For All Mankind Review: Best-Laid Plans (Season 2 Episode 6)
American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts come face to face for the first time on For All Mankind Season 2 Episode 6, “Best-Laid Plans,” yet, it still doesn’t feel as though the series’ second season is really making much progress on any kind of larger story.
The episode finally brings together the Americans and the Soviet teams tasked with staging the first international handshake in space, and we see guns fired on the moon for the first time. (Which is actually a lot creepier than I expected — just imagine a bullet essentially continuing in orbit forever because someone missed a target? Big yikes!)
But most of this hour creeps along like a narrative glacier, and although there are compelling individual segments, it’s getting really difficult to tell what kind of story For All Mankind Season 2 is meant to be telling.
The bulk of “Best-Laid Plans” focuses on the arrival of the Russians and the group dynamics necessary to make the Apollo-Soyuz project happen. There’s the typical US/Russia bickering you’d expect from any attempt at Cold War cooperation, with both factions determined that they can’t be the first to show weakness.
It seems ridiculous to think that rational scientists and engineers would be forced to work overtime to find technical solutions to problems that are little more than male posturing and…yet. It’s really not.
Over the course of the episode, For All Mankind actually does a wonderful job of humanizing the cosmonauts only known by their nationality into real people, who have dreams and desires and interests beyond serving as various flavors of government propaganda.
The idea that on their first visit to America — the bastion of capitalism — these dudes might want to experience hamburgers and Jack Daniels is exactly the way I assume such a meeting would happen.
The slow thaw between the Russians and the Americans — thanks Outpost booze! — is deftly handled, as their individual experiences are used as a way to show that they’re all much more similar than they are different. As they move from overt suspicion to something like mutual respect, it’s the first time that anything like hope for the future has been seen in this long-running space race.
Maybe things don’t have to stay this antagonistic. (Admittedly, I’m very much wondering how the USSR will fall in For All Mankind’s universe. and perhaps the correct answer is that it never will. But it’s hard not to think it eventually has to, after watching this.)
The best scene of the hour, by far, was Dani’s extended conversation with Petrovich where they discuss Laika, the first dog in space. Their talk works on multiple levels — both as an actual discussion of the truth of Laika’s achievements, death, and whether the sacrifice of her life was worth it, and a nuanced, coded talk about themselves and their own experiences in their respective space programs.
Krys Marshall are Nikola Djuricko are absolutely wonderful together, and I’d love it if Petrovich and Dani somehow managed to become actual friends.
Yet, despite the outward-facing signs of peace and cooperation between the U.S. and Russia, it’s hard not to feel apprehensive about what lies ahead for any of these characters.
The U.S. government certainly doesn’t seem to mind if the handshake mission is postponed indefinitely, and though Tom speaks longingly of the space program and its moon base, specifically, as a city on a hill meant to serve as inspiration to all, the reality of the situation on the ground is that someone made M-16s that were specifically capable of working in space.
Not exactly what I’d call aspirational.
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- We finally officially meet Tracy’s mysterious husband Sam this week and, of course, it’s so he and Gordo can engage in a weird alpha male confrontation about which of them will get to keep her. The thing is, I’m not even averse to Gordo and Tracy getting back together, I think it’s clear they still have feelings for each other. But the fact that this scene is staged as though Tracy — who is obviously absent, being on the moon and all — has no agency at all is…well, something about it just rubbed me the wrong
- The test sequence for Pathfinder just reminded me that I really hope mankind figures out a way to get to Mars while I’m still around to see it. (Story wise, I have many misgivings about Ed Baldwin as the leader of this mission, but…okay!)
- I truly wish that I was even remotely invested in Ellen and Pam’s relationship, but I’m just not. Ellen’s pain and loneliness has been obvious from this season’s first episode, so, obviously, she deserves a real shot at happiness now. If that’s what this is. (Which, quite frankly, I’m not convinced of. Everything about this episode seems to indicate something terrible is going to happen long before she can come out and get her happily ever after.)
- The fact that the tragedy of Shane’s death not only continues to be referenced but also continues to help shape the decisions and narratives of the Baldwin family is such a good decision. That’s how death actually impacts real life, but that’s too rarely reflected in our media when it comes to characters that have experienced loss.
What did you think of this episode of For All Mankind? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
New episodes of For All Mankind stream Fridays on AppleTV+.
Follow us on Twitter and on 
Instagram!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.
2 comments
“(Which is actually a lot creepier than I expected — just imagine a bullet essentially continuing in orbit forever because someone missed a target? Big yikes!)”
The moon has gravity. So the bullet would not “continue in orbit forever”. Here, something for you:
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/our-solar-system/44-our-solar-system/the-moon/general-questions/105-what-happens-to-a-bullet-fired-on-the-moon-intermediate
“It seems ridiculous to think that rational scientists and engineers would be forced to work overtime to find technical solutions to problems that are little more than male posturing and…yet. It’s really not.”
They were not force to. Because they did not live under a Commie dictatorship. They were free to leave any time. But they want their power, pay check, and pension, so they are willing to play games on the back of the tax payer.
“someone made M-16s that were specifically capable of working in space.”
Bullets contain their own oxidizer. So nothing is required to make “M-16s specially capable of working in space.”
“weird alpha male confrontation about which of them will get to keep her. […] the fact that this scene is staged as though Tracy — who is obviously absent, being on the moon and all — has no agency at all is…well, something about it just rubbed me the wrong way”
Seems like you have some men issues. There is no alpha male behavior here. In fact Tracy’s husband makes it abundantly clear for anybody who is listening that Tracy is the one calling the shots and neither of the two men can do anything about it.
“(Story wise, I have many misgivings about Ed Baldwin as the leader of this mission, but…okay!)”
What exactly is the misgiving? His technical skill? His superb piloting? His command experience? His dedication? His vast experience?
Other thoughts:
* Way to much alcohol used in this show. Most of the main characters drink frequently and the negative impact of alcohol is not shows in their lives, except for Gordo and Tracy briefly, everybody else gets a free pass.
* Way too many people who have no living children of their own in this show. Ellen, Margo, Molly, Ed, Dani, I am probably forgetting a few… ridiculous, there will be no “mankind” unless we procreate. So the best and brightest are setting a HORRIBLE example.
“the moon has gravity” is not sufficient to keep the bullet from orbiting indefinitely. the fact that that bullet’s initial velocity is only about half of lunar escape velocity is however sufficient to bring that bullet down.
i agree that taking issue with sam’s half of the sam/gordo conversation is really weird. mind you, i’m not certain there’s any good reason to take issue with gordo’s half either, but sam seems unimpeachable here. to see the reviewer write about tracy not having any agency really makes me question whether the reviewer actually watched that scene herself.
Comments are closed.