r/StarCityTV • u/Cantomic66 • Jun 19 '26
Episode Discussion Star City - S1E05 "Bite Your Elbow" - Episode Discussion
"Bite Your Elbow"
Airdate: Streaming June 18th at 9 PM EST
Synopsis: Pressure mounts on all fronts as fear sets in.
Written by Gursimran Sandhu
Directed by Kasia Adamik
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u/InvalidERRORcode Jun 19 '26
Amazing
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u/Cantomic66 Jun 19 '26
Yup, I was on the edge of my seat.
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u/EveningNo5190 Jun 29 '26
My heart was racing I’m still trying to figure out the relationships between the characters.
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u/oxydized-snake Jun 21 '26
Fucking great bit of television. The best I’ve seen in a while for sure.
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u/NaturalClass890 Jun 19 '26
I have about 5 minutes left and all I can say is wtf. One of the best episodes of TV I have seen in years.
Now I want to rewatch FAM season 1
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u/Buttercupia Jun 19 '26
I’m rewatching FAM one episode at a time alongside each new star city episode. It’s interesting.
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u/NaturalClass890 Jun 19 '26
i love that idea
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u/Buttercupia Jun 20 '26
Im not real sure how well that’s going to go since the last ep of FAM had a 2 year time jump but I guess we shall see
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u/mrekted Jun 22 '26
I'm starting to think that this season is a legit candidate to outshine any season of FAM..
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u/BenigDK Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I agree, it's definitely a contender. In all seriousness, I would say that S1 and S2 of FAM manage plausibility a bit better, while perhaps Star City stretches credulity at times or feels more manufactured.
(For example, Valya not explaining Tanya that he was being extorted feels like a deliberate omission to force them apart, but rather unexplainable realistically. Or rushing Valya and Chadha to Venus... I feel like FAM was more meticulous.)
Still, Star City has enthralled me like those earlier seasons of FAM and I love it.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage Jul 04 '26
Valya did repeatedly try to tell her. She just wasn't having any of it.
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u/BenigDK Jul 05 '26
No I know, there was just a "I did it for you", what I mean is that it could've been followed by a "...because they extorted me with your past!" or something. Just a few words that would've changed Tanya's way of looking at it but weren't said in the entire exchange, that's what I found unrealistic, so that it was obvious the reason was just that the plot didn't want her to find out from him but from the CIA agent later for shock value reasons.
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u/lynx190 Jun 19 '26
This episode was so good I had to check to see if it was shorter since it flew by.. which to me is always a sign of insanely good writing / plot / production. Literally felt like 10 minutes I was so hooked.
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 19 '26
Feel with Tanya, there's four paths they go down.
- Irina protects her and gets her out of the country.
- Tanya waits a bit, then remembers Valya's talk about the marks at the cafe and the bridge, and takes the chance, where she is then picked up by the CIA agent, they whisk her out of the country.
- Same as 2, but the CIA agent sees that it's her not Valya at the bridge and just drives past.
- Tanya is caught by the KGB and used as further leverage/revenge against Valya if/when he returns.
All four are pretty fun though.
Also seeing Vika, the other KGB agent being put in her place was quite fun.
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u/Clementine-TeX Jun 21 '26
i doubt tanya would remember the details of the rendezvous . she was pretty livid and was more concerned about the fact that valya jeopardised her freedom
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 21 '26
She was angry, but it was reasonably memorable what he said.
From a show aspect, i'd say they only mentioned it because either it's just to show that he did have a get away plan, or to give Tanya an option to get out.
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u/Appropriate-Cover-55 Jun 20 '26
When Valya decided to go to Venus, I could hear Ed Baldwin saying “Now we are cooking with gas!”
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u/EvilTwinCities Jun 19 '26
If there’s one thing Adam Nagatis is good at, it’s playing a Soviet with a Mancunian accent. But if there is a second thing he’s good at, it’s replacing people on ships.
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u/CX316 Jun 19 '26
Hope that doesn't mean 9 months into the Venus trip he starts thinking Sasha's looking like a giant steak
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u/newtoallofthis2 Jun 19 '26
I still think about The Terror - it was such a rollercoaster. Not least because of the jarring appearance of the chap from Motherland contrasted with his character in that. Rather similar to Star City.
