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TV is best when theres room to take big, potentially disastrous swings.
The edges are all smoothed over.
Over the course of a series, everything feels pretty much like everything else.
Is the result more uneven?
But the highs are higher.
By the end of season two, America and Russia both have permanent lunar bases.
How could youpossiblyexpect this to be a good call!?
What were they thinking!
Some of the missteps ofFor All Mankinds third season are silly but relatively easy to overlook.
(Its an alternate-history show, yes, but some things never change!)
Astronauts going to Mars?
Korean War veterans in the mid-90s with the musculature of an MMA fighter and barely a hint of wrinkles?
Still, it is an alternate history.
Perhaps in this version of the space race, retinols work much, much better.
For some characters, that ancient history is an excellent source of ongoing narrative tension.
They can anchor all sorts of new developments, and that lengthy history becomes a neat shortcut.
No exposition needed; its straight to the good stuff.
In practice, though, the result can feel like leaning on a bruise.
This story was rough the first time around, and now were going to excavate all the emotional implications?
Maybe, from a storytelling perspective, itd be cowardly to cut bait and run.
Maybe there are upsides to a little healthy cowardice.
Aside from that one notable thread, though, much ofFor All Mankinds third seasonretains the shows best qualities.
Few space operas of any medium have been as effective at establishing a sense of scope and scale.
The highs are very high, and the lows are pretty cavernous.
you gotta drill down deep to look for water on Mars.
