For All Mankind

[Blackstar]

[Blackstar]

So the season finale is available now. Here's a lazy summary.






Spoilers









Yeah, spoilers









Beware all who enter here!












The episode starts with a North Korean spacecraft descending toward Mars with two astronauts inside. Are they cosmonauts? Taikonauts? We don't know.

It's not going well. They have a problem with parachute deployment (I think the timing was wrong, because they were talking about chute deployment while still glowing hot in the atmosphere). The chute goes out, a bit late, and they hit hard. One of the guys dies, leaving only one astronaut in a wrecked spacecraft. We see him eating what looks like some awful canned food and reporting home, day after day, with no response. He's doing his duty, but he's all alone and getting depressed looking at a photo of his wife, and the audience can see where this is going as he keeps glancing towards a locked box.

You can bet that the inside of that spacecraft does not smell good.

Finally he goes out on the surface and he's really at the end of his rope. Crying. And he has a pistol. He's going to kill himself. And then he sees dust on the horizon. It's Danielle and the Soviet commander, coming to steal his electronics.

They show up and there's a standoff. Danielle and the cosmonaut figure out that this guy actually landed before they did--he is the first man on Mars! Danielle tries to explain to him why they are there, drawing in the sand. But the cosmonaut takes action and sneaks up on the guy and pulls out his air hose, then disarms him. They take him prisoner and are going to take him back to Happy Valley. They bury his gun. But then they stick a tire iron in the sand to mark the spot where the gun is buried. (Okay, although they probably have not written season 4 yet, we can all predict that at some point somebody--probably Danny--is going to dig up the gun. It's like that old saying by Shakespeare that if you hang a gun on the wall in Act One, then Cleopatra has to shoot Romeo with it in Act Three.)

Sidenote: when they bring the North Korean guy back to Happy Valley, it turns out that Ed can speak Korean. But the whole NK subplot really doesn't add up to anything other than a Gotcha! The actor playing the North Korean astronaut doesn't do anything other than stare, and he's portrayed pretty much as a loyal robot. They should have gotten Matt Damon to play the North Korean astronaut, because Matt Damon can emote.

Meanwhile, back at Happy Valley, Kelly is still pregnant and the Russian doctor says that they have to induce birth in 24 hours or both she and the baby can die, and they have to do that on the Phoenix up in orbit. But there's not enough fuel. Everybody at Happy Valley volunteers to stay on Mars and die of starvation so that Kelly and Ed Junior can get to space.

But there's a problem! They only have 92% of the fuel needed to get Kelly into orbit. Then back on Earth Aleida figures out that if they put a personal jetpack on Kelly, she can be her own second stage. They will stick her on top of the MSAM and when it gets high in its trajectory, she will fly off (she explains that it's all about "impulse" and not "thrust," which made me scratch my head until I decided to stop thinking about it).

On Mars, they're going to need somebody to pilot the MSAM. Ed takes the job, but it looks like a suicide mission because the MSAM will only have a tiny amount of fuel left for landing.

Back on Earth, the Russian lady tells Margo that the FBI is investigating her and she will be arrested soon. She also says that Aleida is the FBI's source. Margo confronts Aleida and says that when all this is over they will talk.

Also, Margo gets her Russian non-boyfriend Sergei and his family out of the Soviet Union. He's super happy and thanks her. We all wonder what Margo did to save him, and it's not hard to figure out that she cut a deal with the Russians that if they save him, she'll go to Russia and give away lots of secrets.

Also back on Earth, Karen talks to Molly Cobb who tells her to go for the gusto and become CEO of Helios, after the board kicks out Dev. Then back at Helios Dev meets with Karen to tell her he knows the board is going to remove him and Karen confesses that she may take the CEO job.

A short time later, Dev goes out on the floor at Helios and announces that he's going to be removed. But he rallies the troops. He's going to build a bigger, better company, with multiple cities on Mars, and blackjack, and hookers, and... The employees get excited. Yeah! They love the dream! This is great! They're with him!

