Review: For All Mankind – Pathfinder s02e04

Following last week’s highly emotional show, For All Mankind moves into a transitional period for a lot of characters, as episode four of the second season: ‘Pathfinder’, examines their struggles.  *Warning! Spoilers Lie Ahead!*

The morning after the frank and emotional argument between Ed (Joel Kinnaman), Karen (Shantel VanSanten), and Kelly (Cynthy Wu), there is a decisive discussion between Ed and Karen that will shape their lives for the foreseeable future.  With their true feelings exposed by the argument, it is clear that Ed has sacrificed his own ambitions to care for the family, and Karen wants him to re-commit to his career.

She has always been a strong character, but here’s an amazing sense of resilience and strength that is a central thread through this scene, with VanSanten giving her a powerful demeanour.  In some ways Ed can be weak, and it is Karen that has the force of will to push the family forward.  That support and strength makes Ed reconsider what he’s doing and he assigns himself a command, taking him back to space.

After the success of the Apollo missions and the development of the Space Shuttle, the next big thing for Nasa is the Pathfinder project.  In this alternative history of the space race, Pathfinder isn’t a robotic spacecraft and lander, but instead a nuclear-powered shuttle.  The goal is still Mars though, with the aim of setting foot on the surface sooner rather than later.  It’s a lofty goal, and one that many of us wish were our reality right now.

Here, Ed will command the first launch of Pathfinder, and creates a crew including Sally Ride (Ellen Wroe – Animal Kingdom) who in real life was a Nasa legend, and Gary Piscotty (Michael Benz – Greyhound), the pilot who always felt that Ed was overlooking him.  It’s a “ballsy move” as Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger) puts it, which assigns him to one of the most prestigious crews in the programme.

Also getting a significant command is Dani (Krys Marshall), who finally makes the step up she deserves, albeit in contentious circumstances for some.  While visiting her sister in law, which is both painful and argumentative, she is challenged by the notion that she has allowed Nasa to dodge the race issue too often.  There is a lot of truth in this and she feels compelled to bring it up to Ed, who doesn’t initially want to hear it.  There is a lot of institutional resistance, and she is completely correct with her assertion, which definitely puts Ed on the spot.  He knows she’s right though, and when the opportunity arises shortly afterwards, he puts her forward for a highly sensitive mission.  It’s an all too familiar scenario and is handled brilliantly here, both between the two of them and then in the politically charged meeting later on.

There are still other issues that haven’t been acknowledged within Nasa though, which continue to force astronauts such as Ellen (Jodi Balfour) to hide who they truly are.  This is brought home to her once again on two fronts, as she first discusses the politics of Nasa with Tom Paine (Dan Donogue), and then later when she receives a collection of poems from her old lover Pam (Meghan Leathers).  This is nicely dealt with and there’s a lot of subtlety in Balfour’s performance as Ellen lets herself be reminded of both the past and the cost she has paid.  It’s been a decade Ellen that has been concealing and suppressing her true feelings, so hopefully we will see this being addressed more in future episodes.

Much more overt this week is the difficulties that Gordo (Michael Dorman) has been facing as he tries to find his way back to the path.  There is no subtlety for Gordo in ‘Pathfinder’ as he faces panic attacks and doubts during his training to go back to the Moon.  First of all he finds himself getting claustrophobic as he has a spacesuit fitting, and then later he believes he is hallucinating ants again, like he did when he returned from space in the past.  Although the ants in this case were genuinely there and he wasn’t hallucinating, the panic was the same, so he has a real problem on his hands.  Ed tries to help him here, but it is unclear whether Ed’s method shows more weakness in Ed, or if it is actually the best approach for someone of Gordo’s generation.

As they’ve noted before, therapy and any mention of psychiatry at that time would have called an immediate halt to any career plans.  With that backdrop you can sort of understand why Ed takes the stance he does, even though as a modern audience we’re all urging Gordo to see a psychologist and deal with his issues.  We’d even like Ed to suggest it, but that is unlikely.  It’s unclear at the moment which way this will go, and whether Gordo will be able to go through with his mission.  There is every chance therefore that he will end up on the Moon and have a negative reaction for a second time.

It’s an emotional and in many ways fraught episode all round, with many characters facing difficult crossroads moments.  There isn’t a clear indication of whether all of them will survive either, with none of their troubles being insignificant.  This is no easy soap opera or simple procedural where everyone comes out unscathed.  Time and time again this excellent series hasn’t been afraid to go into difficult areas and it is all the better for it.  This episode is no exception and just shows what can be done.  It all ends this week with another dramatic moment, highlighting the stakes, and we can’t wait for more.