It came without much fanfare. An alternative history of the space race based on the premise that the USSR beats the USA to having the first man on the moon and therefore not ending the space race but escalating it into territory - a world history - that didn't happen but plausibly could have if these events had happened.
The first series of For All Mankind had cameos from actors playing Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and John Shepherd, but it was really about the next generation of astronauts; the guys waiting in the wings as a result of the momentous setback that losing the moon caused. The heroes of the real Apollo missions become side-lined and move on; being written out of history as nearly men and ushering new heroes in to replace them in a time that was considerably more fraught and tense than it really was.
Series one was about Ed Baldwin - a Korean War vet - and his pal Gordon 'Gordo' Stevens, who replaced the old guard and made the moon their home. It was also about how women's rights and their liberation was fast forwarded beyond where it is today - in the real world. The next next generation of astronauts would be women; the next big wigs at NASA would also be women and old school Ed and Gordo were needed to help the transition.
The biggest dilemma with the first series was how to make it different enough to look different. How do you turn something as scientific and cold as space travel into a soap opera about the people at the heart of the project. Joining Ed was Karen - his wife - and their troubled son. With Gordo was his twin-engine flying ace and long suffering wife Tracy, a phenomenally gorgeous woman who was always second best to her husband's infidelity and then gets the chance to become an astronaut herself; creating all-new tensions and drama. There is Margo Madison, a women - who by association - gets elevated high in the ranks of NASA. A woman whose heart beats hot and cold depending on how she felt that particular day - a wallflower but a decent, honest woman. Then there's Ellen Wilson, a fantastic astronaut and commander who happens to be gay in a world that is less tolerant of gays than it really was, who marries a gay man to hide their secrets behind each other. They're joined by Molly Cobb and Dani Poole - a no-nonsense pilot and a black career air force pilot and they are all held together by Deke Slaytor - the controller and man responsible for trying to put the USA ahead of the USSR in the new race - to mine the moon, established a base and claim the hunk of rock as American.
There was also a subplot about a Mexican illegal immigrant who was also a bit of a physics genius and is taken under Margo's wing. Any plot watchers would have told you that season two would obviously focus on this girl. However, one thing you can't second guess is where the writers are going; Aleida plays a big part in the second series, but she's nowhere near the focus (but that might be next season).
There were other secondary characters, all playing a vital role in building a cast of believable characters, living exciting lives and yet having to deal with also trying to be normal people. Tragedy dogs season one like a bad stain and the opening ten episodes are a lesson in loss, triumph, hope and frustration, taking in unexpected deaths, needed deceit and hopeless desperation. If this world - as 'our' world - had changed very little to how those of us old enough remember it and the escalation of technology through the new-improved space race isn't much more advanced than it really was, with some exceptions, you would almost think this 'world' was our world. That's probably why it works as a drama.
By the time season one concluded, I'd pretty much added it to my list of must-see TV. You cared about these characters even if some of them were hard to like. The first season ended with every major character suffering some form of loss that they carried into the second season. It was difficult to see how jumping the story 12 years to 1983 was going to work in terms of the characters we'd grown accustomed to and much of the first few episodes of the second series were awkward in their presumption that we would eventually piece all the missing fragments together.
Aleida - the Mexican girl - being conspicuous by her absence until she makes a resounding return as a feisty young woman nothing like the delicate young lady we last saw, struggling to work out how to stay in the USA after everything she had was taken away.
The moon is now 'shared' by the US and the Soviets. There is a growing cold war between the superpowers and the Russians have been elevated above their standing by their successes over the Yanks. The Jamestown base where Ed, Gordo and Dani lived for months is now a proper camp with 30 astronauts there, mining for lithium and doing all number of experiments in the pursuit of helping the next big phase - the race to Mars. The Soviets' own base is never seen, but their presence and threat is always felt; with tensions on Earth rocketing out of President Reagan's control, a terrible incident on the moon sees one Russian die and another, badly wounded, asking for asylum. The space race suddenly becomes a space arms race.
Behind the threat of World War 3 is the planned Apollo-Soyez docking; the balance of this being the innocent but sexually-charged, yet odd relationship between the introverted and shy Margo and her Russian counterpart, Yuri, as they struggle to find common ground between two nations that loathe each other. We wrestle with one of the main cast's act of heroism that has now put her own career and life in jeopardy and we watch how the main cast get their own shit back together. One thing we learn from season two is do not discount any inconsequential event; don't think it is treading water to give under-focused cast members something to take up their time and earn their paycheques - this is as carefully plotted a series as a grandmaster chess tournament. Every scene has a resonance and a payback of its own; it is allegorical in such a deft way that it's only afterwards that you realise you've been sucked in by skilled writers who are making utterly mesmerising Science [fact] Fiction hidden in a soap opera. It probably wouldn't work any other way.
The ultimate pay off of season two is more tragedy; in fact far more than you'd expect. This series has the feel of how early The Walking Dead episodes were; knowing that no one is safe, that star names will die just as easily as the guys wearing the metaphoric red jerseys. Not that any of this show's 'stars' were really that; some of them had major parts to play in other shows, but generally the cast was a group of people best known for being supporting cast members, but are now probably on their way to an A or B list status. Season two ups the ante and makes you realise you're watching something truly special in a landscape of excellent TV shows.
You feel, at times, like you're watching a true historical recreation of a bygone era. The early 70s were done so well you felt you were there. The 80s - using doctored actual footage - also feels like the attention to detail is all important for you to believe in what you're watching. We're heading to the 90s next; another 12 year jump and the threat of having to get used to new characters because the main group will now be in their 60s and some will have died and some might need to be recast...
There's a new planet to explore; probably a massive diversion from real events and a chance to take this world into places only historical fantasists can imagine. I expect China will make an entrance, but also other burgeoning economic countries, plus the desire of private business to enter this story; the writers have a largely blank slate to play with and can dip in and use pivotal actual events to progress the story. In this world John Lennon is still alive and is seen on TV screens as a key political activist. The next season of FAM might not have the fall of the Berlin wall or the Soviet Union. It might not have Bill Clinton as president or a Russian Federation. This series never had a Jimmy Carter presidency (it was Edward Kennedy's as Chappaquiddick didn't happen as a result of the Soviet moon race). The FAM world isn't that much different at the moment, but I expect it to swerve into unknown directions when it returns, but always keeping its people real enough to believe in them.
For All Mankind was one of the best things I watched on TV in 2020. It became the best thing I watched on TV in 2021.
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