For All Mankind

This series shows an alternate history where the soviet space program is more aggressive and wins the race to the moon. The space race continues. As the creators said it does change almost everything about the world as we know it.

I really enjoyed the first season of this show, but at the time I didn't realise how detailed and well-written the show was. Seasons 2 and 3 were the peak for me - they had great production values, a great plot with many callbacks and fun characters. Season 4 felt like an unwanted DLC that is good but could heave been skipped.

At first, I didn't know what to expect from this show. But this series shows that the characters are complex and almost everybody has done good and bad things.

Overall the main series characters are Margo and Ed Bldwin who both get much screentime and great character development throughout. Ed Baldwin lost so much while being away from earth that he feel at home in space. It is very poethic and unique. Margo has many callback to his mentor and has a simmelar fate to him.

The first season is said to be very historically accurate and well-written, but the pilot didn't convince me what does this series want to be. After the first 4 episodes I realised that the show manages to capture the feeling of doing things for the greater good and being a part of something bigger. This season had the most drama and the least action compared to the other seasons.

Season 2 had some beautiful cinematography and had a lot more action and tension than the first season. It has a great soundtrack- with a reference to Apocalypse now. I think there was only one annoying plotline, but it didn't bother me that much. Gordo and Tracy were standouts this season. They get a lot of screentime and are a lot more likeable than in the first season.

Some people say season 3 wasn't so good but in my opinion it started off great and ended great. Maybe 7, 8 episodes were not so good but there was quite a bit of tension. The soundtrack is killer and for me the race to another planet is the peak of this series. Karen is the standout this season. And the finale has some major twists that I didn't expect. Be aware of the years in this season.

Season 4 is a great continuation of the series. The first episode and the finale live up to everything that came before. The Russian and earth plotline is great, but the plot on Mars is lame. Standout this season is Aleida who has the most charter development since season 2. It has a lot of set-up and interesting ideas that I wouldn't even think of, but shows no interest in developing them. The season has the least tension compared to the other seasons.

I really enjoyed how they handled the Soviets/Russians in this series. They aren't mindless killing machines but smart people who want peace.

I don't know what the future seasons will bring. I hope season 5 can bring back the great writing of the earlier seasons and I am really excited for the Star City spin-off .

I have to say that I enjoyed For All Mankind a lot more than I thought I would. It's actually become one of my favorite new shows of the last few years. It's a sci-fi mystery thriller that takes you down the road of "what if" during the space races. While the show does has its flaw overall it is a very good show. The writing and acting are all terrific, especially Joel Kinnamon. The use of actual footage and real events just make the story that much better. Each episode gets better and better. I put off watching it for some reason and I'm now binging all 3 seasons and can't stop. If you're a sci-fi fan and have been putting it off like me...stop! Go watch this as soon as possible because I promise you won't be disappointed.

So far, I am enjoying it. Most of us who are space program enthusiasts know about Werner Von Braun's history with the Nazis. That he was brought to the US with his colleagues to work on ballistic missiles (initially with the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency) but during his confrontation with the Congressional Panel, this was not brought up. The US knew about his background, but did not disclose this initially.

Also, there's a woman character - Margo Madison - who at one point says, "I know the code!" This has made me wonder if her character is a shout out to Margaret Hamilton, the woman engineer who led the Apollo guidance computer software development team at the MIT Instrumentation Lab (now the Draper Lab). You can find photos online of her standing next the pile of computer printout of the Apollo computer code.

This show has a cool premise, that being what if the space race never ended. It's a sort-of alternate reality and it does a good job of weaving in actual historical events with where the timeline diverged. The main problem is that I feel like the show is being pulled in two directions. In one direction, there is the tension of the space race, engineers scrambling to be the first on the moon/mars and dealing with all manner of technical issues in a realistic-ish way. That part of the show I enjoy. Then, for some reason, the show also throws in a bunch of trite interpersonal drama and stupidity. Like inter-marital affairs, people leaking NASA secrets to the soviets, and a CLEARLY unstable drug-addicted astronaut being given solo control of a super important mission. It's like the showrunners thought the show couldn't stand on it's own without dumb drama, as if there couldn't organically be issues and drama in the context of Frigging SPACE. The first season does this better, but by the 2nd/3rd seasons most of the issues come not from unforeseen difficulties of life on the moon/mars but idiots. It really makes me wonder if they just aren't sure who their audience are. The people who like the technical stuff are not going to like the artificial drama, and vise-versa. Pick a lane, show, and stick with it.

Just finishing season 2 and even had a slow start, I rediscovered this show over the holiday seasons.

Its being a cool ride so far.. Interesting take on a what might have been.. I liked the progression from the 60s to today.. Speaks volumes that the show is able to sustain till now.. The characters are well written and the acting cast is pretty solid..

I have some apprehension about the upcoming season 3 due to some of the negative reviews about it. But I will probably power through it and see where it leads me.

Still so far my favourite character is Gordo.. His redemption arc is fascinating to watch.. I hope he gets the girl finally.. haha.. Dont spoil it for me..

Molly Cobb is still one of the most original characters of the show. Always refreshing to watch the actress perform the character.. Shes so different from the rest. Margo Madison is also interesting although her character can be quite one dimensional at times.