And then Karen interjects a question: will everybody still get paid the same? Dev stumbles. They may have to take a slight pay cut. Somebody asks what that means--ten percent? Will they still keep their stock options? (Not if they quit Helios.) Mumble grumble. It's clear that people are unhappy. But what about the dream? Dev asks. That's great talk, somebody replies, but you're rich.

I thought this scene was a bit clunky, but it still worked. Dev is this master manipulator who talks about vision and acts like he runs Helios as a democracy where every employee gets a vote. But that can only go so far. You can't use vision to pay your mortgage or put food on the table. Dev is presumably a multi-billionaire who doesn't worry about paying tuition or affording health care. That bubble would have deflated no matter what, but Karen just popped it early. Dev walks away, defeated. (But he'll surely be back in season 4.)

In Houston they're gearing up for the rescue mission. And Danny's loser brother Jimmy is there pulling shenanigans. They're going to hack the NASA video feed or something. Then Jimmy gets suspicious when he sees guns in the van of his weirdo buddies. He calls Danny's wife and leaves a concerned message on voicemail just before his sorta girlfriend shows up. (Sidenote: the actress who played this woman was really good. She is pushy/creepy. Jimmy is such a wimp that he doesn't see how dangerous she is.) Jimmy gets knocked out and tied up in the back of the van.

Back on Mars, Ed is going to fly the MSAM with Kelly strapped to the roof. Ed gets some advice from Molly Cobb, who tells him how to land with no fuel. She also says that he had a long career and doesn't have much ahead of him, so cratering in on Mars wouldn't be so bad.

Danny is still exploring the idea of having a conscience and he approaches Ed and says that he should fly the MSAM. Ed is not convinced. And then Danny confesses to sleeping with Ed's wife.

No, no, he doesn't do that. Instead, Danny confesses that he was the one who messed up the drilling leading to the Marslide that killed three people and left the rest of them in perilous condition. Ed gets really mad. Like really really mad. The actor's face bulges out and it's scary. He tells Danny that Danny doesn't get to absolve himself of his sins by flying a suicide mission. Then Ed makes a really good point: does Danny think that Ed would trust a weasely nerf like Danny to save his daughter?

Then Danny confesses to sleeping with Ed's wife.

No, no, he doesn't do that.

Okay, they launch the MSAM with Kelly on the roof. It ascends, Kelly pops off and fires her jetpack and catches up with the Phoenix and they save her. Then Ed's ship does reentry. Warning alarms, scary, tense. He's zooming towards the surface. Will he live?

Back on Earth, Amber has called Karen and said that Jimmy is in trouble. Karen goes out into the parking lot looking for Jimmy. She finds him tied up in the back of a van and then notices that it is filled with explosives. She tells everybody to run. They run, and then the bomb goes off. Boom. Big badaboom.

On Mars we see the Russian cosmonaut driving a rover out to Ed's crater. This whole scene is taken from the near final scene of "The Right Stuff," and the cosmonaut smiles as he sees Ed in his spacesuit walking towards the rover, the smoking wreck in the background.

Back at Houston, the bomb was really big. Probably killed hundreds of people. The mission control building is a wreck. Jimmy is still alive (hooray?) and he wanders over to find Karen in the rubble, and then Karen dies.

In Mission Control, the Unsinkable Molly Cobb stumbles to her feet and then starts helping people find the exit, which she knows how to do because she's done it blind. She's a gorram hero! And after she takes the first group out she goes back to rescue more people and we see her walk into the smoke and the sparks and it's pretty clear she's not coming back.

Aleida gets up, she wanders through the building and then goes to Margo's office. Margo had headed there and started playing the piano. Aleida gets into Margo's office and half of it is gone, destroyed by the blast. And it's very clear that Margo is gone too.

