‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘Hi Bob’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 107 of ‘For All Mankind’.
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Space travel and everything that it has to offer, has ignited mankind’s imagination for decades on end. Which has of course, brought about some incredible stories about what life amongst the stars might look like for humanity. But while that notion has provided us with some incredible and inspiring stories over the years, in reality, we’ve slowly been coming to learn that life in space won’t be a walk in the park. For our planet is perfectly designed for us, and our bodies respond oddly when we spend extended time in space and of course, since we’ve yet to truly embark on a long term, deep space mission; we simply don’t have a clue as to what an extended journey through the stars or on the surface of a planet might to do the human body and mind.

But it is possible to speculate that an extended journey in space could be quite difficult on our emotional well-being. After all, we are afforded some incredible freedoms on Earth and the ability to spread out, and being robbed of that would absolutely have an impact on our mental health and it just so happens that the next episode of For All Mankind took the time to explore that possibility in a fascinating and realistic manner. For ‘Hi Bob’ saw the astronauts aboard Jamestown Base deal with an extended stay on the Moon. Because Apollo 24 was being consistently delayed thanks to more problems with rocket repairs and well, that meant that Dani, Ed and Gordo had to dig deep and deal with the fact that they weren’t going home anytime soon, something that slowly began to wear on Gordo’s mind.

Because he truly felt trapped, and despite his best efforts to assuage that feeling with longer walks on the surface of the moon, his erratic behavior and leaving the base empty while Baldwin and Dani were out collecting ore samples, forced Ed to keep Gordo inside the base, all in the hopes of giving him time to clear his head. But the fact that he was so far from home and surrounded by danger, continued to send Gordo into a downward spiral. One that quite frankly, became a little scary. For not only did Gordo start to exhibit strange behavior in the middle of night, such as acting out his favorite Bob Newheart episodes on his own after the VCR broke, he outright had a panic attack on the surface of the moon when Ed tried to go the ‘man to man’ route in clearing his head. A moment that almost cost Gordo his life when he tried to rip his helmet off, and that act put Ed in quite the tough place.

For it was obvious now that Gordo needed to be back on Earth before he hurt himself, and while it would be easy to send Dani and Gordo back, while Ed stayed behind to keep the Russians at bay, there would be a price to pay for this decision. Because Ed would have to tell NASA that Gordo was suffering mentally, and that would mean that Gordo would likely never fly again. A decision that motivated Dani to do something quite kind, and she hurt her arm so that it appeared her incompetence was the sole reason that she and Gordo needed to return to Earth. An act that would damage her career, but the thought of saving someone’s future when her husband’s was in jeopardy was worth the risk in Dani’s eyes and well, we will see if this act did the trick for Gordo or not. For when we see him at the end of this tale, he’s still rattled by his experiences on the moon, and his best friend is up there all alone and that’s one bleak and powerful way to end this tale. In fact, powerful is right word to describe this story in general.

Because there were more tough moments that this episode dealt with. Such as how young Shane is starting to mentally collapse over the broken nature of his home life and the fact he got into an accident because of his emotional malaise is heartbreaking for certain. Plus we cannot forget that Ellen and Larry had to deny their orientations and get married in order to save their careers and of course, the Russians are poking around Jamestown Base and that last element is supremely worrisome. Because they had to see the escape module leave, and they likely outnumber Ed. Meaning it is only a matter of time before an international incident happens in the depths of space and well, this really was quite the quality episode for certain. Because it dug deep into something, we don’t talk about enough in regard to space travel and it did so in a compelling manner and that goes just to show that this particular series is about as unique as they come. Since it doesn’t have a problem tackling big topics in regard to our future in space in a frank and compelling manner. Until next time.  

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