For All Mankind 4.01. and Bodies
For all Mankind: First episode I watched in real time.
The Apple website has the full length version of the newsclips the show produced for the opening montage that in each season catches us up on world events in this AU between seasons, and has had them up for a week, so I already knew that Ellen, like Clinton (whose two terms she serves in this AU), has weathered her iimpeachment and won a second term, with George HW Bush as her VP; the full newsclip says the moment Bush the elder came on board signalled Ellen had won her inner Republican power struggle with the evangelicals. Which made me wonder whether the 1990s actually was the last point at which the Republican party was still salvegable as a "normal" conservative party instead of the right wing extremist cult it became in rl. Then again, Bush the elder in this AU loses against Al Gore after Ellen has served her second term, which might strengthen the neocons and evangelicals in AU world, too.
There obviously was no 9/11 (and ensuing freedom fries mentality in the US), which makes sense; the previous seasons removed most of the factors leading up to it. (No Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, no Mujaheddin, no Taliban, no first Iraq War over Kuweit because oil has rapidly lost importance due to the new energy sources developed in connection with space flight.) Otoh, much like the bombing of NASA was this 'verses equivalent to the Oklahoma City bombing, that doesn't mean a big catastrophe on that scale won't still happen in a different way. Similarly, I think we'll see a belated coup against Gorbachev (still in power in 2003 in this universe, having successfully reformed the Soviet Union) and a later break up of the Soviet Union; another full version of the montage newsclip about the Soviet economic situation mentions grumbling and oligarchs, and one specific Soviet politician is mentioned leading a back-to-the-roots movement, and in the episode itself we see a bit of Soviet unrest beneath the surface, too. After all, a better economy and more openness in general might have removed some of the sources for independence movements in the non-Russian states, but by no means all or the most important ones. Also, the show doesn't need an exclusive Soviet-American space race anymore to motivate ongoing space exploration, not after last season made a big deal out of introducing commercial space flight and private enterprise as a big competitor. Not to mention we have Margo as a pov character in Moscow now; so yeah, my money is on a belated break up of the Soviet Union this season most likely, a change of leadership definitely. (Hopefully not Putin, thouogh. Still crossing my fingers he led an exceedingly boring life stationed in Dresden.)
So far for the big politics. On to the episode proper. All of the asteroid sequences were beautifully done and what this show excells at - the beauty and danger of space in an emotional human context -, and colour me unsurprised Ed found one excuse after another not to leave and is still on Mars rather than go to Earth. (Presumably not just because of Karen's death and his unwillingness to deal with it but also because he knows he will never go to space again once he has returned, at his age and with his deterioting physical fitness, see trembling hands.) Otoh, I was surprised but shouldn't have been that Aleida is suffering from as much PTSD as she does (thus is not the flight director). New character Miles as an example of a former oil rig man who urgently needs a job and thus ends up heading to Mars illustrates how things have changed (no more long term Astronaut training necessary on the one hand, otoh the space boom riches do not benefit everyone); as a character, the first episode didn't tell us more than "family man, on the verge of divorce but willing to do anything to avoid same", but I expect that will come.
Meanwhile, Margo in Russia doesn't work at Roscosmos (yet?), which otoh is a waste, but otoh in line with how Philby, Burgess and MacLean fared after their defections. Basically boring and very supervised retirements. I expect the mysterious lady who contacts the frustrated Margo near the end of the episode with the barely hinted promise that will change is connected to the impeding coup forces. (Provided there is a coup, but see above, I'm sure there will be.) I have to say the aging make uip and posture for Wrenn Schmidt remains better than for the other surviving supposedly now old characters. (And the ones heading towards middle age - Aleida is supposed to be in her 40s now, right? Definitely does not look it.)
The episode doesn't say so explicitly, but it seems Danny died before those 15 months on Mars were over, and Danielle still feels somewhat guilty (presumably for exiling him? but as Will says, her opitions were so limited she had no other choice). Otoh, I wouldn't exclude the show surprising us with the reveal he didn't die but instead went into permanent pyschosis and thus currently lives drugged up in some pyschiatric ward, which would also explain his absence, his wife's cryptic comment and Danielle's sense of guilt. Anyway, we all knew that Danielle would eventually say yes to one more space trip to sort out the asteroid and Mars situation, and I expect hers and Eds reunion will tell us more and will be hugely emotional and she'll figure out at once why Ed has steadfastly refused to return to Earth.
