But the problem is that although the show knows that its characters would rather be back on the Moon, I don’t particularly find any of the character drama that compelling: Gordo’s struggles being repeated again in a different environment almost lends to a sense of repetitive nature that For All Mankind can’t shake and there’s several unanswered plot threads that feel completely tonally different from how they were approached in the first season – what happened with Aleida? She didn’t show up at all in the first episode, and now is relegated to off-screen namedrops in episode two. Some characters take this better than others - Molly takes this badly, lashing out on Wubbo for giving up and essentially quitting to live out the rest of his days in the Netherlands. The characters seem bored with being back on Earth – no matter how much Ed tries to hide it, and they, like the audience, knows that everyone would be far better off back in space fulfilling their dream.
If Season 1 was about exploring the frontier, Season 2 looks at the effects of that exploration on the characters in their own different ways. Bringing these characters back down to Earth has almost led to a different, darker season two that has lost none of its cutting edge, the storyline so far is shaping up to be almost entirely different. Ed in turn – is annoyed about Tracy for announcing the engagement on national television rather than telling Gordo, but Tracy reminds Ed that he’s not perfect, of course – and he has his own issues that he needs to deal with.
Tracy and Gordo, whilst having parted, put on a brave face together in front of the kids – Gordo’s family meal that he shares to welcome his son back from his time in the Navy is wholesome, sweet and really well shot – but unfortunately, it’s the calm before the storm as what follows is Gordo spiralling out of control to the point where Ed is called into bring him home and make sure his friend gets out of it okay. This is going to be a long-term thing for Molly going forward, and the show makes that very clear that long-term things seem to be very much weighing on everybody’s mind across the board. Molly starts to have troubles readjusting to Earth’s atmosphere with the threat of cancer looming over her head from the radiation burns, but that still doesn’t change the fact that she’s good enough to school Ed at golf despite his practicing in his office. They are part of history now, but every one would rather be living in it. A new generation is coming up around these characters and they’re getting left behind, dealing with the ramifications of being the settlers: getting up there before Jamestown is colonised. For All Mankind hit the ground running with its premiere last week but one of the main obstacles to the premiere succeeding was the lack of character focus thankfully The Bleeding Edge almost seems to realise that the lack of character focus is a key issue as it brings pretty much all of our major players back down to Earth for a crash-course in readapting to the environment that left them behind.
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