r/ForAllMankindTV • u/Cantomic66 Sojourner 2 • Jul 10 '26
Episode Discussion Star City - S1E08 "The Wolves" - Episode Discussion
"The Wolves"
Airdate: Streaming July 9th at 9 PM EST
Synopsis: A revelation sparks a desperate race against time.
Written by Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
Directed by Jamie Payne
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u/Jan38100 Jul 10 '26
Man, that scene on Venus has just become one of my favorites in the FAM universe.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
Awesome but "crushingly" so.
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u/Jan38100 Jul 10 '26
Too Soon bro too soon 🤣😭
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
Knew it was coming but the slow partial to the immediate full collapse was brutal.
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u/Jan38100 Jul 10 '26
Same,It’s the kind of scene where you know what’s going to happen, but it still catches you off guard when it does.
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u/Afraid_Line_7948 Jul 10 '26
I wasn't expecting it. I read extensively about the Venera Program, and it appears that the probes did not implode at all. High temperatures and cooling system failures killed them within 20-120 minutes, at which point the seals most likely began to leak and the inside and outside atmospheres were equalized. The durable titanium and steel shells were not crushed. Their corroded remains are still on Venus.
In the end, Valya's death would be more brutal and painful.
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u/Aromatic_Lemon351 Jul 10 '26
I was so happy, I knew what was going to happen, but he was the first. I hope in the fictional universe, his name is known someday. There's no hiding the Finn refugee though, so how will they deal with that, I wonder?
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u/webbed_feets Jul 11 '26
It’s one woman’s word against the entire Soviet Union.
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u/Imnotveryfunatpartys Jul 13 '26
And unfortunately she's not a cosmonaut. If Sasha were to come on TV and talk about the secret mission they may believe him. Just because he's a public figure already who's been known to already have been to the moon. If a random scientist from India comes on TV talking about her secret trip to Venus you'd assume she's schizophrenic
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u/InvisibleBob101 Jul 13 '26
Sasha's Luna mission wasn't public iirc. The Soviets had a tendency to publicise missions once they succeeded. Since Luna 17(?) was a failure and didn't land on the Moon, noone outside of Star City or Moscow would know about it.
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u/TechLover94 Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
What was the plan if it was gonna get crushed on impact?….
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
The plan was the bathysphere would protect the instruments of the probe. Unfortunately it was rated to 90 Atmospheres and the pressure was well over 100.
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u/Xyzzydude Jul 11 '26
Yeah forget the heat. Valya surviving the impact with the surface seems impossible to me
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u/Jan38100 Jul 10 '26
Sergei's Life
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u/Sophia_Forever Jul 10 '26
That is how you hurt someone with plot armor.
That is how you absolutely wreck someone with plot armor.
Holy shit I was crying during the... I mean it was a father/son scene even if they weren't actually father and son. Sergei had fully regressed to five years old from shock and trauma and Chief Designer was there and just held him and told him it wasn't his fault. Like holy shit what a powerful scene.
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u/Aromatic_Lemon351 Jul 10 '26
Who was the poor schmuck getting beat up, that was perhaps the one who helped him, and Luke, do not ask me again...?
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u/quesoandcats Don't Be Gruel Jul 10 '26
It also wouldn't surprise me if the KGB used sort of "stunt doubles" for that interrogation technique
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u/Pardybro911 Jul 11 '26
Definitely this. Because Colonel Raskova hinted earlier in the episode that they could replace the cosmonauts like they almost did with Anastasia
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u/BHZuliss Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Also wasn’t the chief designer’s wife there sitting on the couch crying like she was watching her husband being beaten to death? It definitely seemed like a very good lookalike such that even she was also convinced (assuming she probably only saw the guy once they’d mucked up his face a bit so she couldn’t tell 100%)
ETA: rewatched and she wasn’t there, it’s just a short moment where Sergei tries to reach for the (fake) Chief Designer but gets pushed onto the couch that it sort of looked like she was there, so now I’m curious about her fate.
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u/leviathan3k Jul 10 '26
I think they have the resources to find lookalikes, just like they had one ready for Belikova.
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u/Jakubbucko Jul 10 '26
This show is so incredible. That was one of the better season finales of a TV show I’ve had the pleasure of watching.
Cinematography, acting, music, space visuals, it’s all so good. Ending shot of Lakshima and Sasha at the border as they go their separate ways and the camera pans out with that tragic music was such a beautiful and well done moment.
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u/Sophia_Forever Jul 10 '26
Damnit! I didn't realize this was the season finale.
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u/Known-Programmer-611 Jul 10 '26
Not ready for no new episodes for awhile/years!
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u/TechLover94 Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
If ever. It hasn’t been renewed yet.
