For All Mankind season 2 shows how much prestige drama TV is changing
cre: For All Mankind season 2 shows how much prestige drama TV is changing
Prestige dramas have largely followed two parallel paths over the past 20 years. On one track, shows grounded in realism but with a bit of lofty escapism through their subject matter, which focus on the personal and intense professional lives of doctors, lawyers and political operatives. The other track grabbed viewers with a big-budget spectacle, pushing sci-fi, fantasy, and horror into the mainstream with stories driven by bloody action and dramatic twists.
These archetypes intersect in For all mankind, which launched its 10-episode second season on Apple TV Plus on February 19. Although the show may appeal to audiences with its alternate history sci-fi premise – a world in which the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union never ended – its tone and its themes bring it closer to The west wing than The Man in the High Castle.
Season 1 of For all mankind began its history in 1969, with the Soviet Union defeating the Americans on the Moon. Then he jumped three years into a future where both superpowers had established moon bases and mining operations. In season 2, the show skips nearly a decade and lands in a 1983 version where Ronald Reagan is president, and Cold War tensions threaten to escalate into armed conflict in space.
Like time skips used in Netflix The crownthe change allows showrunner Ronald D. Moore (Foreigner and Battlestar Galactica) place the characters in new historical contexts while showing how their lives and relationships have changed over time. Alternate history primarily gives writers the freedom to use real people and incidents as they see fit, while also having the potential to create whatever they want in terms of accelerated technological innovation or socio-political trends. It’s worth watching the opening cut of the Season 2 premiere multiple times, just to find out how much different is the show’s world.
But answering hypothetical questions about the failure of the Camp David Accords or the survival of John Lennon isn’t really the point of the show. In place, For all mankind is an examination of exceptional people and how and why they seek fame. They might be NASA astronauts and engineers, but the story would be equally at home in a drama about politicians or movie stars.
On the surface, For all mankindNetflix’s closest relative might seem to be Netflix’s short-lived sci-fi drama A way. But while this vehicle Hilary Swank also focused on why each crew member of the first manned mission to Mars went to space, and the toll it took on them and their loved ones, A way was driven by episodic fits more reminiscent of classic genre shows.
While For all mankind features daring space rescues throughout both seasons, the action is always decidedly secondary to the impact these events have on the characters and the space program as a whole. When astronaut Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman of Altered carbon) ejects from a fighter jet before it crashes in Season 2, there is no doubt in the minds of the audience that he will survive. The real tension comes from seeing the effect the accident has on his wife, Karen (Shantel VanSanten of The boys), who sits by the telephone chain, smoking and terrified while their daughter Kelly (Cynthy Wu of american vandal) looks helpless.
Virtually all performances of For all mankind are top-notch, and the actors have a chemistry that lends credibility to the intimacy forged between their characters, who have lived and worked together under extraordinary circumstances for over a decade. The show didn’t really care about aging makeup beyond period-appropriate hairstyles and giving a beer belly to Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman), who’s been grounded since having a stroke. of panic on the moon in season 1. But the passage of time still weighs powerfully on each character.
One thing that For all mankind share with A way is that the characters are neither idealized nor demonized. Ed is probably the closest the show has to a true hero, but he has deep flaws and blind spots, whether he’s ignoring Gordo’s concerns about returning to the Moon or going after it. to Kelly for wanting to follow in his footsteps and join the Navy. because he is afraid to see her in danger. Gordo is a sad bag with a drinking problem, but he is a loving father. The scenes where his teenage sons try to understand and help their father deal with his anxiety are made even more moving thanks to a camera style similar to that used on Friday night lights, where the action is filmed from a distance, making the viewer feel like an intruder in an intimate moment.
Great personal dramas are brightened up with slice-of-life comedy that helps ground the often larger-than-life characters, like Ed complaining that Karen trades her Kraft Parmesan cheese for real stuff, or Ed and fellow astronaut Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger of Lost) seriously discuss Molly’s latest mission while their spouses slide a joint into the golf cart. The strong core character development done in Season 1 pays off in Season 2, with each ensemble member getting arcs that amplify their strengths and flaws.
For all mankind also follows the prestige drama formula of tackling major societal issues through its diverse cast. Astronaut Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) is in a fake marriage following her disastrous attempt to date her commanding officer in Season 1, but she wonders if changing times might allow her to finally show up. Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall of super girl) was the first black woman on the moon, but she confronts NASA over her symbolic nature by demanding to commission her own mission. The storylines could easily come across as preachy or sugary, but they feel genuine, as the characters attempt to nudge a fantasy-based organization of humanity’s future into examining the preconceptions it remains bound to.
While the science fiction aspects of For all mankind often play second fiddle to character dramas, they are always well executed. The spectacle is magnificent, with its spectacular lunar landscapes and its imaginary moon base. There, a series of hot astronauts feel a sense of isolation and claustrophobia that has become all too familiar after a year of COVID-19 lockdown. “You get used to it” is the mantra used to console new astronauts when faced with terrible food, noisy equipment and ant infestation which is a pretty amusing reminder of the failed experiment of the anthill of season 1.
But while they may involve solar flares knocking out spy satellites and conflicts over lunar lithium deposits, the show’s threats are all grounded in Cold War politics rather than aliens or asteroids. The threat of nuclear war is ever-present, but it makes the series feel like a period drama. Rather than pushing viewers to watch with cliffhangers and twists and turns, Moore and his writers emphasize emotional stakes as much as geopolitical ones. It’s odd that a show that spends so much time in space feels so grounded, but like its star astronauts, For all mankind could prove to be a pioneer of a new frontier for prestige drama.
For all mankind Season 2 is streaming now on Apple TV Plus. New episodes come out on Fridays.
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