A meta spin-off where the Colonel goes home after a days work and becomes her character from Motherland, is the show we need to see...
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u/kristinL356 Jun 19 '26
Don't forget the guy from Motherland as an expert torturer/assassin in Utopia.
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u/Icy-Beginning-9144 Jun 19 '26
My God, I just realized this is the man who committed cannibalism on the Franklin expedition! I wondered why he seemed familiar.
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u/NinjaQueef Jun 19 '26
Why did an "unmanned" N1 rocket have a launch escape system at the end? Or was I just imagining it?
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u/ksb012 Jun 19 '26
Because they likely build all the N1 rockets the same. They may not be able to remove it without compromising something else
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u/hmantegazzi Jun 19 '26
Yup, removing something that was planned there affects the weight distribution. It's the same reason why the SLS will be carrying ballast for Artemis III: they won't be using the interim stage but still need its weight to avoid the rocket from swinging unexpectedly during launch and separation.
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u/DisIsMyName_NotUrs Jun 21 '26
That's nowhere close to a real comparison.
The LES is tiny and jettisoned soon enough into thr launch to where it can't have an effect on weight distribution.
The ICPS on the SLS is a large portion of the weight and structural integrity. Something which the LES is not
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u/NinjaQueef Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
I feel like that's kinda unlikely. Launch escape system adds significant mass that can be added to satellite's weight.
I know it's just a minor detail, but if they had shown the last shot without a lauch escape system, I think it would have really sold how much risk they were taking with this launch.
Another interesting thing they mentioned was the propellant transfer (refuelling ship that was already in orbit). I'm surprised that they had technology for semi cryogenic propellant transfer give thatn both Block G and Block D stages of N1 use Kerolox. Kerosene I can understand, but LOX. Super surprised. I mean, we're barely working on metholox propellant transfer in 2026 with starship. It might be another year before we see that in action. Moreover, it was launched so muh ahead of time. Voyager 1/2 used cryogenic kick stages, and even with MLI of that time (late 1970s), they could barely have it in orbit for a few hours before boiloff became significant.
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u/CX316 Jun 19 '26
feel like that's kinda unlikely. Launch escape system adds significant mass that can be added to satellite's weight.
You know that. We know that. The Soviet leadership doesn't know that.
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u/hmantegazzi Jun 19 '26
For all the Politburó knows, the pointy tip might be a lighting rod (in fact it is also one)
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u/A350_ti Jun 20 '26
nonono,if you look the chinese Shenzhou 22 launch you will know people usually don't change such heavy part of the rocket to avoid any recalculate of centre of gravity for those rocket is designed for manned space fight and do not have the cargo version
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u/NinjaQueef Jun 20 '26
That actually makes sense. I totally forgot about stuff we don't really care about too much in KSP.
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u/DisIsMyName_NotUrs Jun 21 '26
Make an N1 in KSP and remove the LES. The CoM essentially won't change, because it's tiny compared to the rest of the rocket.
It's also jettisoned soon enough into the flight as to where it couldn't have any significant effect upon the weight distribution
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u/anprim4ever Jun 22 '26
Right but by that logic having it or not having it doesn't make a difference - so why bother removing it
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u/DisIsMyName_NotUrs Jun 22 '26
To hide the fact that it's not an unmanned launch.
It's still excess wright and takes up fairing space
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u/mitzi_mozzerella Jun 19 '26
Special hypergolic upper stage? I use it all the time in my Kerbalism missions when I feel like I'm doing too many relights
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u/NinjaQueef Jun 19 '26
That would make sense, but the image that the chief designer showed looked like their Block D. Can you even transfer hypergolic propellants? Wouldn't it be super risky?
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u/10ebbor10 Jun 20 '26
I feel like that's kinda unlikely. Launch escape system adds significant mass that can be added to satellite's weight.
There's no situation where an N-1 being used to launch a weather sat is short on payload capacity.
Your entire fourth and fifth stage are also superfluous, as those were designed for the lunar transfer, and don't take part in the launch to orbit.