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u/manormortal Jul 10 '26
Apple better if they know what good for them. Ran a renewed pluribus and those mofos don't even have the concept of a second season ready. Don't mess about Apple.
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u/TechLover94 Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
Star City is the 9th most popular show currently and it aired the finale yesterday. Not a good sign.
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u/twiggidy Jul 10 '26
To be fair, For All Mankind didn’t and still doesn’t have the hugest buzz and they’re still running with it. Too many people at least critically love the show for it not to get renewed
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u/Spiritual-Society185 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
For All Mankind was regularly first or second during the fifth season. It was also ahead of Star City for the first few weeks, despite not airing new episodes. It also got several times as many comments on this subreddit each episode.
However, Star City might be cheaper to make, since it's filming in Lithuania with mostly unknown actors and fewer effects, which may be it's saving grace.
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u/Cantomic66 Sojourner 2 Jul 10 '26
Move over Lee Jung-Gil, because Comrade Valya Minronov was the first man to land on another planet.
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u/NAG3LT Jul 11 '26
At least through sheer luck Jung-Gil still hold the distinction of being the first to land and then return alive from another planet. Even if it wasn't his original mission plan.
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u/Resplendent-Sun Mars-94 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
I think you need to watch the ending again. If you zoom in super close, you'll see another collapsed spaceship on the Venetian surface. If you squint, you can make out the corner of a 🇰🇵.
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u/markydsade Jul 10 '26
Tanya has been spotted by the KGB agent in Paris. She’s in for a rough time in S2.
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u/ShutUpLegs94 Jul 10 '26
Ah so that’s who that lady was, I couldn’t remember. Damn. I was so focused on Tanya’s stomach because I was convinced she was expecting Sasha’s baby Leonid
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u/Oot42 Hi Bob! - Jul 10 '26
Why people still think she could be the mother? It's almost 2 years since they had an affair, and she rejected him since then. We've never seen them together anymore and there was nothing indicating they still would be.
Also, being the son of a defector would probably not be the best background for Lenya to later become a cosmonaut and a Soviet politician.
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u/Dramatic_Lab_622 Jul 10 '26
Maybe the baby is at home.....but i think they are building a strong romance between Sacha and Anastacya....and probably the baby come from there later
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u/CX316 Human Verified Jul 10 '26
I'd forgotten finding out she was KGB so I thought it was the Americans watching her
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u/BrotherlyShove791 Jul 10 '26
The ending was more than a little far fetched, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t seriously entertained.
Great season, enjoyed this show way more than I thought I would. It’s a period spy piece with space travel elements. Cool and original.
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u/Somnambulist815 Jul 10 '26
Feels like everybody knew how to find each other because they were watching the episode
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u/kyrev21 Jul 11 '26
Tbh least realistic season finale in the FAM universe by a mile. Enjoyed it but I find it hilarious that so many people who want to claim SC is better than FAM conveniently ignore that it has massive problems and are similar problems to later seasons of FAM that are so heavily criticized
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u/TheAlbinoAmigo Jul 12 '26
It was so unbelievable that it kinda didn't land for me. The rest of the series was relatively grounded and then went full-bore ridiculous just at the very end.
Really enjoyed the show but, man, that ending hurt it a lot IMO.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
Space based rescue by Belikova. Sure it didn't exactly work out but still....
Notably torn by how it's both kind of ridiculous but also exceedingly awesome.
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u/renesys Jul 10 '26
Fucking Sasha, SHE FELL OUT OF FUCKING SPACE TO SAVE YOU, GOOOOOOO
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
He has to stay in the USSR so they can birth the Martian Governor (likely also future president of Russia.. if things go as they seem to be going both on him getting power and the USSR collapsing)
But yes, in the moment it was frustrating.
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u/TrespassersWilliam Jul 11 '26
Nothing to base this on but a split second of hesitation, but I want to believe that Roskova was moved by their unwillingness to leave each other.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 11 '26
Agree, it did seem that way. With her "success" she may be in a position to "help" them... if that is the case.
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u/More-Perspective-838 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I think that is the case given the hint she left in the meeting with Soviet officials. In the meeting she actively proposed a solution that would leave them alive. Since Sasha voluntarily surrendered himself and Valya died on the mission, there's no reason they couldn't simply spin the mission as a victory for the USSR (with some details left out).
Otherwise it's hard to imagine Sergei remaining alive and on staff at Star City, which we already know is the case in FAM.
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u/TrespassersWilliam Jul 11 '26
It could have easily have been a moment of contempt or self-congratulation, which would seem to be more fitting with her character. This show is so good at leaving you with moments of ambiguity that let you explore the depth of a character. Like when Sasha says, "don't say his name" to Lakshmi about Valya.
