‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘The Bleeding Edge’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 202 of ‘For All Mankind’.
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Each and every one of us out there, have some kind of dream job/career in mind. One that we chase with impunity whenever the opportunity arises to go after it, simply because we know this particular gig is going to do a great deal for us. Such as the fact that it will give us purpose and direction and also great peace in our souls. Because we will finally do what we love and find joy in our work every single day and that’s why you never see someone leave their dream gig when they finally find it. Because this really is exactly where they want to be, and they could not be happier. But while that is a wonderful thought and a wonderful goal to push for… there is one scary possibility when it comes to our dream job that we don’t talk about or think about enough. In that, what exactly do we do, if by chance we achieve it, and have it taken away from us? Because that is a real possibility and at no point are we prepared to see what we love, disappear before our eyes and that could have an incredibly devastating impact upon us.

If anything, this particular fear is top of mind today, simply because the next episode of For All Mankind, took the time to examine this unfortunate possibly in a direct and dynamic manner. For ‘The Bleeding Edge’ focused heavily on several characters that were struggling with the swift end of their careers as astronauts, and that allowed for us to see exactly how being removed from something that you truly love could in fact, rattle a person and haunt them in ways they never thought possible, and it handled this exploration by way of two key characters: Danielle and Gordo. Because Danielle's journey helped us to learn that being forced away from the dream, can lead a person to believe that they have unfinished business and that if they don’t complete it, there will be a hollow feeling that will forever hang over their souls. Since she did outright express that leaving the program was a mistake and that she needed to return to it to finish what she started, since she went through so much to earn a seat at Jamestown

​But while Danielle was quick to admit the impact the end of her space career had upon her; Gordo wasn’t so quick to be open about how his grounding impacted his soul. But the fact of the matter is, leaving the program over the fact that he went through a side effect of space travel that no one could have anticipated, broke him through and through. Plus it brought forth all kinds of feelings of inadequacy and helped to instill in him a firm belief that he was an outright failure in life and that undoubtedly put him on the off kilter path that he's walking right now, and it really was fascinating to learn how being pulled away from the one thing you love could ruin a person in such a heartbreaking manner. But rather than just focus on the terrifyingly negative aspect of being forced to step away from what we love, this story took the opportunity to offer up a bold message in regard to what we should do if we find ourselves in that situation.

In that, we shouldn't give up and accept it as the end, and that means we should take some time to process what happened and then go after our dream again and exhaust every avenue to get there so we can finish what we started and get what we want, and that message came about in bold fashion… by way of Ed’s decision to send both Danielle and Gordo back to Jamestown. So that they both could complete their careers as astronauts on a high note and find the closure and peace they need. Which is something that put Danielle on cloud nine since she was ready and able to get back into space. As for Gordo, well, this surprise definitely sent fear surging through his veins. Because he is so far inside his head and so buried in the belief that he is a failure for what happened ages ago, that he’s not sure he can reclaim the guts he needs to return to outer space. And he will undoubtedly need every ounce of support that he can get from his best friend, in order to return to the moon and find what he believes he left behind on its barren surface. 
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Yet while all of that made for compelling television, we would be remiss to not point out that this story also took the time to tie Molly Cobb’s plight loosely into this thematic exploration. Since she was grounded for six months to a year as a precautionary health measure for the radiation she absorbed and that too has left her listless and confused since she really did use the wonder of space to find calm in her soul. But she is also rattled, because she might be facing the end of her career and her life, since she was exposed to so much solar radiation, and she will have to reconcile all of that in the coming weeks and well, in the end, this was nothing more than a fascinating character study. One that did an amazing job of diving into how hard it is to overcome our fears when they become a reality and truly everything introduced here is going to make the wait for next week's tale quite difficult. Since we are all eager to learn more about Molly's fate and to see if Gordo will finally make great strides toward the redemption he is desperate to find.

‘For All Mankind’ is streaming now on AppleTV+.

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