Each series of a certain quality conveys a message. And how that message is conveyed determines whether this series was made with some love or if it was done clumsily. We discover that a series is exceptional when the message it conveys is done almost unintentionally, in a subtle but effective way. That’s what happens with ‘For All Mankind’.
Around 90 that in our reality we won’t see for several decades
The first two chapters of the third season already make you understand what you start to guess in the second. While the first season is set in an alternate 1970s in which the differences between their universe and ours are few, the second season and its 1980s already begin to show bigger changes: electric cars, a permanent basis on the moon or the militarization of space are already concepts that in our 2022 are still very far away; but at least we still recognized something from our 80s in the series
But in the third season of “For All Mankind”, we entered 90s already far from our reality. Over time, this alternative history moves away from the real thing and science fiction takes on more and more weight. Gradually the series moves away from what we recognize and enters a freer field of imagination.
And so, in 1992, there is already space tourism in a hotel orbiting the Earth, there are already private companies that want to reach Mars before NASA or the USSR itself, clean nuclear energy powers the world and Apple Newton can make FaceTime calls with people who work on the Moon.
In the reality of ‘For All Mankind’, to be an astronaut is to be more than a hero: it is to be a conqueror of space
Since the space race is not over, being an astronaut is a very successful career that can get you off Earth much easier than in the real world. And it’s such a prestigious, heroic profession that as soon as you return it’s easy for you to pursue a political career. Unsurprisingly, one of the moon mission astronauts from the first two seasons is now Bill Clinton’s rival in the US election.
The message of which I speak is not all these advances in themselves, but in how the pressure to advance technologically before the rival superpower also causes advances in society. Women in very high positions, commanders and CEOs of color… we are not exactly in a world where harmony reigns (USA-USSR tensions are stronger than ever), but on the other hand problems that we still suffer here, such as emissions or electricity shortages.
A simple change, a simple spark, that is to say that the Russians reached the moon before the Americans, is at the origin of all this. We are made to know that any small change can change everything profoundly in the long run. If in 1992 plans are already presented to go to Mars, in 2022 we could already have permanent bases on the moons of the gas giants of the solar system.
Around this whole message we have the classic rivalries between colleagues and the difficulties of traveling to a planet which, although it is our neighbor, is hundreds of millions of kilometers away. These rivalries may already be a bit strained, but they still fit together to nicely complement the main idea.
For all that, the third season of ‘For All Mankind’ looks great having only seen its first two episodes. For science fiction fans, this season and future ones will get even better with a world that will move further and further away from ours.