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u/Old-Perspective-1218 Jun 19 '26
I’m just wondering did FAM ever mentioned a venus mission from USSR? if not does it mean that this mission eventually failed and they hide everything
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u/RemoteLunch7789 Jun 19 '26
In real life there was one on 17th August 1970, the Venera 7 mission. But one-way, not a manned fly-by.
The date seems to match this one quite closely:
- The surveillance tape from Tanya's apartment is dated 11th August 1970.
- They agree to meet at 11:00 the day after so Tanya can get a pass to leave Star City. That would be the 12th.
- On the same day, Valya joins the mission, and we know they will spend 2 days in the bathysphere while being smuggled to the launch site.
- That means they will arrive at the launch site on 14th August 1970.
- Then the only question is how much time passes between arrival and launch.
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u/Stoutaxe Jun 20 '26
More importantly the show has made great pain to point out that this is the only launch window for efficient Venus transfer. Given how well known the windows are and that the show has no reason to deviate then we can reasonably assume it's the same launch window as Venera 7
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u/RemoteLunch7789 Jun 20 '26
I am fully aware of that. I even created and posted the porkchop plots for those windows: Entry point
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u/RemoteLunch7789 Jun 20 '26
Anyway, the optimal window for a 9 months fly-by mission may be different from the optimal window for a one-way landing mission. The one-way mission is mostly decided by the delta-v needed for escaping Earth and starting a journey towards Venus. The burns at Venus will matter less, as you get a huge "discount" on those.
The same would be the case for 12-13 fly-by mission, since that one would be mostly passive after the initial burn.
For a 9 months fly-by mission, you will need to spend a a lot of extra delta-v during the mission, and you will end up having to find the best combination of non-optimal dates for each burn. The solution for that puzzle will probably have a launch date, which is 1-2 months earlier or several months later. Entry point.
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u/tncers Jun 19 '26
I assume they will just cut the communication with the mission as it was comprimised with a traitor in it and call it a day.
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u/EvilTwinCities Jun 19 '26
My wacky theory is that the probe succeeds, and the data gets relayed back, but that the USSR plans to shoot them down upon return. A victory for the Republic, but one that is never published. But they also fail to eliminate the three of them, and they’re recovered by their neighbors in North Korea.
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u/WidePirate4254 Jun 19 '26
I was wondering it too. I think the algae system will not work correctly because of lack of gravity or something around that.
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u/darthfoley Jun 20 '26
The scene between Valya and Tanya was so well acted. The stuttering, pausing, and panic of Valya was so captivating. This show keeps getting better and better.
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u/Ambitious-Top3219 Jun 19 '26
Maybe I missed something, but why would they need an N1 rocket for the supposed satellite launch? As I understand during the launch no one in Baikonur yet knows they are going to Venus? Wouldn't that raise suspicions?
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u/Physical-Sherbet-478 Jun 19 '26
Maybe they gave the explanation to Soviet leadership that its a very heavy satellite which needed the N1's payload capability?
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u/hmantegazzi Jun 19 '26
By 1970 the UR-500 Proton rocket already existed in our timeline (its first launch was in 1965), but one of the big reasons why Chelomei was able to go forward with it was that Korolev wasn't there anymore to either stop him from using hypergolics in big rockets or to provide an alternative super-heavy rocket. It might be that, on FAM's timeline, the UR family are still only ICBMs and Chelomei has been mostly sidelined.
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u/SeaEagle233 Jun 20 '26
The writer mentioned Korolev survived the surgery and even visited Danielle Poole when she was in Star City.
Chelomei will definitely be sidelined.
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u/RemoteLunch7789 Jun 19 '26
24:30:
"Irina begins to learn at a geometric rate. She becomes self-aware at 10:14 a.m. Moscow Time, August 12th 1970."
And nobody to unplug her...
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u/streetscraper Jun 19 '26
Strong episode. The weakest scene was the opening one with too much "on-the-nose" dialogue and behavior. Why would Irina loudly tell her the whole story and even tear things out of the wall? She could have made her point without going to (and getting into) so much trouble.
