For All Mankind: The Weight
March 20, 2021 5:40 AM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe

Ed's reckless behavior at NASA shakes the foundation of the Baldwin family; Tracy attempts to readapt to life in space.

Ed and Gordo suffer minimal consequences for their aerial hot-dogging; Molly has a different vision for the astronaut corps; Karen worries; Tracy brings a lot of baggage to the moon for her 6-month tour; Gordo worries; Ellen reconnects with Pam; Aleida avoids making new friends at the office; but there are white guns on the Moon.
posted by cardboard (13 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I knew it! The ants are still there!
posted by sixswitch at 9:34 AM on March 20, 2021 [1 favorite]


šŸœ šŸœ šŸœ šŸœ
posted by sixswitch at 9:35 AM on March 20, 2021 [4 favorites]


cardboard: awesome episode summary
posted by sixswitch at 9:36 AM on March 20, 2021 [3 favorites]


The characters keep growing on me so that even an episode as quiet as this one keeps my attention. When will the guns go off?

And yes, Tracy seeing ants after Gordo saw ants...the show's sense of humor really worked for me this time.
posted by kingless at 12:53 PM on March 20, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm caught up now (we discovered doom patrol and that was our only show for a while. It had an... interesting moon sequence).

This season really takes a lot of the glamour out of being an astronaut. I don't really know what Gordo is thinking. I think I do know what Ed is thinking, and he is being so dumb here

In this episode I had a happy moment thinking that Molly would take Ed's seat on pathfinder. She still should.

Was Gordo's kid flirting with the admiral's wife? I couldn't read that scene very well.
posted by Acari at 5:36 PM on March 22, 2021


Yeah I got a very intergen vibe there
posted by sixswitch at 7:32 PM on March 23, 2021


My spice really appreciated this episode for all its montaging and getting into the background of day to day shit work that makes systems like this work (which I find endlessly fascinating as a self-taught dilettante). Interesting transition of the "George" jobs to the "Linus" idea.

Nice with the ants and damn with that blocking up the freaking airflow.

I'm concerned about the techs not picking up on Gordo's freaking, and him not breaking through it but I appreciate the kids trying to help.

I got the intergenerational thing with Shane's friend and Mom but I think this is the first time they're really talking about it as he's turning into an adult.

Molly's vision shit is worrying me.

Only three people to mars? Even shaving 200 days off (100 days each way) ... but I like the parallelism between Molly "Kicking their asses" and the kid's story about Mrs. Admiral (I don't normally suck at names and faces if they aren't astronauts but I want to call her Karen and I think that's wrong) shushing them officially and then letting them off with a warning. You could see that "the big boys" got it when we saw their faces leaving the office.

And yes "I don't have to justify myself to either of you" is a corporate double bird.

Mrs Admiral better not effing keep her daughter out of Naval Academy.

NO ONE IN SPACE HAS HEARD OF EARPLUGS?

Speaking of astronauts, is the new polictical puppy (he PLAYED her last episode) now outed by her ex to the admirals wife?


BTW last episode they clarified it was 1983. They've shown Hart but who is the presumptive contender since Ronnie (I can never spell his name right) is term limited (being term limited out by wining the first time in 1976.
posted by tilde at 7:51 PM on March 26, 2021 [1 favorite]


It's like there's some law of conservation of fucked-up-ness with Tracy and Gordo. They always add up to the same level of it. As Tracy starts to decompensate, that makes room for Gordo to get his shit together and vice versa.
posted by Naberius at 6:06 AM on April 29, 2021 [5 favorites]


I havenā€™t really complained about the pacing so far (really, Iā€™m generally welcoming the unconventional pacing of this show), but this episode felt like it was 4 hours long.

We get a very predictable, yet long overdue ā€œGordo gets his shit togetherā€ montage. Gordo actually seems to be growing, whereas itā€™s completely unclear whatā€™s happening with Ed.

Karen obviously grew a lot during the time-skip, and it kind of feels like the show is trying to invent contrived reasons for conflict (I donā€™t buy the college-choice plot for a second). Iā€™d be fine if the show justā€¦ letā€™s Karen be a good person from here on out.

Pam coming out to Karen (and having that be well-received!) is a really nice capstone on Karenā€™s arc as a character (and also a little unbelievable for 1983, but goddamnit, Iā€™m going to eat up this fiction).
posted by schmod at 7:27 PM on January 14, 2022 [3 favorites]


How does gravity work on the moon? Because Jamestown looks like it has the same gravity as my house.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:21 PM on June 25, 2022 [1 favorite]


Yeah, they're playing fast and loose with lunar gravity, particularly for the indoor moon scenes.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:42 AM on September 21, 2022 [3 favorites]


Karen having deja vu freakout again.

I kinda love Nick/OldLinus, he's nerdorable.

Is Tracy's job just to be Media Tour Person? Like I know she's just been in space but never landed on the moon before, but she seems like she should know more stuff than faking new for the cameras? I guess she just does newscasts and piloting and appearing on Carson.

THE ANTS ARE STILL THERE BECAUSE ANTS NEVER LEAVE LOLOLOL.

"Don't let this happen to you?!?!" GEEEEEEZ.

Don't you love to have to listen to the recordings of you talking shit with the new boss, who you put into the job?!
CHEESE DICK?!?!?!
"Whose idea was it? Don't look at him. Don't look at him."
"I take full responsibility." "Since when? For ANYTHING?"
"Now I get to decide who goes up and when." LOLOLOLOLOLOL I LOVE MOLLY SO MUCH. Sadly, she doesn't actually DO anything and I wish she or someone had.
Also: "Hostile intent is what my face will look like if you make me read this shit to you."

I'm glad nobody can hear Aleida yelling FUCK YEAH behind that glass. That said, she continues to come off as a brat, but I certainly get why she doesn't want to tell her life story or how she got the job either.

Sorry, Pam's taken! Oh, wait, nevermind.

"I like Letterman." "Okay."

What, no pic of the invisible Sam in your sleep cube?! Tracy!
On a related note, at least Gordo's shaping up....and practicing dealing with claustrophobia in the closet at home alone. I love that he's trying, but is it working?!

"How's the food?" "Eh, it serves its purpose."
"What is your father doing?" "Good question."

"Then Spock dies." MUAHAHAHAHA THE WRATH OF KAREN.

TRACY PLEASE DON'T SMOKE AND DRINK ON THE MOON.

Karen: coolest response to someone coming out in the 80's. Thank you, Karen.

NO ONE IN SPACE HAS HEARD OF EARPLUGS?

1. in my experience most aren't very good and don't drown out loud noises, 2. the only ones that work fairly well are those putty ones, which maybe weren't around in the 80's for all I know.

I assume they can't realistically do filming in zero gravity while on Earth/not using a vomit comet/they just kinda have to go with real life gravity and fuhgettaboutit.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:44 PM on February 23, 2023 [1 favorite]


I am so nervous about the ants and about Danny flirting with Karen. Nooooooooo please don't go there, show.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:02 PM on November 6, 2023 [2 favorites]


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