The Right Stuff Review: Ziggurat (Season 1 Episode 7)

Just in case it isn’t yet abundantly clear, Allen Sheppard is a very complicated character in this The Right Stuff adaptation. For someone who says he wants to be liked and is on the verge of historic fame, he seems determined to make more enemies than friends.

We see this with his conflicting attitudes of recklessness and vengeance when it comes to self-preservation. After Scott Carpenter hesitates in the simulated life-or-death moment of a final test, Sheppard gets him removed from his lead role in the launch.

This is what situation where, based purely on logic, Al is probably in the right. The risks are just too high for even one mistake. It’s more his attitude and indifference toward Scott that matter here, spreading the negative aspects of his reputation.

His actions come back to bite him when Carpenter’s wife tells Louise about his affair in that motel. Their resulting conflict may finally push Sheppard to a moment of self-reflection but comes only amidst a series of other climactic scenes.

Everything surrounding the lead-up to the launch, its postponement, and the aftermath brings back that sensation of being right next to these astronauts and scientists, aware at every moment of the fragility of their program and the devastating cost of a single mistake.

The score plays a key role in amplifying those emotions as Al suits up, not knowing he won’t make it to space just yet. The music in these scenes, paired with a series of flashbacks, manages to both be uplifting and to raise the tension in the room.

Interestingly, at several points in this episode, Sheppard and Glenn appear to have reached something of a truce, at least when compared with their conflicts in other episodes. Then the final scene reminds us that not much has changed between them.

It’s been a while since I’ve pointed out the cast specifically, but I can’t let this episode go by without noting just how good Jake McDorman, Patrick Adams, and the entire cast are in their roles. They’re key to this 8-hour story staying engaging throughout.  

This closing scene, with each man angrily pointing out the other’s flaws, could just feel repetitive. Instead, we’re up on that rooftop with them. We even almost (almost) think for a moment as Al stands tauntingly on the edge that we could witness something absurdly tragic.

But of course, history will play out as written, and that isn’t true just for the Mercury 7. Jerrie Cobb bests them all on a simulator. Trudy Cooper watches anxiously with her daughters, waiting for Gordon to give voice to the hopes for a female space team—and he doesn’t deliver.

It’s a quietly devastating moment, heightened by the fact Trudy has let the girls in on the plan, and that they truly believe they’re about to see a glass ceiling broken. We don’t know how much this will factor in what happens to them from here, but it feels overwhelming in the moment.

With Sheppard’s launch now set to take place in finale of this mini-series, it’s likely we won’t see much beyond the bookends of the Mercury program. Other stories will have to be saved for future installments or similar shows, should they come to light.

Viewers who have tuned in to The Right Stuff would very likely come back to see Glenn eventually walk on the moon and to see how a television series would narrate other various triumphs and tragedies, including Gus Grissom’s eventual death in a test launch accident.

Again, I hope that should we see more of these stories told, that those of these women are included. We haven’t yet shied away from the darker moments that play into eventual success. Though they don’t reach their ultimate goals, they are a benchmark for the ones that do.

What did you think of this episode of The Right Stuff? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Right Stuff streams Fridays on Disney+

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Watch the Trailer for Disney+’s ‘The Right Stuff’