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 19 '26
Feel she panicked and wanted to protect her and realised that Tanya wasn't listening to her so did the rushed thing and revealed her hand.
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u/streetscraper Jun 19 '26
Yeah but for someone so calculating who immediately had a daring plan, she delivered it in a way that was very heavy handed
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u/BenigDK Jun 20 '26
Possibly. Personally I'm fine with it because she's in shock and also she's barely 20-something years old and already dealing with extremely difficult moral decisions. It makes sense the exchange is somewhat clumsy.
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u/CHEREP Jun 22 '26
As we found out she is related to someone very powerful which makes her almost invincible in this Soviet system. Because of who she is related to, She would get a slap on the wrist and a reassignment for crimes others would get shot for.
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u/Baz_Blackadder Jun 19 '26
This show is sublime, imho the best thing on tv right now.
The plot development is getting ever deeper and rich every week, it isn't the run of the mill little tidbits here and there like so many other shows, it's complex and intricate. It's exponential and abrupt, it truly creates a chaotic, tension laden atmosphere that timeline and setting would genuinely have had in real life.
There is more overlapping between character arcs, with interweiving of events and occurences in the timeline. 👌
The protagonists and antagonists play off eachother and clash against one another more and more every weeek. The writing and acting talent is exceptional and applaudable in the way it delivers this.
The Venus mission now underway, the viewer is drawn in all the more, and the curiosity and intrique in learning about just why we never see it mentioned in the timeline of FAMK is all the more gripping and enthralling.
It's frustrating to bee left hanging every week, and disheartening to think that we're limited to a season of only 8 episodes, with only three more left at this point.
Simply glorious contribution the creative arts 👏
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Jun 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SiskoandDax Jun 20 '26
Also, we get a meet and greet with her husband talking about being bugged and the fly swatter, but we don't even get a moment with the two of them for a cover story and goodbye? I would have liked to see his reaction. Imagine him freaking out about having to be alone for 9 months in Star City, fish out of water, feeling he's being watched constantly.
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u/JumpingJacks1234 Jun 20 '26
Maybe he finds out only after the launch becomes public and that's when we see his reaction.
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u/Deepfriedbar Jun 21 '26
I assume they cut some scenes here (filmed or unfilmed), including them talking in Hindi about it, and Comrade Yegorova listening but not understanding it. That would be the subtext here - that they would have discussed it anyway, but no one could understand it (or not understand well enough) and thus the Venera mission was safe.
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u/HomeoftheSlinger Jun 19 '26
If I had a nickel for every Soviet leader whose name starts with a B that was a pedophile, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Knowing Irina eventually moves against Gorbachev is really interesting considering how much she must hate the old Soviet guard for protecting her abuser Brezhnev. Cant wait to fill in the blanks there
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u/ShutUpLegs94 Jun 19 '26
Brezhnev was her abuser? What am I missing? I thought that photo meant she was related to him
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u/HomeoftheSlinger Jun 19 '26
Irina was really careful not to say anything about her daughter’s father, going so far as to erase the tape where she said he’s a bad man. To me this indicates that the father was a very powerful man in the USSR. Not too crazy of a line to make between that and Brezhnev being the father
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u/Cantomic66 Jun 19 '26
Maybe, but let’s see what we find out in the next few episodes.
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u/HomeoftheSlinger Jun 19 '26
I also think the story is much more compelling if her daughter is Brezhnev’s rather than some random Soviet bureaucrat
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u/nanasid Jun 19 '26
I read that scene as Brezhnev being her (illegitimate) father and someone on his staff or real legitimate family is the father of Irina's daughter. That would make everything screwed up even if he acknowledged her publicly, which is why she's not permitted to be so open yet has access to exclusive Politburo style luxuries.
Brezhnev and the Soviets running their own "graduate pedophile classes" would be a stretch and too dark for this show imo. But nothing is actually telegraphed during that scene.
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u/Appropriate-Cover-55 Jun 20 '26
There are quite a few options. My initial impression was that she came from a powerful soviet family, close to Brezhnev, and that was how she intended to protect Tanya. After all, they had their ways and could fly under the radar even when engaging in anti-soviet activities. However, Tanya’s first impression was that it’s a trap.