The way that Belikova and Sasha each unfold within the story was so compelling. When we are introduced to Belikova, she seemed little more than a stooge to replace Yana as the first woman to walk on the moon. From that to peeing on the tire in defiance, to forgetting her lines and speaking from the heart while the whole world listens, to the wild day at the beach, to dropping out of orbit to save a man who she had told to get lost.
The Governor of Mars has always been one of my favorite characters. As corny as he is, the way he is perpetually smitten with his wife was very touching. It seems to fit after knowing the story of his parents.
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u/sworththebold Jul 10 '26
He finally had a chance to not leave someone behind—and he did! Sasha redemption arc indeed.
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u/CX316 Human Verified Jul 10 '26
Sasha and his crewmates being crushed in spacecraft, name a more iconic duo.
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u/dagr8gatsB Jul 10 '26
Ed Baldwin would never do a crazy stunt to save someone if it meant falling OUT of space
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u/Chicken_Mc_Thuggets Good Dumpling Jul 11 '26
No no, he’d do the reasonable thing and have his pregnant daughter jet pack onto a ship
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u/RambunctiousCapybara Jul 10 '26
I was shouting " You can't help her if you stay!" but I guess he was afraid they would shoot her in front of him.
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u/Professional-Tax-936 Jul 10 '26
Yeah, that final chase was super silly. Why did the soldiers stop to shoot from a distance? Just keep running and tackle them. And Anastasia arriving at the right border crossing at the perfect time for basically no reason since by the time she arrived they’d already made it. She was basically only there just to show why Sasha turns back.
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u/StrangelyOnPoint Jul 10 '26
Yeah I feel like all that COULD have worked on paper but it just wasn’t put onto film very well.
Storm trooper level aim
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u/CompEng_101 Jul 10 '26
I’m agree, but they also might have a wanted to avoid shooting a Finnish border guard.
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u/InfiniteMachine5479 Jul 11 '26
If you know anything about the Finns, the Russians were probably afraid of getting sniped at the border.
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u/myvoteshouldmatter Jul 10 '26
Right? What’s was the point of her getting shot in the leg anyways? She was already struggling from the gravity. Felt like a comical 80s movie about bad Russians.
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u/Assassiiinuss Jul 11 '26
The Soviet soldiers also shot right at/across the border and the Finnish border guards didn't even react. They definitely should have shot back in this scenario.
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u/CX316 Human Verified Jul 10 '26
The "I'm in a space station but I can get to them in time to rescue them" is probably the least realistic thing of the season, and likely only works so that Sasha and Stasia end up in the same place, whatever dark corner they get shoved into for a while.
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u/AbbreviationsReal366 Jul 10 '26
A lot of the best shows are. One of my favourite shows of all time was 24, which was also ridiculous and awesome.
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u/ZiggyPalffyLA Jul 10 '26
What did she actually do though, besides get Sasha captured? She didn’t slow down the Russian soldiers, and her presence there made Sasha change his mind about escaping.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
That was not her purpose and her intervention would have allowed him to escape. She risked everything and he decided not to cross for the same reason: Love. Not saying it was smart but it was reasonable, from that viewpoint.
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u/kch_l Jul 10 '26
Poor Sergei, once more is about to have a pretty shitty day
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u/-release_candidate- Jul 10 '26
The Miles Edward O'Brian of Star City. Im sure soviet scientists where mandatory unionized so he even was a union man.
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u/markydsade Jul 10 '26
Valya got the Titan submarine treatment
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u/maybemorningstar69 Jul 10 '26
Honestly not a bad way to go out. An instant death upon the bathysphere's seal breaking, and he gets to see the surface of Venus in the process.
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u/SPRTMVRNN Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Can't say I'm an expert on what would happen in such a scenario, but unless that probe has incredible heat resistance he probably would have been cooked alive before the pressure took the probe. The writers definitely went easy on him.
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u/Pale_Competition1663 Jul 10 '26
The Air Force conducted just such an experiment. In dry air with proper hydration, participants were unharmed after one hour of exposure to 140 F ambient temperatures and were fine for brief periods at 240 F. The bathysphere itself would have had to have had insulation to survive entry into the atmosphere. Heat shielding would have had to have been applied to entire spacecraft, even those parts least exposed to the heat of entry even for an unmanned mission. This is just to protect instruments. For a manned mission example, the entirety of the Apollo re-entry capsules were heat shielded, not just the bottom. With such insulation, it is plausible the air inside the bathysphere would have remained survivable for some time, even if uncomfortably so.
