Review: For All Mankind – The Grey s02e10

Sadly, we have reached the end of what has been a remarkable season of For All Mankind.  It has taken some interesting turns after its jump to the 1980s, and definitely pushed the alternative timeline into some dramatic places.  With episode 10, ‘The Grey’, the pressure didn’t let up and it most certainly delivered.  *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*

It was always clear that something significant was likely to happen in this season finale, as the end of episode 9 had armed Russian Cosmonauts storming Jamestown.  From here things just escalate, and as the title suggests, the overriding theme is that nothing is black or white, and it all exists in the Grey somewhere.  Pretty much every different situation in this episode has an element of uncertainty, and many have to make tough choices.

At first it looks like the principal action and consequences will all take place on the Moon, with an uneasy standoff occurring between the Americans and the Russians, who have taken Rossi (Scott Michael Campbell) hostage.  With sections depressurised and the Russians entrenched in ops, it’s difficult for the marines to make any kind of move, leading to a bit of an impasse.  The demands are simply that the US return the defector Baranov (Alexander Sokovikov), but this seems unlikely.

It’s interesting here that the first one to defend Baranov and reiterate that the President has given him asylum is Webster (Michaela Conlin), the marine who shot him in the first place.  Although on the face of it you could argue that she is just following orders in each case, her actions overall do suggest she is very conscious of the nuances at work here.  It would be much simpler to hand him over, as others want to, but she sees a larger principle at stake here.

It’s a view shared by the other marines, Vance (Connor Tillman) and Lopez (Chris Cortez) too, who decide that they no option but to force the Russians to leave.  That’s easier said than done though, and it all ends up becoming very messy, with Vance being killed and Lopez injured.  In the ensuing firefight Webster also kills a Russian, but damage is done to the Jamestown reactor cooling system that no one outside of Houston is aware of.

This situation, where knowledge is very much compartmentalised and isolated, whether deliberately or not, becomes a recurring theme in ‘The Grey’.   All communication to and from Jamestown has ceased for instance, so Houston initially has no idea about the Russian takeover of ops.  Later, most of Jamestown is then unaware of the reactor issue, except for Tracy (Sarah Jones) and Gordo (Michael Dorman) who have managed to rig up an old S-band antenna.

Bringing in the old S-band device works well, as it also organically forces Aleida (Coral Peña) into a more central role.  Although she’s been on the periphery, we know from her scenes with Strasser (Noah Harpster) in ‘And Here’s to You’ that there’s a lot more interesting story to come from both her and Strasser, with both actors being able to handle it.  There’s a hint of that here in her interactions with both Strasser and Molly (Sonya Walger) that hopefully means she’ll be more central next season.

Alongside the tense situation on the Moon, there are also two other major issues ongoing in space, with Pathfinder escorting the Sea Dragon rocket past the Russian Blockade, and the supposedly ongoing Apollo-Soyuz mission.  The blockade is a real threat , with the Russian Buran shuttle waiting on the dark side of the Moon for Pathfinder to appear, and a high stakes game of chicken ensues.

As their orbit takes them into the loss of signal zone, Pathfinder still has its orders to defend the Sea Dragon at all costs.  This leads to an interesting debate and drawing of weapons on Pathfinder between Ed (Joel Kinnaman) and Sally (Ellen Wroe), as Ed is determined to follow through on the orders.  He is clearly affected by his recent argument with Karen (Shantel VanSanten) and is more aggressive than usual, wanting to see things in black and white.  He even starts to go back to his Korean War mentality, which he must be shaken out of.

The characterisation of Ed here is played extremely well, and the combination of his military background and his emotional search for clarity take him to an interesting place.  The uncertainty that he feels in his home life bleeds through into his judgement, and it’s only Piscotty (Michael Benz) and Sally that give him some grounding.  It’s excellent work between the three actors, which they keep on a knife edge for longer than you’d imagine.

With the hostile events occurring around the Moon, the effect back on Earth is one of mounting tension, leading to air raid sirens and the emergency warning system being activated.  The writers really haven’t shied away from leaning fully into the ramifications of the cold war in ‘The Grey’, taking the story to the brink of nuclear disaster.

The ongoing developments aren’t helped by that recurring compartmentalisation of information either, with critical knowledge being kept by Ellen (Jodi Balfour) and General Bradford (John Marshall Jones), when some of it would have been substantially relevant for Margo (Wrenn Schmidt) and her choices.  This feels totally authentic and believable, reinforcing the paranoia, tension and frustration that many of the characters feel.

In the middle of all the other crises, both Apollo and Soyuz are just floating about in orbit around the moon staring at each other, with Star City continually delaying the docking.  Obviously, this is due to the ongoing issues elsewhere, but Margo doesn’t have all the information.  Even after secretly speaking to Sergei (Piotr Adamczyk), she isn’t that much better off, and is left to try to fumble through as best she can, guessing at where the politics will take them.

Similarly, Dani (Krys Marshall) and Morrison (Josh Duvendeck) aboard Apollo are in the dark about the politics elsewhere and decide to take matters into their own hands.  With the Cosmonauts on Soyuz agreeing with Dani, they dock anyway, despite being ordered to abandon the mission.  This is a clever narrative twist that allows the tensions to ease and feels valid.  With previous commanders also disobeying orders based on circumstance, and with our knowledge of the character, this section works perfectly and has an authentic ring to it.  Her action may also have made her the episode’s obvious MVP, if it wasn’t for Tracy and Gordo’s actions near the end.

The problem the pair face and the solution are certainly not scenes I remember seeing quite like this before in any other show, with a high incidence of duct tape, and the handling of it is well executed.  It’s not all plain sailing, even before the end result, and comes across as a realistic portrayal of what might occur.  They even manage to play with the audience here, teasing a different outcome and suggesting an almost ‘1930’s serial’ type save at the last moment is about to happen.

That they took the direction they did with this is both shocking and impressive, and it has to be said that it was all wrapped up extremely well.  They could have chosen to do it in a more action style way, but it was cleverly subtle instead, and was an incredibly moving, tense sequence, that was both emotional and dramatically satisfying.  What this means in terms of next season though is interesting, as while they will be a loss, it does mean that some lesser-known characters can come to the fore.

In the closing moments of the episode, there are two significant scenes that hint at what is to come next season.  One of these is that Margo’s relationship with Sergei may not be what she thinks it is, and that she will find herself in trouble very shortly.  By the time the next season starts with its time jump, she will no doubt be fully compromised and in ‘the Grey’, which will provide some interesting political angles to explore that could go either way for Margo.

The second is a long sweeping shot from Margo that heralds another time jump, and ends up focusing on some feet on the surface of Mars, with a caption indicating that we’re now in 1994.  We can only guess who the main characters will be in this era, but we could easily see Aleida as a chief engineer, Kelly (Cynthy Wu) as an astronaut, Ellen in Congress, and Dani in a much more senior role.

What Ed and Karen will be doing, as ostensibly the central couple, is a bit of an unknown, as Ed could be well have decided to retire, and Karen could have moved more into business.  We can probably cope with any set of variables, as long as Karen isn’t with Danny (Casey W. Johnson), and hopefully we’ve seen the last of that odd storyline.  There are much more interesting things to do with these characters and that was the only flaw in this entire season.

With such an impeccable run of episodes, it is difficult to see how they are going to match or even beat the level of quality that has been produced on this show.  It’s rare that a standard like this is maintained for so long without some drop off, but there has been no major indication that it is likely.  That gives us hope that much like their space programme, there aren’t any limits, and this can run and run for a long time.