The premise of "For All Mankind" is absolutely fascinating. What if the Space Race between the United States and the USSR never ended? The answer is a mix of historical fiction and science fiction, charting an alternate timeline where the American and Soviet space programs were truly competitive. In the opening moments of the premiere episode, we watch the iconic 1969 moon landing, but this time achieved by a Soviet cosmonaut. The first season covers the following five years of the American space program and the Apollo missions, which see some drastic alterations thanks to the changed circumstances.
There are a lot of "Star Trek" alumni involved with the show, including co-creator Ronald D. Moore, but "For All Mankind" couldn't be farther from a "Trek" series. It's a period piece first and foremost, taking pains to recreate the culture of NASA in the 1970s. Some of the characters are real people, like Wernher von Braun (Colm Feore), or based on real people, and stock footage of Nixon and other major cultural figures appear regularly. Secondly, it takes pains to examine the Space Race from multiple points of view, putting a handful of important characters and relationships at the forefront. This includes astronaut Edward Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and his wife Karen (Shantel VanSanten), astronaut Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) and his wife Tracy (Sarah Jones), senior manager Deke Slayton (Chris Bauer), Mission Control worker Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt), astronaut trainees Molly (Sonya Walger), Dani (Krys Marshall), and Ellen (Jodi Balfour), and a teenage girl named Aleida Rosales (Olivia Trujillo), an illegal Mexican immigrant with dreams of joining NASA.
This macroscopic approach yields some wonderful things, allowing the show to juxtapose the thrilling Apollo missions with "Mad Men" style character drama at home, and touch on issues of racism, women's rights, and LGBT acceptance. There is an emphasis on keeping the experiences of the astronauts as realistic as possible, so we only ever see technology that is appropriate to the era, and candidates have to worry about adhering to stringent standards and expectations, both on the job and off. At the height of the Cold War, there's still constant paranoia about Communism, drugs, and appearing in any way un-American. I think the writers do a good job of balancing the melodrama with the spectacle for most of the first season, but I have some reservations about the last two episodes, where too many unlikely events are piled on one another, breaking my suspension of disbelief. I really adore some of the earlier installments though, including the one focusing on astronaut training, and another where an astronaut suffers a mental breakdown during a mission.
The cast is very good, with a lot of interesting smaller parts. The focus shifts to different characters from episode to episode, so you really get to appreciate the whole ensemble. I think Wrenn Schmidt is probably my favorite, playing Margo Madison, an antisocial woman scientist who is the protege of the notorious Wernher von Braun. Margo is a good stand-in for women in science, and really all scientists who may have had mixed feelings toward von Braun's involvement at NASA. There's also Shantel VanSanten as Karen, trying to play the perfect image of wife and mother to support her husband Ed, but she has such interesting angles and nuances. She really shoulders a lot of the weight of the back half of the season, and I love the relationship between her and Wayne (Lenny Jacobson), the bohemian artist who winds up in her social circle.
The production values of the series are fantastic, and Apple and Sony clearly spared no expense. What I think really sets "For All Mankind" apart, however, is that it does such a good job of evoking the nostalgic '60s and '70s visual iconography of the American space race. The various vehicles, rockets, spacesuits, and other paraphernalia look straight out of documentary footage. Mission Control, in particular, is a wonderfully familiar sight. I think this is why it feels so off whenever the show veers too far away from reality - not the history, but the tone. "For All Mankind" resists being a typical, sensationalist space adventure program for so long, it's a little disappointing to realize that's ultimately what it is. I think the dissonance will be reduced in future seasons as the show moves further and further away from actual history.
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