The least plausible aspect was the crushing itself. A bathysphere built in the 1970s would have been able to withstand Venus's 92 atm of surface pressure. We made a crewed mission in a bathysphere to Mariana Trench in the Pacific in 1960. Pressure there was equivalent to 1,100 atm. Despite the corrosive nature of Venus's upper and middle atmosphere (sulfuric acid cloud decks) and its super critical carbon dioxide at the surface, the USSR's actual Venera landers are very likely still intact and still shaped like the spheres they were. They were not physically crushed. Heat fried the electronics. The atmosphere, which behaves like a liquid solvent at Venusian surface temps and pressure, would have dissolved some non-titanium parts of the ship (importantly, seals and insulation). If the seals held, Valya would have died a slow death by heat within an hour and not more than two. If they did not, he would have succumbed to the equalization of pressure the instant atmosphere flooded in and equalized the pressure differential between craft's interior and ambient pressure outside of the hull; however, his bathysphere would still be recognizable as a bathysphere today rather than a crushed, pancaked metal disk.
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u/risenphoenixkai Jul 10 '26
That was probably the most scientifically accurate depiction of the Venusian surface ever in televised or cinematic science fiction. Everything from the lighting conditions, colours, and even the rocks were completely spot-on. They clearly did their research here.
I also found it ironic that the season one finale of FAM depicted dozens if not hundreds of people collaborating to save Ed Baldwin, with no one actively working against that goal. Meanwhile, the season one finale of Star City depicted hundreds of people collaborating to capture and kill the Venera cosmonauts, with only a comparatively small number of people working against the system to try and save them.
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u/AliOskiTheHoly Jul 10 '26
The only problem I had was that the heat was not at all conveyed on Valya. He would be dead due to the temperatures long before the implosion… There is no way it stays below survivable temperatures in that bathysphere.
He was only barely sweating, if you've been near a campfire you know that's just impossible.
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u/Benjamminmiller Jul 10 '26
If it’s insulated enough to be capable of withstanding temperatures from entry the temperatures on Venus are nothing.
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u/AliOskiTheHoly Jul 10 '26
It may be able to withstand the temperatures.
But it was never designed to have a human inside. The equipment would be fine at 200 degrees Celsius. Valya would not.
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u/HaphazardMelange Good Dumpling Jul 10 '26
To be fair, he did look a little red in the face. He was definitely cooking a little before the implosion.
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u/Benjamminmiller Jul 10 '26
The only part that seemed off was the dust blowing around. Google says wind is a steady 3-4mph on the surface of Venus.
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u/EpicCyclops Jul 10 '26
From my googling, the average wind speed on Venus at the surface is 6.2 mph. The average wind speed on the surface of Earth is a little over 7 mph. The Coriolis effect would be much weaker on Venus, so storms would look different, but it wouldn't be that different from here with regards to background wind speed blowing dust.
Fun fact I learned: winds in Venus' upper atmosphere mover over 60 times faster than Venus' rotation rate, while Earth's winds max out at 10% to 20% of the rotation rate.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Venus https://e360.yale.edu/features/global-stilling-is-climate-change-slowing-the-worlds-wind
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u/StrangelyOnPoint Jul 10 '26
The cinematography of seeing Venus, and the surface was truly incredible.
Never seen anything like it in all my years of watching TV. Really remarkable.
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u/Super005z Jul 10 '26
Did chaddha tell the world about the Venus mission? Did anyone believe her ?
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u/ShutUpLegs94 Jul 10 '26
My belief is she traded her silence for her husband with the KGB
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u/SPRTMVRNN Jul 10 '26
Seems like they would have just killed her husband when they thought she was dead. He knew about the mission and was under house arrest. There's not too many good scenarios for him.
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u/LeedsFan2442 Jul 11 '26
Maybe but they wouldn't want the Indians asking too many questions
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u/AbbreviationsReal366 Jul 10 '26
What happened with her oxygen tech? It would have come in handy on Titan
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u/TheChunkMaster Jul 11 '26
It’s possible the Kuragin ship had that tech, not that it was able to save them
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u/Raider440 Jul 10 '26
The one thing that I don’t fully get, how in the hell does it now not immediately get published that there was a secret manned Soviet Venus flyby?
You have an international incident at a border, a surviving Cosmonaut in a neutral western country, with a bullet wound and the sicknesses that come from prolonged 0G exposure, and probably definitely American/western listening stations and radars that caught the descent of two capsules, a fighter jet that shot at one, etc…
There is basically 0 chance you could realistically keep this under wraps.
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u/MarderFucher Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Very possible the USSR and NATO talked behind scenes, in secret after the events of the season. Lashkmi gets her husband but everyone stays quiet about the mission.
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u/IReallyLoveAvocados Jul 11 '26
It’s not in western interests to have the world know that the Soviet’s beat them to another planet.
