‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘A City Upon A Hill’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season one finale of 'For all Mankind'.
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When we first started our journey through season one of the AppleTV+ series, For All Mankind, we talked a lot about the glory days of the space program and how the United States of America truly shined during that era. For that really was one of America’s finest hours, since there was unity and drive present in our nation, to get a man on the moon and maintain a presence among the stars, and as an added bonus, a gritty attitude to never fail in space bound endeavors; allowed for the crew of Apollo 13 to return home safely when their ship met with disaster in space. Which is relevant to today’s discussion simply because, those are elements that have been missing in this series, for logical reasons. For the USA in this alternate timeline has been playing catchup from day one and hasn’t really faced any major challenges until these past few episodes.   

But thankfully the season one finale of this series, served as the perfect time to finally allow for NASA and its cadre of intrepid astronauts to rise to the occasion and shine, a feat that ‘A City Upon A Hill’ accomplished by way of pushing everyone in this story to the limit. Take for example, the crew of Apollo 24. Who we learned in this tale was mostly in one piece and didn’t respond to their extended burn toward deep space because Ellen and Deke were in compromised positions. For Ellen was unconscious and Deke was hanging on for dear life and they weren’t able to do anything until the burn ended anyways and when it did, Ellen opted to try something bold and use all the craft’s remaining fuel to slow their push toward the moon. A move that had mixed results. For while this duo was able to slow their approach, they still needed to figure out how on earth they were going to insert themselves into a lunar orbit without fuel. And to complicate matters further, Deke was badly injured internally and needed proper attention, making their plight, a race against time to figure how to land on the moon and hopefully get Deke to Jamestown in time for appropriate care. 

A task that quite frankly fell to Captain Ed Baldwin. Because there was fuel in the LEM, fuel that he could needed to transfer to a wounded Apollo 24 so that they could safely land on the moon. But there was just one problem in executing this plan, in that, Ed was kind of preoccupied. After all, he had a prisoner at Jamestown Base; the Soviet Cosmonaut that desperately needed help because Ed sabotaged the man’s rover and well, this ended up being quite the powerful plot line when all is said and done. Simply because, eventually the frosty response between these two men thawed into a tenuous friendship. One that was forged by way of the fact that these two men came to realize that they were in fact, just men. Men that were tasked with a job and weren’t truly tied to the notions of the Cold War in the depths of space and it is a wonderful thing that they came to that realization. Because once Ed did communicate with Apollo 24, he came to learn he would need fuel from Apollo 15’s LEM as well to give them every chance they needed to survive and that would require help from his Soviet friend. 

Which means that in the void of space on a tiny little moon floating around a blue rock, men from two different countries that hated one another, came together to save two lives and that was quite the beautiful plot twist since it spoke to the true power of space travel and helped to focus the show’s message. But before we could dive deep into that particular part of the plot, there was still a rescue mission to finish and that is where the ‘finest hour’ came into play. Because once again, complications arose in the plan to get 24 on the moon and thanks to some incredible bravery from Ellen and fast thinking on Ed’s part they eventually got the lander on the moon, a victory that came with great sacrifice. For Deke didn’t complete the journey because of his injuries and thanks to Ellen and Ed, he found his final resting place amongst the stars. But what made this ending so powerful, is what Ellen had to say about space travel and how it was supremely important to mankind regardless of the risk. For she was quick to point out that the stars are where we belong and that we need to press forward in exploring space, because such a quest would usher in a noble new era in our history. 

Words that quite frankly, made it clear that this series really does intend to look at the power and the wonder of space travel and how it inspires us to be better. Provided of course we figure out how to shed our prejudices and politics and that will be no easy task of course, as evidenced by the launch of the massive and nuclear Jamestown expansion at the end of this tale. Leaving one to wonder how season two of this tale will focus upon those respective messages. But in the here and the now we can celebrate one stunning and epic inaugural season. One that really did captivate its audience with an incredible look at ‘what if’, and truly the majesty and the gravity of the story told here will make the wait for a second season quite difficult. Simply because, we’re all dying to know what comes next in a world where space travel is an everyday thing. Until next year.  

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