is that literally the recorder, so there’d be a gap at that point? Does this make any sense at all?

So it's true LBJ had such a system, although his was limited (a recorder for the Cabinet Room and one for his private office next to the Oval). Nixon had it removed, and then after two years had a new system installed when he decided it was a good idea after all, and his system was much more invasive (including tapping of various phone lines that recorded when sound was activated). The intention was good: to keep a clear record of decisions and decision-making. But it bit Nixon on the ass when Watergate came around.

For some reason the show refers to LBJ's system, but it'd have been Nixon's system that was somehow (incredibly) still active. Suffice it to say, in our world, after Watergate the systematic recording of White House activity was dropped. I find it very convenient, and hard to believe, that we're in the mid-90s and they're still using the same system.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

59 minutes ago, Ran said:

So it's true LBJ had such a system, although his was limited (a recorder for the Cabinet Room and one for his private office next to the Oval). Nixon had it removed, and then after two years had a new system installed when he decided it was a good idea after all, and his system was much more invasive (including tapping of various phone lines that recorded when sound was activated). The intention was good: to keep a clear record of decisions and decision-making. But it bit Nixon on the ass when Watergate came around.

For some reason the show refers to LBJ's system, but it'd have been Nixon's system that was somehow (incredibly) still active. Suffice it to say, in our world, after Watergate the systematic recording of White House activity was dropped. I find it very convenient, and hard to believe, that we're in the mid-90s and they're still using the same system.

There is no Watergate scandal in this Universe.  That said given that there is no Watergate scandal further the cynicism and distrust of Government… is it therefore believable that there is a QAnon level kook squad claiming Gordo and Tracy didn’t die at Jamestown?

[Ran]

37 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

There is no Watergate scandal in this Universe.

Sure, but basically I find it hard to imagine that in the 20 years since Nixon no one ended up bitten by the constant recording and dropping it. Like, am I supposed to believe Ted Kennedy who lost under a cloud thanks to his extramarital affair and other business didn't have that recording system come up as an issue?

[DaveSumm]

Even if we accept the existence of the recorder, I don’t understand why the President would ever talk about stuff like her husbands affair, or how they could maybe just delete the tapes. Even by the shows internal logic, there’s either a recorded conversation about destroying recorded conversations, or there’s a gap in the records, and they state in the episode that those are both problems. But they’re just … doing it again? And still talking freely? 

[IFR]

On 8/8/2022 at 4:53 PM, Mindwalker said:

For me, it's gotten old already. Maybe the soapishness instead of real, relatable human drama stems from the fact that they have to do these huge time jumps... So if the Margo situation doesn't resolve next episode, I'll have to check reviews for next season. I don't care about anyone outside of this storyline anymore, and that's porobably more to do with the acting than the writing. Well, and Will, the actor does a good job, too.

And I wouldn't mind the fact that they're deviating more and more from our timeline, quite the contrary. But they don't really explore this reality outside of technology and the space race.

For example, AIDS has happened, but the gay civil rights movement that arose from it hasn't. Why? And that's just one of 100 questions I have. If some of them were addressed/ mentioned, it would be a much more interesting show. World-building, essentially. (With the space race still as the main focus.)

PS: They don't have enough room to take everyone back to Earth, right? Any votes for whom to leave behind?)

It really is a shame. An alternate history show that intelligently explores the consequences of a persistent space race is pretty much my dream series. But these are clearly not the writers for that sort of ambition. They seem to have neither the creativity to believably address an alternate timeline, nor the talent to avoid focusing on the low hanging fruit of tawdry, sensationalistic drama.

What a waste of a good idea.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1. When did Molly die?

2. How did Margo get out?

3. How can Danny survive in the NK capsule for a year and a half?

4. Huh?

[David Selig]

So much stupid melodrama. I probably won't bother with next season.

Spoiler

I couldn't help but laugh that after everyone was so obsessed with stepping on Mars first earlier in the season now they basically shrugged when they learned that the North Korean dude had been the first man on Mars.

Kelly being strapped on the top of the lander was also hilarious.

And of course, they never explained how the hell the North Koreans carried enough supplies in this tiny capsule for reaching Mars and surviving there for over 6 months.

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by David Selig

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, David Selig said:

So much stupid melodrama. I probably won't bother with next season.

  Hide contents

I couldn't help but laugh that after everyone was so obsessed with stepping on Mars first earlier in the season now they basically shrugged when they learned that the North Korean dude had been the first man on Mars.

Kelly being strapped on the top of the lander was also hilarious.

And of course, they never explained how the hell the North Koreans carried enough supplies in this tiny capsule for reaching Mars and surviving there for over 6 months.

 

The obsession with weight in the MSAM was forgotten as they added Ed to the vehicle and the rig to launch Kelly.

[Mindwalker]

Let's see...

First the good stuff:

1. Thank you, FAM, for

Spoiler

bringing closure to Margo's story, so I won't be tempted to watch next season. She was the most interesting character, her storyline was usually well written (unlike, you know, all the others), and I loved Wren Schmidt's acting. You go, Margo!

2. I enjoyed the sequence with Korean dude's time on Mars.

As for the rest...

Oh, I won't bother. I won't wade trough another mediocre season. I think the authors believe they can serve us sh*t and then pull off 1 or 2 great episodes in the end, with lots of action, drama, pathos, and slo-mo. Payoff! Certainly worked for most people and season 2. Problem is, this time around, even the final episode wasn't great imho. At least it was entertaining I guess.

I'll leave it at that, except for saying that Ed is really the worst superior officer ever.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Mindwalker

[Werthead]

I think the finale had some good ideas and was trying to right the ship but it was mostly a case of too little too late.

Margo's magical teleportation to Russia is only marginally more convincing than Jim Hopper's in Stranger Things. There was some good stuff with the Korean story and the politics (though undercooked). The Danielle-Grigory bromance had some amusing potential. That's about it. Danny should have died at the very least, but "exiling" him to the North Korean ship was just so non-sequitur randomly stupid that it was genuinely comical. And I'm not sure how we went from a bunch of beige conspiracy theorists turning into a more capable terror threat than Al-Qaeda in the space of five seconds, given this plot was so undersold this season I genuinely forgot about its existence every single time it wasn't on screen.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Werthead

[DaveSumm]

17 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

1. When did Molly die?

Oh good, it’s not just me. Look she’s being a hero! She’s leading fully sighted people out of the building and going back for more!

Oh and she died.

17 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

4. Huh?

Yea basically. Can’t be bothered dredging over all the stupid, it was pretty stupid.