Bodies: six part miniseries on Netflix which follows in Dark's and The Devil's Hour footsteps by giving us a mystery plot across several different time eras with an overlapping ensemble. This one has four different eras - initially 1892, 1941, 2023 and 2053 - and four different cops presented with an identical naked dead body (a male one, in a most welcome change from the cliché). Each of them is given something of an outsider status - Victorian Arthur Hollinghead is a closeted gay man (as soon as I saw 1892, I knew they'd do this, because the 1890s = Oscar Wilde, obviously), 1941 Charles Whiteman/Karl Weissmann is a Jew dealing with antisemitism on a regular basis, 2023 Shahara Hasan is a Muslim woman (though here the reaction isn't within the force, it's exclusively shown outside of it, and a very minor part of the initial introduction, it's not otherwise relevant to her plot), and Iris Maplewood in 2053 can only movie because she has an artificial spine (or SPY'NE, as its called), which is plot relevant.. The one storyline choice that initially put me off was making Whiteman/Weissman the copper who gets bribed - the only Jewish character, really? thought I - but then his refusal to continue with this when it starts to harm others and fight against the antagonists because of it turned out to be an excellent noir pastiche, and justifiying the 1941 time frame.As the plot progresses we and the characters start to realise how everything is connected. Here I have to say that my facial recognition evidently gets worse, because I didn't clock until it's pointed out that a character in two plot lines is identical despite said character being played by the same actor (just in different costumes and hair style).
What impressed me most about the antagonist, though, is that the show's motivation for said antagonist and the eventual resolution directly connected to it holds up in retrospect once you know the entire story and all the eras, and that it manages that tricky balance of explaining without excusing and yet also not doing the easy thing of letting the villain go insane and over the proverbial cliff so the heroes don't have to make a hard decision, and yet the solution is very humane and strangely optimistic about human nature.If you think about it, "Know You Are Loved" as the slogan of an authoritarian state really is something an abused teenage boy starved for love would come up with. I also like how the show keeps turning out who has power and who doesn't. At first, Sir Julian Harker is introduced to us as the embodiment of Victorian privilege, who can shut down investigations because of his wealtlh and influence. But wait! He's also Elias Mannix, teenager in and out of foster care in the 21st century who is on the exact opposite of the social power scale. And he's Commander Mannix, on top of a totalitarian state he created through a horrible crime, but he gives that up to become Julian Harker because it'sn ot about the wealth and the influence, it's because he's been promised that as Julian, he will finally be loved. That the very human need to be loved can bear monstrous fruit is something more than one story tells, but this one also insists that both old Julian and teenage Elias can change their minds and put others first if given a second chance, and that's what I mean with humane.
I had a few nitpicks - no one would leave their lights on in their apartment in 1941 with an impending bombing raid, and the show even calls that out in a later episode! how is (Spoiler) at the end in 2023, that doesn't fit, age wise? - but by and large I thought this was a well done miniseries with strong characters. Shahara Hasan was my favourite, but I ended up invested in all of them. Though "Know you are loved" will never not sound creepy to me again, I fear.
The Apple website has the full length version of the newsclips the show produced for the opening montage that in each season catches us up on world events in this AU between seasons, and has had them up for a week, so I already knew that Ellen, like Clinton (whose two terms she serves in this AU), has weathered her iimpeachment and won a second term, with George HW Bush as her VP; the full newsclip says the moment Bush the elder came on board signalled Ellen had won her inner Republican power struggle with the evangelicals. Which made me wonder whether the 1990s actually was the last point at which the Republican party was still salvegable as a "normal" conservative party instead of the right wing extremist cult it became in rl. Then again, Bush the elder in this AU loses against Al Gore after Ellen has served her second term, which might strengthen the neocons and evangelicals in AU world, too.
There obviously was no 9/11 (and ensuing freedom fries mentality in the US), which makes sense; the previous seasons removed most of the factors leading up to it. (No Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, no Mujaheddin, no Taliban, no first Iraq War over Kuweit because oil has rapidly lost importance due to the new energy sources developed in connection with space flight.) Otoh, much like the bombing of NASA was this 'verses equivalent to the Oklahoma City bombing, that doesn't mean a big catastrophe on that scale won't still happen in a different way. Similarly, I think we'll see a belated coup against Gorbachev (still in power in 2003 in this universe, having successfully reformed the Soviet Union) and a later break up of the Soviet Union; another full version of the montage newsclip about the Soviet economic situation mentions grumbling and oligarchs, and one specific Soviet politician is mentioned leading a back-to-the-roots movement, and in the episode itself we see a bit of Soviet unrest beneath the surface, too. After all, a better economy and more openness in general might have removed some of the sources for independence movements in the non-Russian states, but by no means all or the most important ones. Also, the show doesn't need an exclusive Soviet-American space race anymore to motivate ongoing space exploration, not after last season made a big deal out of introducing commercial space flight and private enterprise as a big competitor. Not to mention we have Margo as a pov character in Moscow now; so yeah, my money is on a belated break up of the Soviet Union this season most likely, a change of leadership definitely. (Hopefully not Putin, thouogh. Still crossing my fingers he led an exceedingly boring life stationed in Dresden.)
