For All Mankind (SciFi Apple TV+)

_Kaiser_

Cina wrote: »

Loved the ending but my god there's so much pointless plot. Did we really need a 68 minute long episode filled with silly stuff like Karen and Gordo's kid and the new girl and Bill?

Gordo is such a great character.

It's a character driven show. The whole space setting and allternate history is the hook and interesting in it's own right for sure, but that's not the main point of it all.

Gordo is awesome, and

looks like he's gonna get another shot with Tracey too

Agent Coulson

It's been 90% disappointing this season for me the final 10 minutes of each episode always seem to set up action in the following episode only for them not to follow through with it.

Hopefully the ending this week sets up some real action next week.


Gordo's story has been the only thing keeping it interesting for me the guy playing him is doing an amazing job.

iguana

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Gordo is awesome, and

looks like he's gonna get another shot with Tracey too

You think? Because they are being so cute with each other,

I feel like one of them ain't making it back to earth

.

Cina

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

It's a character driven show. The whole space setting and allternate history is the hook and interesting in it's own right for sure, but that's not the main point of it all.

Gordo is awesome, and

looks like he's gonna get another shot with Tracey too

Well, sure, it is, but to be a character driven show you sort of need interesting characters and plotlines for them. The two I mentioned above simply weren't interesting at all and felt quite pointless.

And anyway, this season has definitely had less space stuff than season one, I don't think that can be up for debate? We maybe get about 10 minutes on Jamestown per episode max? There were entire episodes set in space last season. It's been quite disappointing in that sense. The main premise of the show, regardless of whether it's character driven, is "what would happen if the space race continued on" and we haven't seen much of that at all this season compared to last season.

Hopefully the final two episodes kick things up a gear.

Agent Coulson

Again no real action for 50 minutes then the last 10 minutes set it up.

The season 2 finale next week needs to be action packed from start to finish after all the teases of it this season.

youcancallmeal

I'm generally enjoying season 2 but the whole older woman younger man affair trope is starting to ruin it for me. It's completely unnecessary soap opera nonsense, surely there is enough drama elsewhere in the story

Ger Roe

Homelander wrote: »

Read earlier that the actor playing Gordo had to eat 10,000 calories a day in the six weeks leading up to shooting to gain the weight. :eek:

It is certainly a dramatic physical change alright. Every time I see the heavier Gordo I think he looks very like Larry Hagman.

Homelander

Jesus lads, what a ****ing show. Amazing episode for me.

Found the first few episodes of S2 were a bit slow and lacking in space scenes - and don't get me wrong I love the drama of the show - but the last few have been tremendous.

Thargor

What a tune, hadn't heard it in years:

Slydice

2.9: Uh oh! So something of a

Die Hard on the station next episode I'm guessing or maybe just the Russians extracting their dude. Still thinkng no way they're going to hot war!

is_that_so

Homelander wrote: »

Jesus lads, what a ****ing show. Amazing episode for me.

Found the first few episodes of S2 were a bit slow and lacking in space scenes - and don't get me wrong I love the drama of the show - but the last few have been tremendous.

I'd say the first half of this season has been extremely plodding but the pace has picked up nicely now.

_Kaiser_

Slydice wrote: »

2.9: Uh oh! So something of a

Die Hard on the station next episode I'm guessing or maybe just the Russians extracting their dude. Still thinking no way they're going to hot war!

Yep, things are definitely going to heat up anyway. It's one thing to recapture a previously occupied mining site, but attacking and invading Jamestown is a clear escalation especially as several personnel have already been killed by the decompression of the command centre

youcancallmeal

youcancallmeal wrote: »

I'm generally enjoying season 2 but the whole older woman younger man affair trope is starting to ruin it for me. It's completely unnecessary soap opera nonsense, surely there is enough drama elsewhere in the story

That affair thing is the least credible thing on this show

iguana

is_that_so wrote: »

I'd say the first half of this season has been extremely plodding but the pace has picked up nicely now.

It wasn't even plodding. Just utterly mired with storylines that the audience had no engagement with. Obviously the Danny and Karen plot was the worst. But the whole thing with Kelly didn't work for me at all. At the end of the season 2, the Baldwins were grieving the death of their only child. Throwing us back in to them dealing with a teenager who they'd adopted in the interim didn't mean much to me. The same with Karen's decision to sell the outpost. So what, we didn't see her decision to buy it and the work she did building it up and what it meant to her. She just started the season owning it, then started a really creepy affair in it, sold it and culminated the affair. It meant nothing.

Some of the same goes for the two older Stevens. Last we saw them, they were kissing in control after Tracy rescued Molly, then holding each other at home. I can easily believe that in the following 10 years they still divorced and Tracy remarried, but to go from them potentially being able to work things out. To a 10 year jump where they have split up but might get back together, didn't quite work. Maybe it would have if we'd spent some of the time we got to see their stupid son have an affair with his other mother figure/mother of his dead best friend on Tracy and Gordo. I could also have done with less Aleida, though I did like the scene with Bill in the previous episode, mainly for the insight of his home being a shrine to space travel.