In Mars orbit, Kelly is in a cabin on the Phoenix and she is holding her baby.

And, well, that's it.

Almost. Because this show has a lot of sub-plots and they needed to service them, we've had a couple of scenes with Ellen, suffering the fallout from revealing that she's gay. Her vice president tells her that she's going to be impeached and her own party (she's a Republican) is going to impeach her. Ellen says that being gay doesn't amount to a "high crime," and says that the Democrats may not vote to impeach her. Her vice pres nobly suggests that she resign so that he can become president. Later we see her approaching her old girlfriend from the early 1980s. Maybe they'll be a couple.

We see Ed and Danielle with Danny at the North Korean ship. They say that they're leaving him there, exiled. They'll bring him food and a copy of The Reader's Digest once a month. We then see Danny eating rations and staring at a photo of his wife and baby. Poor Danny.

We get a final scene and it's set in 2003 (seven years later?). It's Margo, getting up in an apartment and looking out over the city of Moscow.

Now we wait another year for season 4.

[M.E.T.]

No words.

[EE Scott]

Spoilers


Great summary Blackstar.  I thought Ed would bite the dust, as that would erase Danny's confession and Danny would have a chance to act like the drill explosion wasn't his fault. Also I almost wanted Ed to go out that way, as he's now living with not only the death of his son Shane, but also the death of his ex-wife, his failure of judgement on brining Danny on as a crew member and probably also the knowledge that Jimmy had a hand in the explosion, even though he was duped. We'll see how his mental health holds up in season 4.

[ccdengr]

They will stick her on top of the MSAM and when it gets high in its trajectory, she will fly off (she explains that it's all about "impulse" and not "thrust," which made me scratch my head until I decided to stop thinking about it).

Well, delta V is a function of total impulse and not thrust per se, but that still doesn't make this sequence make much sense.  Why not have Kelly fly the MSAM and jump out, just letting the MSAM burn up instead of Ed having to land it?  That would leave all the MSAM fuel available for the ascent.

Yeah, I know, not as dramatic.

[Blackstar]

Well, delta V is a function of total impulse and not thrust per se, but that still doesn't make this sequence make much sense.  Why not have Kelly fly the MSAM and jump out, just letting the MSAM burn up instead of Ed having to land it?  That would leave all the MSAM fuel available for the ascent.

Yeah, I know, not as dramatic.

They said that the issue was getting her out of the MSAM. And considering that she was mobility challenged, that's not hard to accept.

The bigger issue is why they needed a pilot at all. Why not just program the launch sequence?

[Blackstar]

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/for-all-mankind-finale-deaths-season-3-interview-1235337625/

[Blackstar]

[EE Scott]

That's a very worthwhile link to the Variety interview, thanks.

I had just finished reading a chat with Wrenn Schmidt:

https://www.vulture.com/article/for-all-mankind-wrenn-schmidt-margo-finale-interview.html

One great thing about this show is that even though I could pick apart the choices the writers have made for the characters this season, the people involved in the casting knocked it out of the park. Not just the original season 1 folks, but the follow-ons as well.

[Blackstar]

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-081222a-for-all-mankind-season-three-finale-showrunners.html

[tea monster]

SPOILERS!!!!






So, how did they whist Margo out of the building just before the explosion? Were the bomb plotters under the control of the KGB? Was this a huge distraction to extract Margo? Is it just a big coincidence?

Having the NK astronaut be the 'First Man' was a good twist, but I too was disappointed that he had absolutely NOTHING to do or even say. Not even a reaction when he finds out he was first. Maybe he'll do more next season? This season finale is much more a segway to the next season.