So far for the big politics. On to the episode proper. All of the asteroid sequences were beautifully done and what this show excells at - the beauty and danger of space in an emotional human context -, and colour me unsurprised Ed found one excuse after another not to leave and is still on Mars rather than go to Earth. (Presumably not just because of Karen's death and his unwillingness to deal with it but also because he knows he will never go to space again once he has returned, at his age and with his deterioting physical fitness, see trembling hands.) Otoh, I was surprised but shouldn't have been that Aleida is suffering from as much PTSD as she does (thus is not the flight director). New character Miles as an example of a former oil rig man who urgently needs a job and thus ends up heading to Mars illustrates how things have changed (no more long term Astronaut training necessary on the one hand, otoh the space boom riches do not benefit everyone); as a character, the first episode didn't tell us more than "family man, on the verge of divorce but willing to do anything to avoid same", but I expect that will come.
Meanwhile, Margo in Russia doesn't work at Roscosmos (yet?), which otoh is a waste, but otoh in line with how Philby, Burgess and MacLean fared after their defections. Basically boring and very supervised retirements. I expect the mysterious lady who contacts the frustrated Margo near the end of the episode with the barely hinted promise that will change is connected to the impeding coup forces. (Provided there is a coup, but see above, I'm sure there will be.) I have to say the aging make uip and posture for Wrenn Schmidt remains better than for the other surviving supposedly now old characters. (And the ones heading towards middle age - Aleida is supposed to be in her 40s now, right? Definitely does not look it.)
The episode doesn't say so explicitly, but it seems Danny died before those 15 months on Mars were over, and Danielle still feels somewhat guilty (presumably for exiling him? but as Will says, her opitions were so limited she had no other choice). Otoh, I wouldn't exclude the show surprising us with the reveal he didn't die but instead went into permanent pyschosis and thus currently lives drugged up in some pyschiatric ward, which would also explain his absence, his wife's cryptic comment and Danielle's sense of guilt. Anyway, we all knew that Danielle would eventually say yes to one more space trip to sort out the asteroid and Mars situation, and I expect hers and Eds reunion will tell us more and will be hugely emotional and she'll figure out at once why Ed has steadfastly refused to return to Earth.
Bodies: six part miniseries on Netflix which follows in Dark's and The Devil's Hour footsteps by giving us a mystery plot across several different time eras with an overlapping ensemble. This one has four different eras - initially 1892, 1941, 2023 and 2053 - and four different cops presented with an identical naked dead body (a male one, in a most welcome change from the cliché). Each of them is given something of an outsider status - Victorian Arthur Hollinghead is a closeted gay man (as soon as I saw 1892, I knew they'd do this, because the 1890s = Oscar Wilde, obviously), 1941 Charles Whiteman/Karl Weissmann is a Jew dealing with antisemitism on a regular basis, 2023 Shahara Hasan is a Muslim woman (though here the reaction isn't within the force, it's exclusively shown outside of it, and a very minor part of the initial introduction, it's not otherwise relevant to her plot), and Iris Maplewood in 2053 can only movie because she has an artificial spine (or SPY'NE, as its called), which is plot relevant.. The one storyline choice that initially put me off was making Whiteman/Weissman the copper who gets bribed - the only Jewish character, really? thought I - but then his refusal to continue with this when it starts to harm others and fight against the antagonists because of it turned out to be an excellent noir pastiche, and justifiying the 1941 time frame.As the plot progresses we and the characters start to realise how everything is connected. Here I have to say that my facial recognition evidently gets worse, because I didn't clock until it's pointed out that a character in two plot lines is identical despite said character being played by the same actor (just in different costumes and hair style).
What impressed me most about the antagonist, though, is that the show's motivation for said antagonist and the eventual resolution directly connected to it holds up in retrospect once you know the entire story and all the eras, and that it manages that tricky balance of explaining without excusing and yet also not doing the easy thing of letting the villain go insane and over the proverbial cliff so the heroes don't have to make a hard decision, and yet the solution is very humane and strangely optimistic about human nature.If you think about it, "Know You Are Loved" as the slogan of an authoritarian state really is something an abused teenage boy starved for love would come up with. I also like how the show keeps turning out who has power and who doesn't. At first, Sir Julian Harker is introduced to us as the embodiment of Victorian privilege, who can shut down investigations because of his wealtlh and influence. But wait! He's also Elias Mannix, teenager in and out of foster care in the 21st century who is on the exact opposite of the social power scale. And he's Commander Mannix, on top of a totalitarian state he created through a horrible crime, but he gives that up to become Julian Harker because it'sn ot about the wealth and the influence, it's because he's been promised that as Julian, he will finally be loved. That the very human need to be loved can bear monstrous fruit is something more than one story tells, but this one also insists that both old Julian and teenage Elias can change their minds and put others first if given a second chance, and that's what I mean with humane.
I had a few nitpicks - no one would leave their lights on in their apartment in 1941 with an impending bombing raid, and the show even calls that out in a later episode! how is (Spoiler) at the end in 2023, that doesn't fit, age wise? - but by and large I thought this was a well done miniseries with strong characters. Shahara Hasan was my favourite, but I ended up invested in all of them. Though "Know you are loved" will never not sound creepy to me again, I fear.