‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘Rupture’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 108 of ‘For All Mankind’.
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For the most part, we tend to romanticize space travel in storytelling and understandably so. Because it really is a noble quest, one that puts the best parts of humanity on display, since only the finest of people would agree to traverse the universe and brave the challenges that come with such a dangerous mission. Yet while it is nice to indulge in stories that celebrate voyages through the cosmos and how they inspire humanity, the wonder and awe in these stories is simply not sustainable when set in modern times. Because right now, the world is a chaotic place, one where bad things still happen on a regular basis and it just so happens that the Apple TV+ series, For All Mankind, is making a point to highlight the difficulties that would come with rushed space travel in an era of chaos. 
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After all, the last episode showed us how long-term travel and an extended stay on a foreign world might impact the human mind in a negative manner and that oddly enough, helped to serve as setup/preparation for a brutal chapter in this story. For ‘Rupture’ takes the time to explore in great detail, what might happen if tragedy befell the family of an astronaut and how those left behind would have to deal with and process such a disaster, along with an exploration on the finer points of how that kind of news would remotely be broken to an astronaut; and those elements made for one powerful and devastating tale. And sadly, in order to explore these elements, Karen Baldwin had to be placed in one supremely difficult place. Because young Shane sustained some serious brain injuries in the accident that closed out the prior tale, leaving him outright brain dead. 

Which meant that NASA had to make an incredibly tough call, in that, do they bother to tell Ed that his son is in a vegetative state while he’s in total isolation on the moon, or do they try and keep his routine normal? In the hopes of sparing him incredible pain. Which led to quite the debate over mental health and a sense of duty and honor, and the final decision on that matter, fell to Karen. Because no one knew Ed better than Karen and her call was a simple one. Which was, to let it be for now and let Ed go about his duties without a care a world, a decision that while right in Karen’s eyes; led to all kinds of stress and worry in her mind. For she was truly concerned as to whether or not she was betraying the man she dearly loved, and this decision and this burden, put her in quite the dark place mentally. 

In fact, her only shred of hope was NASA’s neurologist, since he would provide everyone with the final word on what was to be done with Shane since ‘brain death’ was a new concept in 1974. But alas, eventually that hope was drained from her soul when the doc revealed that Shane was in fact, gone, and that led to the powerful moments in question. Because that revelation forced Karen to share the news and well, since neither Ed nor Karen could properly grieve together, not with 239,000 miles separating them; watching them try to process the hard reality that their son was dead, was heartbreaking for certain. For Ed and Karen never got the chance to properly say goodbye to their baby boy and their final interactions with him were negative in nature and that’s the kind of stuff that haunts a person through and through and who knows what kind of impact this will have on both of them in the days to come.

But in the here and the now, this really was quite the engrossing and incredible tale. Because it really did offer up some powerful ‘what ifs’ for folks that want to travel in space. Because without some kind of high-speed drive available, they will have to receive rough news in this manner and process it in the void and that is one hell of a burden to reconcile. Either way, this has to be the most unique episode of the series to date, and it is quite fascinating to see the show shift gears in this manner. Because clearly, it is working toward something message wise, outside of the usual ‘space will make us better’ and truly, it is going to be fascinating to learn what that message is. But before we get to that point, undoubtedly the next tale is going to focus heavily on the fallout of Shane’s death, which means we should definitely brace ourselves for more powerful storytelling from a series that has uncovered a way to be completely unconventional in telling a tale about space travel. Until next time.

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