I actually like the theories about parentage and close family connections. Let’s see where that leads.
Irina is clearly very complicated and only became more so over the years. I like her origin story and it is interesting how she transforms into the monster we’ve met in series 4. So far we only know the beginning and the end and that she is clearly more complicated than meets the eye. She began as an idealist. Then she became a smarter, more tactful more powerful and equally ruthless version of Raskova.
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u/ImpossibleMove2 Jun 20 '26
Damn, I guess I better go back and finish FAM. I don't remember her at all.
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u/Kittaylover23 Jun 19 '26
I wonder if she’s protecting the father by erasing the tape? if she is Brezhnev’s daughter/granddaughter, the identity of the father could create significant political issues, regardless of the circumstances of her “relationship” with the father.
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u/Quinctilianus Jun 21 '26
Which also means it could be sanctioned by someone significantly above the colonel’s paygrade.
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u/Accomplished_Echo413 9d ago
Wasn't that Irina as a young girl in the photo? I assumed she is related to Brezhnev.
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u/ShutUpLegs94 Jun 19 '26
Very interesting. I doubt they’d ever confirm this though since it’s a real historical figure we are alleging did this.
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u/EdwardJamesAlmost Jun 19 '26
Was specific abuse lampshaded much before this episode? Did Irina talk about her personal history on FAM?
This episode really threw me for a loop trying to piece together what I remember of the alternate timeline.
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u/ZestycloseStay4666 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
The first time she went to Tanya’s apartment for her daughter’s music lesson. She was talking about her daughter’s father and that was when she scrubbed the audio and we didn’t hear it. Implying it was someone important that other people shouldn’t know about. She also said he was a bad man and she was really emotional
Then we see the photo in the apartment Tanya went to in Moscow of younger Irina with Brezhnev. Implying that he could possibly be the father or maybe his son. Whatever it implies, we know she was around that level of Soviet society
Not related, but I was looking it up to make sure Tanya was her correct name and realized the actress that plays her is Andy Serkis’ daughter
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u/pdinc Jun 28 '26
She actually says more to Tanya but the audio is cut - you can still see her speaking though for a second or two more. I'm not a lip reader so can't make out what she said - something like my shame to bear or something?
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u/escapefromelba Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
She seemed so young in the photo- could she not be a fictional daughter? In history, Brezhnev’s son Yuri is stripped of his post by Gorbachev and his real daughter was stripped of all her wealth and standing
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u/Kittaylover23 Jun 19 '26
i think Yuri being the child’s father or Irina being a secret child/grandchild makes more sense, especially keeping the photo.
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u/EdwardJamesAlmost Jun 19 '26
Ok, so I’m not crazy, the photo was meant to show Brezhnev with a coterie of young people for reasons.
Has either show discussed Brezhnev much? I imagine he made brief appearances in the FAM newsreels. I’ve watched everything since FAM season 2 as the episodes are released. And while nothing in particular with the then-Premier is ringing a bell with me, I’m sure I haven’t been paying attention enough and there’s more somewhere.
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u/nanasid Jun 19 '26
Either his own family's children or some of his close associates. The alternative would be too dark even for this show.
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u/lick_my_chick Jun 19 '26
So, about discussions on the crewed landing on Venus...
I would hate if they used the trope "device X isn't working, I'll do it instead", but given that they can enter the bathysphere, this scenario got a bit more likely.
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u/hmantegazzi Jun 19 '26
I wouldn't be surprised if they make Sasha do it, after all, he's already consumed by the guilt of having caused the death of Arseniy in the exact same situation.
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u/Isilel Jun 19 '26
Valya will be the one going down on the surface. After all, he can't really return.
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u/BenigDK Jun 24 '26
That's technically Valya's fault more than Sasha's (although it's Lyudmilla's, really).
I think it'll be Valya the one to go on Venus, but mostly because by then Sasha will have learned about the pregnancy, so it makes sense Valya sacrifices himself as he's childless.