[Jeff Lerner]

Spoilers…







…and I will add that in this timeline spacecraft seem to be much more resilient…Sojourner, Popeye and the NK spacecraft all crash land on Mars and except for one of the NK astronauts, everyone walks away…lol…so much for the Great Martian Ghoul…

[tea monster]

Spoilers…







…and I will add that in this timeline spacecraft seem to be much more resilient…Sojourner, Popeye and the NK spacecraft all crash land on Mars and except for one of the NK astronauts, everyone walks away…lol…so much for the Great Martian Ghoul…

Maybe the Great Martian Ghoul's original corporeal intelligence was a machine sapient. Thus it has a hunger for technology, but turns it's nose up at puny meatbags.

[Blackstar]

SPOILERS!!!!






So, how did they whist Margo out of the building just before the explosion? Were the bomb plotters under the control of the KGB? Was this a huge distraction to extract Margo? Is it just a big coincidence?

I am guessing it was a coincidence and that she was escorted out of the building shortly before the bomb blew up. Thinking about it from the Soviet perspective, as soon as the mission was over, the FBI could have arrested her. They would not arrest her during such a key event. So the KGB would have figured that was the best time to take her away. And her heading back to her office indicated that something was up--otherwise she would not have left mission control at a key moment. She made her little speech so that everybody saw her, and then she left so she could get taken away by the Soviets.

The bombing really was analogous to the Oklahoma City bombing, with a conspiracy theory and hatred towards a government agency leading to a terrorist attack. That event did not require foreign influence, so I don't think this one does either.

[su27k]

No end of the season space related teaser? That's not a good sign...

[Nibb31]

So in the FAM timeline, all of NASA is in the same building, including Mission Control?

Season 3 took a huge dive in terms of writing and inconsistencies. Shuttles to the Moon were bad enough in S2, but the Martian single-stage to Mars rocket or the solar sails added to NASA space craft that was pushed up from 4 years to 2 years lost me.

And the we had the NK mission to Mars and the space baby that everyone agrees on keeping...

[Blackstar]

So in the FAM timeline, all of NASA is in the same building, including Mission Control?
 

That was established in season 1. They barely referenced Washington.

[Ice]

Large collection of HD screenshots from season 3

Here are some of the images but there are way more in the link ⇑
Beware of the spoilers.

[neoforce]

Finally had a chance to finish the season.

While there are times I have had issues (Danny/Karen) I am overall very pleased with the show.

Like most of the folks on NSF.com, I will nitpick at the science all day.  (I wish getting to Mars was so easy that _four_ separate groups could attempt a crewed landing in one window!)  But they try really hard on the science and get enough of it right.  The "normies" who aren't space enthusiasts get an authentic feel of some aspects of space travel. 

Even outside of Danny/Karen the drama was contrived at times.  But that is true in any drama.  You need conflict or the show is just boring.

in summary:  the space stuff is done mostly realistically.  The drama is sometimes contrived, but usually interesting.  Most of the characters (except Danny again) are complex/interesting enough to be engaging.  The weaving together real things (DADT, Nixon's tapes, OK bombing) appeals to the history buff in me. 

So, as a space enthusiast, this show continues to be one that I'm enjoying and that i recommend to my friends who don't care about space.  Bring on Season 4!

[Blackstar]

Most of the characters (except Danny again) are complex/interesting enough to be engaging.

I think that they tried to make Danny complex, they just failed to make him interesting. Like any character in entertainment, if all they are is self-destructive (and destructive), that's not very interesting. It's not even that interesting when we learn why they are that way. Characters become more interesting when we see that they have positive qualities, that there is strength amidst their weaknesses.

With Danny we never really got that. When he was buried in the rover with Ed we learned that he carried around a tremendous amount of guilt, and that his guilt was not all related to his fling with Karen. (In fact, his thing with Karen may have been more of a consequence than a cause of his guilt.) But that came kinda late--we spent many episodes loathing the guy and then seeing his actions result in the deaths of three people. It gets a little hard to forgive a character after we see all the bad that they've done. Had they introduced that information earlier, it might have helped. But did we ever see anything positive about Danny other than in the first episode when he went outside the station to shut off the thruster? That was heroic, but after that, he was just awful.