I'm fine with the show spending time on the interpersonal relationships but they have to be interesting and focussed on the characters that we cared about in S1. And the pacing was brutal. We have one episode left and the Russians are in Jamestown while at the same time Apollo-Soyuz is happening on camera for the world to see. The whole attack, fightback, diplomatic handling of the public mission and whatever awful Cold War aftermath from that will have to be dealt with in one episode. So much of the first half of the season was spent on so many storylines the audience had little reason to engage with. And now we have an hour to wrap up so much.

Skerries

I agree with most of that but what a payoff finale to the story and the reveal of next season

Gordo and Tracey I'm not crying, you're crying!

Agent Coulson

Average season compared to season 1.

Gordo & Tracy

:mad::(

Best series of it yet for me. Love the end setup too.

iguana

That was a fantastic finale. Definitely made it worth hanging in for. Though when action cut to Karen in her business suit, I may have shouted 'nobody cares about Karen!!!!' at the screen. But other than that it was such a good episode. I got genuinely excited at the end as Come As You Are heralded the time jump and the shot panned out past the moon towards Mars.

I had no translation for the Russian the military guys and Sergei were speaking at the end. Did anyone catch it.

iguana

Found a translation on Reddit;

Military guy - Good. Very Good.

Sergei - I'm telling you, she won't come.

Military guy - It doesn't matter. She already opened the door with Buran. By the time she realizes (that) she is working for us, it will be too late.

expectationlost

iguana wrote: »

Found a translation on Reddit;

Military guy - Good. Very Good.

Sergei - I'm telling you, she won't come.

Military guy - It doesn't matter. She already opened the door with Buran. By the time she realizes (that) she is working for us, it will be too late.

has Sergei been playing her the whole time?

expectationlost

robocop's ****ed up twice will he go to a private space company

iguana

expectationlost wrote: »

has Sergei been playing her the whole time?

Either he's been playing her the whole time or he was caught when he arranged the phone call with her and and is being forced to play her now. I'd say it's most likely he's been playing her all along because he wasn't being truthful during that phone call. And looking back, Russian intelligence probably knows all about her family relationship with Van Braun, her father's involvement with the development of nuclear weapons, her piano gig at the 11.59 club and could use that as a way for Sergei to create a personality which would appeal to her. Well connected single women were very often targeted by spies (if The Americans has taught me anything!) and you can imagine that the Russians would at least make an attempt to compromise her.

_Kaiser_

That was a fantastic season finale but yea,

Gordo and Tracey

Fair play to Dani and the Soyuz crew just going for it as well and giving both sides pause to come back from the brink.

They have setup really well for season 3 too.

Love this show!

_Kaiser_

iguana wrote: »

Either he's been playing her the whole time or he was caught when he arranged the phone call with her and and is being forced to play her now. I'd say it's most likely he's been playing her all along because he wasn't being truthful during that phone call. And looking back, Russian intelligence probably knows all about her family relationship with Van Braun, her father's involvement with the development of nuclear weapons, her piano gig at the 11.59 club and could use that as a way for Sergei to create a personality which would appeal to her. Well connected single women were very often targeted by spies (if The Americans has taught me anything!) and you can imagine that the Russians would at least make an attempt to compromise her.

I'd say he was caught. He would already have been under surveillance from his contacts with her and the trips to the US, and the KGB saw the opportunity to try and use that relationship between them.

Cina

Brilliant finale to an otherwise underwhelming season compared to the first.

Not sure they can justify another big time jump to the 90's without ageing the main characters this time. If Ed fought in Korea then he'd be in his 60's then!

Slydice

Finished! Decent Season 2. The show is still solid enough for the hour long episodes for me. Definitely gonna check out a Season 3 if they make one.

2.10: Kinda had an inkling that was the direction they'd take the episode in.

Thought the Gordo and Tracy story was the strongest.

Liked the special effects they put in for it, especially the Moon orbit scenes.

For the future.. hmm.. who knows.. I wonder how the

USSR is doing resources wise by 1995. Not sure what exactly would've kept em afloat.. maybe space mining. Should be some decent espionage stories coming up though. I'm vaguely thinking Karen might have another kid by that time. And what about Molly..

_Kaiser_

I think Season 3 has already been green-lit

The one thing I worry about in that regard is that

Gordo was probably the strongest character in it. Molly probably a close second IMO. With one of those written out, the other probably on the way out (given the time jump), and Tracey out too, I can't see Ed and Margo alone carrying the show.

BTW.. what's the protocol on spoiler tags anyway? I presume we've all seen it at this stage?

Tristram

Wow, what a finale. Packed so much in. Reveal for season 3 had me jumping up and down with excitement.

youcancallmeal

Good finale and entertaining series 2 overall. I still think the affair between Karen and the younger guy whatever his name is was completely pointless, it didn't seem to drive anything in the plot at all unless Karen and Ed will be divorced in season 3 or something. I'm guessing there will be a whole host of new characters in the next season regardless

_Kaiser_

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Good finale and entertaining series 2 overall. I still think the affair between Karen and the younger guy whatever his name is was completely pointless, it didn't seem to drive anything in the plot at all unless Karen and Ed will be divorced in season 3 or something. I'm guessing there will be a whole host of new characters in the next season regardless

I think that was a given looking at the awkward and seperate depatures after the funeral between them.