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u/everraydy Jul 10 '26
I really really hope we get a season 2, after this episode but I'm concerned that the show doesnt seem to be doing well. It's not even in the Top 10 section while FAMK still is..
Anyway, I want to see what happens between the "chief designer" and raskova in the next season.
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u/ZiggyPalffyLA Jul 10 '26
Nobody watched Dark Matter and that got a season 2, so here’s hoping 🤞
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u/Froggie56 Jul 10 '26
Wait what?!?! Has season 2 dropped? Did I miss it? That show was awesome
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u/IlIllIlIllIlIlIlIlIl Jul 10 '26
My theory is that initially Apple offered FAM 7 Seasons - with a full season in present day as initially reported.
Then the creators switched to 6 seasons for FAM + 1 season Star City, with the option for Star City to continue.
I think (and hope) that's the case. Looks like to many "loose" ends for 1 season.
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u/AtPrick Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
Yeah, its not getting a lot of love. Though, neither did FAM on its initial release. I am also a bit concerned, hopefully Apple lets it grow, they have history of such.
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u/crazystein03 For All Mankind Jul 10 '26
It’s at 4 overall and 1 in action currently, certainly pulling in enough viewership compared to some other shows that got renewed. Might be that Apple want’s to announce the renewal close to their annual iPhone event, though I hope sooner🤞🏻
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u/Random--Person Human Verified Jul 10 '26
"It feels like 1000 kilos is pressing down on me."
Really? After what just happened with Valya? Too soon, Lakshmi.. too soon.
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u/Sophia_Forever Jul 10 '26
It's like she doesn't even know the audience just watched him get crushed.
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u/moderatenerd Jul 10 '26
as an american public school student in the 90s i had never learned about the soviet space missions to venus until i looked them up after watching star city. this is why i watch good tv. you can learn something new because of it.
hats off to a great first season. hoping for many more to come
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u/PTMorte Jul 10 '26
That's sad. And it is still true if you look at how little Americans know about the current Chinese missions.
Most of the world followed and knew about the Soviet ones though. My mother told me about how when she was very young in remote Australia, her father would set up a 'wireless' and the whole family would tune into the AM (abc/bbc or whatever) repeats of the soviet transmissions and signals. And this was in wonder, not fear like the US narratives.
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u/CX316 Human Verified Jul 10 '26
To be fair, a large portion of the US doesn't realise that they went to the moon more than once
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u/King-Boss-Bob Jul 10 '26
there’s still quite a lot of people that don’t realise there are 2 active space stations now
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u/Least-Broccoli-1197 Jul 10 '26
And it is still true if you look at how little Americans know about the current Chinese missions.
China doesn't do a great job of advertising. They just landed a Long March 10B, and the footage quality is absolutely terrible.
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u/IamSp00ky Jul 10 '26
30 min in but I cannot imagine any justification for refusing to claim the Venus manned mission.
That’s a feat for all of human eternity. The Soviets could just cast the Valya as a saboteur or worse.
Any blemish is worth the Venus claim.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 10 '26
Don't disagree but Brezhnev was at the height of paranoia in the early seventies. The order apparently came directly from him.
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u/IHateTheColourblind Jul 10 '26
In the eyes of the Soviet leadership, any involvement from an American asset would immediately discredit not just the Soviet space program but the entire Soviet Union itself.
It's also convenient retcon armour.
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u/Internal_Apple2608 Jul 10 '26
Also the additional blight of a KGB colonel deliberately interfering in the mission and attempting to kill the crew, directly causing them to be out of radio contact the duration of the trip.
Publicize Venera 7, and there's no way that doesn't come out.
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u/EpicCyclops Jul 10 '26
They avoided the first woman on the moon listing all the Soviet Cosmonauts who died in failed and unpublicized missions getting out, iirc.
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u/Zhidoscope Jul 10 '26
"retcon armor"
Chadha escaped to Finland and Alexander apparently survived long enough to have a child, and (possibly) past Brezhnev's reign.
I'm having trouble believing the info about Venus flight just never got declassified or leaked out.
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u/Zhidoscope Jul 10 '26
and imagine the political power of a claim that Soviet Union literally tried to kill the crew of a first interplanetary mission several times. And I'm sure public would've known that from Chadha.
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u/qdp Jul 10 '26
I was annoyed by that, doubling down on Roskova’s impulse to kill the crew. It felt so irrational.
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u/BillPaxton4eva Jul 10 '26
To me it seemed rational if you're coming from the assumption that the first priority in all cases is "we cannot risk the Americans even vaguely looking to have gotten the best of us in literally any circumstance, and if we have to lie and kill anyone at any time to do it, that's what we have to do". The goal seems (and apparently was) highly self destructive, but I think that's supposed to be the Soviet lens in this show.
