The Astronaut Wives Club Review: Retroattitude (Season 1 Episode 3)

Put me through to the White House.

This week it’s Mrs. Carpenter’s turn to be the first lady of space, and things are getting even more complicated. I may have cried… again. Read on for my thoughts on this week’s episode of The Astronaut Wives Club, “Retroattitude”. Spoilers ahead.

These story lines are everything – I keep thinking the story lines for each of these characters can’t get any better. And I keep being wrong.

This week when Rene tells the press that she won’t be praying during the launch, everyone flips out. I absolutely love that she answers honestly. I also love that Scott supports her.

We later find out that she has a complicated answer to that question, because she unexpectedly lost a son at only six months old. She wants people to know who she is, but she also doesn’t want to be misrepresented in the press.

Luckily, as we established last week, Max is terrible at doing his job, so she does it for him and writes her own feature article.

This is just such a compelling plot line for me. Especially when you add in the drama with Scott’s launch and the fact that he stays in space too long because he thinks astronaut pee is alien bugs. Classic mistake.

Annie is still the best – I also love that we get to hear Annie sing. I wasn’t surprised at all that she is the bigger person and shows up to support Rene when they can’t find Scott. She’s seriously just the best.

By the way, is everyone bad at journalism? – Speaking of not being able to find Scott, is it necessary for the news to just say “I come to you with potentially catastrophic news. It seems we may have lost an astronaut”?

I mean. I’m not sure if that was done for dramatic effect (and to keep the storyline moving) or if that’s how it went down in real life, but you’d think they would at least call the wife first. Plus, I feel like ‘lost’ has a few meanings here. Good thing that happens to Rene and not Louise. Who knows how she would have tried to spin that one.

Was I right about Max and Louise? – Speaking of Louise having things to explain… I thought I was joking last week when I noted that there was some tension between her and Max. Apparently that tension is real. In “Retroattitude” they flirt by discussing how cool it is that telephones are a thing and they saw each other in their robes. It’s surprising (in a good way) that Max is so forward (telling Louise he wants her to be next so he can spend more time with her) after she catches him with his, um, friend.

I’m now rooting for Gordo and Trudy – I’d also like Gordo and Trudy to see each other in their robes.

I love this storyline too, and I really appreciate that each relationship is so carefully developed. After Gordo lies and tells Trudy that he can’t buy a house with more than two bedrooms, she adorably marches off and gets drunk, only to run into an, um, astronaut fan who lets her know that Gordo doesn’t cheat.

The drunk conversation that follows between Gordo and Trudy is amazing. I seriously can’t believe he sleeps in a bathtub, and I feel like he’s going to earn her back eventually.

This show just keeps getting better and better. The stories are well developed, the characters are dynamic, and the drama is intense without being over-the-top. I can’t wait to see where things will go next week!

What did you think of this week’s episode of The Astronaut Wives Club? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to add your own rating.

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The Astronaut Wives Club airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.