I come in peace... three times a night -- FOR ALL MANKIND (Apple TV Plus)

Showing the consequences on the characters' personal lives is a strong theme, and I think it's handled very well. Sci-fi as a genre doesn't have the best track record with it either

Watching this episode now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clvrPmTx4n4

Also wanted to say it was driving me crazy wondering who that actor was until I saw in the credits it was James Urbaniak.

So my ickiness at Tracy ogling Danny gets doubled down on in s2e7 when Danny kisses Karen.

Just you wait

Just finished S1. Now to see what this S2 is all about.

I get the impression that the creators of this show definitely watched Halt and Catch Fire. And it’s not just the parallel Gordons.

Just you wait

Hah ikr. Also, s2e8: THAT ENDING. OMFG talk about nightmare fuel.

S2E1 was kind of big adjustment for me but now getting into it

yeah its weird getting used to seeing Ed wuth a few extra pounds & riding a desk

I get the impression that the creators of this show definitely watched Halt and Catch Fire.

Another show I completely adored

wow yeah the gordos are definitely of a piece

Love this show, I feel one of the connections with Halt & Catch Fire is (for me) unfortunate and that's being a bit bashed over the head with seemingly unconnected period music, HEY it's the SIXTIES! Sitars!!! Jumping Jack Flash!!

Although that one Petula Clark song they chose was rad.

yeah some of the music cues have been kinda dumb

can’t remember which ep it was but early in season 1 i got in an argument w mr veg about a better song choice for one of the cues & he was basically like “why are u like this” lol

I would speculate that it could be because they're mixed way up and positioned in this slightly obnoxious, Good Morning Vietnam sorta fashion.

Fully expected Gimme Shelter to appear at some stage (well, S1 EP9), it's like the Helvetica of period film music.

love to hear what John Lennon would have thought about a moonbase

iirc that's what the song "Jealous Guy" is about

I didn’t get the burn right
And made you miss
The TLI

I didn’t want to burn fuel
Until the LOI

Finished S2. Generally, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as S1, for the more bureaucratic orientation of the action, which was nearly all backloaded into the final 2-3 episodes, while all the melodramatic swerves were a little overwrought (the whole Karen/Danny thing was -_-). Even in episode 9, the maneuvering to set up the climactic finale felt heavy-handed, with some very unsubtle foreshadowing that made all the military characters seem like trigger-happy idiots, where every problem has a gun/missile solution. BUT -- jeeeeezis that finale turns things around. I'm not sure I buy Ed's sudden turnaround to fire on Sea Dragon, but the Stevenses? Right in the feels. However, the reveal that Sergei is being forced to try to turn Margo felt heavy-handed too, but I think that's my intense desire for a happy (or more accurately speaking bittersweet) ending.

Okay, settling into S2. Agree about some of the musical (mis)cues I guess, but it doesn't really bother me that much for the most part.

Lking some of the incidental original music though. Just heard some nice Philip Glass-style strings that seem to occur quite often, during an important discussion at the Baldwin house.

S2 Gordo reminds me of C or D: Emitt Rhodes?

The period music thing feels a little more toned down in S2.

yeah def

I feel like the cliche is that 70s period music lends gravitas, whereas 80s music does the opposite. I'm sure there are many counter examples to that (The Americans had a few), but that's my general impression as someone that watches way too much TV

I mean that across all TV/movies, not this one specifically, but might explain why they would use less period music in S2

It’s just the LOI, watch out
It’s just the LOI, look out, babe
It’s just the LOI

S2E6Loving this discussion about Laika over what seems to be a Ramones song I can’t hear loud enough to identify

Also liked Tracy talking to Deke’s memorial/burial site

.

Made it to the end of S2.

My reaction roughly similar to Leee’s, perhaps I will have more to say later

What to watch next after this, The Patriot?

Also I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but still am at all the completely convincing non-Americans in the cast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OGzlpkH74

Kinnaman’s father was from the US and he spent some high school time here so even though he grew up mostly in Sweden he naturally speaks with American accent, but Jodi Balfour is from South Africa, Michael Dorman is from New Zealand and Sonya Walger (not in the video) is basically British, born in London to an Argentine father, although she is now a US citizen.

Wrenn Schmidt is from South Carolina so she comes by her accent pretty naturally, although I’d guess she amps it up for the character.

Patriot is a black comedy, very different show, but Michael Dorman is also great in that. Halt and Catch Fire has some parallels to FAM (computer pioneers rather than space pioneers, takes place over different time periods, with heavy focus on their personal lives) but no alternate history, basically. I know Man in the High Castle IS another alternate history show but I haven't seen it

I don’t want to admit how far into this show I was and the sense of loss I felt when I got to the end of S2. Except maybe others like VG and JM already said something similar, I think.

Even though I nearly stopped watching when Margo was getting ready to go to work to the tune of "Rockit"

Man In High Castle is great (but also can be maddening & make you want to throw your tv out the window at times).

The Imposter is another good alternative reality show (on prime)

alternate *history

Do you have a link to that imposter show, vg? Please! The stuff I’m googling doesn’t sound right.

lmao would help if i had the name right

COUNTERPART ffs

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4643084/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZzDKUkJB6E

lol

Counterpart is so low key, definitely worth your attention but it absolutely doesn’t loudly telegraph the important parts — which are really the little characters moments and JK Simmons doing subtlety

Aha, cool, thank you!

Counterpart is amazing! I think I raved about it on a different thread. I never would have made a connection between the two shows, but I can see it now that vg has mentioned it

it wasn't and it isn't

Bail out now and read a recap or two. Your time is more valuable

After they strapped a preganant woman to the outside of a spaceship I kind of mentally checked out of this show but I watched it anyway haha.

Lol, pretty much yeah

Can someone explain why Sergei was killed? Obviously it must have been the Russians that did it, but the Roscosmos lady didn't know Sergei was talking to Margo and Aleida, so why would she have ordered the hit?

Think was because he defected and they didn’t know where he was until he shows up in Houston.

But no-one saw him in Houston except Margo and Aleida?

I thought she did know, including their plans to escape and operate a space burger program in bolivia, and Margo sussed that she had Sergei killed, which factored into Margo's "revenge"

I must have missed that, but I have no idea how she found out.

the show never actually comfirms margo ever successfully evaded her minders so maybe they knew everything from the beginning?

Never explained how they knew about Sergei but very likely they had Aleida's house bugged/monitored since Margo was regularly talking to her and going there. In fact, my wife and I thought it was a bit silly that Margo met him there, but there's a bunch of stuff in the season that doesn't make sense

Real mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy_RPd0rblI

It looks way too terrestrial though! It's weird how the show fits my bad SF-addled concept of Mars more than real Mars.

Also the scene when Margo met Sergei outside a diner stretches credulity because she would never have been allowed there without her minders.