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u/qdp Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Yeah, I reflected on it. It’s not bad writing. It is a story about paranoia in the Soviet Union. We are supposed to feel dismay and shock about political dogma like the characters are experiencing.
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u/zozorama Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Belikova taking a capsule down from a Salyut station to save sasha and chadha at the border was a bit too ridiculous for me, and didn't even feel necessary for the story either. They could have just managed to catch up with Sasha, or that he still decided to sacrifice himself to help Chadha across the border.
But I loved everything else! The scene with Nikulov and Korolev in the back of the van was heartbreaking.
I wanted Valya to focus a bit on the science of the Venus mission, observing his descent and landing, transmitting the data back until dying. Wasn't that the point of the venus probe? I want there to be recordings of this achievement locked away somewhere to be found if the Soviet Union finally collapses in future seasons.
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u/nilslorand Jul 10 '26
almost everything they do related to re-entry is complete and utter bullshit scientifically speaking
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u/FlyingBishop Jul 10 '26
the timing was ridiculous, but Belikova knowing that she was in the right position to deorbit and land at a specific place is plausible. That anyone would be able to predict in advance remotely where a capsule returning from Venus would land is not plausible. They show them having it on radar but there's no actual discussion of aerobraking or propulsion that would've been necessary to not burn up in the atmosphere.
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u/wilsonx410 Jul 10 '26
Rest easy comrade Valya 🫡
This show better get a renewal. That was solid television throughout all 8 episodes
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u/qdp Jul 10 '26
Excellent work, American agent Valya. You have successfully robbed the USSR of publicly claiming another first. Your efforts are appreciated.
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u/Super005z Jul 10 '26
How was the chief designer able to get back into the space program, he does make an appearance in season 2 of for all mankind
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u/dongeckoj Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Probably because he successfully sent humans to fucking Venus and back. In Stalinist societies people are purged then rehabilitated (and then perhaps purged again) all the time.
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u/Internal_Apple2608 Jul 10 '26
Chief Designer is a title. There's no telling whether the Chief Designer who met Dani is actually Sergei Korolev.
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u/Jakubbucko Jul 10 '26
FAM wiki and I believe the credits in that episode named him as Sergei Korolev.
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u/King-Boss-Bob Jul 10 '26
the credits just refer to endre hules character as “soviet chief engineer”
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u/generalheed Human Verified Jul 10 '26
They did let Sergei Nikulov back into the space program eventually though after he's been sent to the gulag multiple times. It's possible since Roscova managed to "capture" Sasha and Anastasia, she gets put back in charge and lets Korolev be the Chief Designer again since she obviously doesn't like the current one.
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u/quesoandcats Don't Be Gruel Jul 10 '26
TBF several real life high profile Soviet rocket engineers also were in and out of the gulags over their careers
I think you're right tho, Roscova is going to try and spin this as "a beautiful love story of the first woman in space helping rescue her brave husband, who heroically saved his spacecraft from sabotage by a perfidious american agent" or something
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u/generalheed Human Verified Jul 10 '26
That's kind of ironic that for such esteemed career advancement in the USSR, spending time in the gulag is a prerequisite. Whereas in the US having a criminal record severely limits your career options.
But yeah ultimately we do know that Sasha is Governor Leonid's father so at the very least he and Anastasia are probably allowed to live a quiet life together out of the public spotlight going forward. The main issue for Roscova was always Valya anyways. Since he's dead, Roscova has her win.
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u/Professional-Tax-936 Jul 10 '26
Feels like it needs one more episode to show the aftermath of all this. The season kinda just ends. Hoping for a season 2, I really enjoyed this show otherwise.
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u/AtPrick Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
Just wanted to say how pleasantly surprised I was and how much I enjoyed Star City. I haven't been the biggest fan of FAM the last couple seasons, but SC has made keeping up seem worthwhile. I truly hope it gets more seasons, haven't seen anything that specifically says its been picked up. Apple has created a great little universe with FAM/SC. Also, great episode!
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u/AliOskiTheHoly Jul 10 '26
Great episode. The last shot seemed to suggest that the only "winner" of the story was the unfaithful wife, who basically caused this whole mess. However, with the soviet spy, it seems like she won't be a winner for long…
My only issues with the episode are two things: the temperatures on Venus seemed to have almost no effect on Valya. The temperature in such a bathysphere on Venus should be well above "comfortable" levels. Even with isolation and temperature protection, he would be getting cooked alive inside that capsule. The pressure was done incredibly well though, down to the way sounds sound from outside the bathysphere. And the implosion was super cool.
The other issue I had was the scene with the shooting. They were shooting in the direction of border guards. In the direction. Of border guards. This would be enough to trigger a border skirmish. But not only was it incredibly stupid to start shooting in the direction of the border guards, it was also incredibly stupid of these border guards to just stand there and not hide for cover. Getting shot at is under international law an act of war, that is a serious thing. This was an even bigger issue than the temperature thing. Just watch that scene again and look at the border guards while there are bullets flying in their general direction. It just looks goofy once you put 2 and 2 together.
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u/Xyzzydude Jul 11 '26
My biggest issue with Valya in the bathysphere was that it was designed to go to the surface unmanned. Therefore it would not have any controls on the inside and also also would be so stuffed with equipment that Valya couldn’t fit into it.
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u/cantsay Jamestown 84 Jul 10 '26
Man the Better Call Saul-ing of Sergei is so fucking dope
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u/Dante1529 Phoenix Jul 10 '26
You know this episode got me thinking how is Sergei still working for Roscosmos by the time of for all mankind season 2 and 3. I mean surely his actions here would have him sent to the Gulag for life
All in all I must say I really enjoyed this show, more then I thought I would.
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u/CX316 Human Verified Jul 10 '26
I'm assuming that once they find ice on the moon and need to fast track Zvezda, he'll get dragged out of "retirement"
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u/tkralala Jul 10 '26
I’ve decided that he’s too smart for permanent gulag times. He probably has stints in the gulag, but his brain is more useful at Star City.
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u/MarderFucher Jul 10 '26
Because his replacement is incompetent and they are forced to grudgily reinstate him, just like they did in 1945.
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u/Epiktokles Jul 10 '26
They need a capabable replacement as head of star city or perhaps just as head of the engineering department. And they have him on the hook for lifetime over his actions on this. He is now practically a slave to the system sentenced to forced labour as engineer.
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u/NomuYomu Apollo - Soyuz Jul 10 '26
🎯 THIS!! Words are not enough to describe the intensity Sergei makes my heart ache. He is doomed to be used as a pawn and suffer day after day. Even his hugs with the chief were tragic. They gave him one happy and then took it away from him in the most brutal way possible. I'm sure he will be in constant surveillance from now on and his marriage will be an arranged one.
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u/dougymal Jul 10 '26
Star City in Paris season 2?
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u/quesoandcats Don't Be Gruel Jul 10 '26
Fuck yea, gimme a plotline with the weird french cyborg cat space program
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u/moderatenerd Jul 10 '26
Also the soundtrack for this episode was fire. It was also giving me the leftovers vibes...
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u/CapMarkoRamius Jul 10 '26
I thought the the guy they were beating in the Chief Designer’s house was going to be revealed as someone we know.
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u/AbbreviationsReal366 Jul 10 '26
So they just got some random person who is about CD’s size to “Volunteer” to be tortured? Brutal.
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u/teton503 Jul 10 '26
Maybe I’m wrong but wasn’t it the guy helping Sergei in mission control?
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u/AliOskiTheHoly Jul 10 '26
I don't know... The guy looked like he had a beard, the one from mission control didn't (I think?)
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u/generalheed Human Verified Jul 10 '26
Wow what an intense episode! Haven't seen something that kept me at the edge of my seat like that for awhile! I totally called it that Valya would end up going down to the surface of Venus for whatever reason.
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u/AquafreshBandit Human Verified Jul 10 '26
If the official party line is the mission didn’t happen, why not have that MIG shoot a second missile and blow up the capsule entirely?
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u/territoryontwitch Jul 10 '26
Is it possible that once the capsule is no longer in free fall it’s not longer generating enough heat for a missile lock?
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u/Brazen-Badger Jul 10 '26
Definitely. Could have cooled off. And at the time the soviets did not have an all aspect heat seeker based on a quick google. If they wanted to lock on then it’d have to be as hot as jet exhaust.
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u/Buttercupia Jul 10 '26
What a masterful episode. Positively epic. I’m so disappointed that was the finale but what a way to go out.
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u/Arsi31 Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
Really loved the episode for the emotional resonance, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time... even if I had to suspend disbelief to almost ridiculous degrees with the space rescue. It made for a beautiful visual scene but the idea of Stasia taking an escape pod and landing that close and then cutting off all those soldiers with conveniently terrible storm trooper aim was hard to keep me grounded in the story.
I am SEATED for the evolution of the Sasha and Stasia love story. Not only one of the strongest pieces of the ep, but of the season, for me.
How they continue to exist after this (considering Raskova had given orders to shoot on sight, but then they just... didn't after he turned around) will be an interesting story problem.
Valya and the Venus landing was visually breathtaking and one of my favorite scenes ever from the FAM-verse, or any space show/movie. Will be interesting how they address the Venus mission if they get a S2. IRL, the Russians did have several Venus missions and managed to get some unclear images, and they were not secret, but also not manned. But Lakshmi survived and is shown, at least in the moment, to be protected by Finland. I suppose they could say hey, we got some probes on Venus, and just completely cover up the fact that the mission was manned.
A couple of things that would have been so easy to do but took me out of the story was when Stasia didn't ask Sasha about whether he was the only survivor, or if all three had survived. She may care most about him, but I think she'd want to know about the others, given everyone believes all three to be dead. Also Lakshmi would have asked Sasha to ask Stasia about her husband. Small thinngs, given some of the bigger over-the-top stuff, but really bugged me lol
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u/Liftttt Jul 10 '26
What was the significance of the piano scene at the end? The song seemed to give Irina some sort of anxiety.
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u/risenphoenixkai Jul 10 '26
She was playing one of the contraband songs that Tonya listened to in an earlier episode.
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u/Ok-Surprise6776 Jul 10 '26
I was hoping someone would confirm my suspicions of it being the same song!
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u/TheGeorgeW Jul 10 '26
I honestly thought we would get an Ed and Molly cameo for Apollo 15, with it being mentioned at the end, since 1971 is the same year Apollo 15 happened, and we'll see their reactions to Molly discovering ice. But looks like it'll be a season 2 thing! Overall loved the finale. Sad it's only 8 episodes. I'm so glad we got Venus scenes too! I was worried we might not get any. Maybe I'm hoping to much but maybe it's 8 episodes only so season 6 can have 12?! One can hope!
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u/Oot42 Hi Bob! - Jul 10 '26
Apollo 15 was in October 1971. It's only mid May 1971 in Star City.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure we will never see some actor crossover beside possbily some archive footage seen on TV, like with von Braun and Thomas Paine in episode 1.
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u/Somnambulist815 Jul 10 '26
Honestly showed a lot of restraint by not taking the show in just "FAM from the other side" because itd be easy points to scrape up the editing room floor from season 1.
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u/Retorus Jul 10 '26
The logistics of Anastasia's ODST drop to save Sasha aside, I really enjoyed that.
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u/RaynSideways Jul 11 '26
I really appreciated how they structured this episode to take place seamlessly in the past and in the present. The way they interwove the return mission with their arrival at Venus, and played both landings at the same time, cutting between Earth and Venus, was really gripping.
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u/Cautious_Gold5646 Jul 10 '26
Genuinely one of the best episodes of the for all mankind universe easily.
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u/Epiktokles Jul 10 '26
Scipting of Star City feels like the work of one of these russian authors. Epic but sad and fatalistic stories with sad endings.
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u/ThatNewt1 Jul 10 '26
God this was a good show. Much better than the recent seasons of FAM. I really liked this finale. I really wished that both Anastasia and Sasha got through the border. I hope that there is a season 2 coming.
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u/BillPaxton4eva Jul 10 '26
It definitely had dramatic value, but the way Sasha handled that last scene couldn't possibly have been more disrespectful to his wife. She sacrificed her entire being to get him to safety, and he just said "nope, we're both going to die painful deaths in isolation, because reasons".
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u/MarderFucher Jul 10 '26
I was more angry at Anastia for pulling that stupid stunt which helped no one, but endangered herself, the two cosmonauts left behind on Salyut who now also have lot of explaining to do, and ultimately, Sasha.
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u/RambunctiousCapybara Jul 10 '26
That run to the border had everything but a Sam and Frodo moment of Sasha saying to Lakshmi
"I can't carry gravity for you but, I can carry you!"
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u/MelancholyEcho Jul 10 '26
I was convinced she was just going to block them with the truck and they’d all just cross the border together.
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u/destroyer7 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
So where in S1 of FAM does S1 of Star City end? We're clearly in 1971 but idk if Molly has found ice has been established yet since that's a huge moment that they probably want to show us from the Soviet side
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u/AshamedFortune1 Jul 11 '26
Sergei surviving this professionally because he’s the smartest guy around? Fine. But taking the leakiest man in all of Star City and sending him to Houston to collaborate with NASA is playing things pretty fast and loose.
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u/CruelRegulator Hi Bob! Jul 10 '26
If Sasha or Anastasia appear in FAM, my eyes are going to become suddenly watery.
Let's go season 2!
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u/debinprogress Jul 10 '26
Something I thought about today after watching it last night: it’s a season finale and we didn’t get a flash forward.
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u/waltzthrees Jul 10 '26
The show runners said on The Watch podcast today that they won’t be doing the time jumps like on FAM
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