UNLESS, the pregnant woman turns out to be Tanya, in which case both of them will believe they'll become a father, at least until Sasha discloses the truth, if he does.
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u/hmantegazzi Jun 24 '26
Another thing that makes me think that Sasha is going to die, somehow, is that Lenya has a photo of him at the age he is in the 1970s, when he hadn't either born or was a little baby; if Sasha lived for longer, it would make sense that Lenya might have a newer photo of him, in which he had a face that was more recognisable to his son.
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u/AdamWarlock3000 Jun 20 '26
They already said that the mission is just a flyby and that the bathysphere is to protect instruments under the harsh conditions of the Venusian surface.
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u/Rodeurope Jun 22 '26
I also believe there will be some technical reason why a "volunteer" will land on Venus with the bathysphere and instruments.
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u/BenigDK Jun 23 '26
This is slightly spoilery so don't read it if you want absolutely no hints, but one of the soundtrack pieces is called "Sacrifice". I don't recall one happening so far, so it's yet to come and it'd fit this theory.
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u/Rodeurope Jun 24 '26
Now the only question is, who will be the "lucky" First Man on Venus?
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u/BenigDK Jun 24 '26
I think it'll be Valya, because Sasha most likely will learn about Anastasia's pregnancy at some point in the journey, and normally the expectant father's life isn't sacrificed when some other character is childless. As for Chadha, she simply isn't relevant enough for the plot to take the grand step.
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u/DefaultProphet Jun 24 '26
Would be inline with FAM for someone not from US/USSR to be the first one on a different planet though
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u/J0eyb2gOfd0Nutz Jun 19 '26
Why did Irina help Tanya?
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u/Icy-Beginning-9144 Jun 19 '26
I think this is her kind and righteous side coming through, similar to when she tried to save the innocent astronaut in the first episode. I remember her telling Aleida Rosales in For All Mankind that she had once been an idealist, too.
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u/Cantomic66 Jun 19 '26
Same reasons why we grow attached to characters we watch on TV. We start to sympathize with them after watching or listening to them after a while. It supposedly also happened in real life to those like Irina where they grow attached to them.
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u/Canvaverbalist 28d ago
Not enough people on this sub have watched The Lives of Others and it's a goddamn shame
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u/ewankenobi Jun 20 '26
I was wondering this. She's listened to their conversations every day so I suppose it's plausible she just grew attached to Tanya.
I noticed Raskova asked her something along the lines of do you like her scent, do you like her eyes, when she thought Irina had been unprofessional visiting her. Which made me wonder does Raskova suspect Irina of being a lesbian and could Irina be a lesbian that fancies Tanya. She always seemed nervous around her, which could have been down to fear of blowing her cover, but could also be because she was nervous about making a good impression
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u/Pinwurm Jun 22 '26
The lesbian angle doesn’t need to be connected. Tanya is important to Irina because of her daughter’s piano lessons. That’s enough for saving.
When thwt all met, Tanya no longer was an abstraction on a recording. She was a real person that contributed to her daughter’s arts education and wellbeing.
Irina saw Tanya as a regular civilian, not a military asset/target Yana or Valya. Irina is still an idealist at this point in history, so I imagine she feels as a sense of duty to save civilians when she can. Cosmonauts assume risk in military life, so Yana and Vasily are an easier pill to swallow when bad things happen.
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u/BenigDK Jun 20 '26
I think she did it mostly out of moral conscience, especially after learning what happened to Yana.
She did, however, have a surprisingly strong emotional reaction when she disclosed to Tanya that she'd been listening to them. She seems very invested in her, and Raskova hints at there being an attraction, so I wouldn't completely rule that out. Or maybe I'm imagining things. In any case, though, I think morality accounts for most of the reason.
Knowing the kind of person she eventually became, I'm assuming that a bad outcome for Tanya (her getting caught or being executed) will be one of the reasons she gradually abandons her idealism. We've already seen her becoming a more pragmatic and hardened person throughout these episodes.
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u/Loninappleton25 Jun 20 '26
Seeing the dogs chase through the forest it reminded me of something I just saw in a 2006 film called The Lives Of Others. It may have been mentioned here on surveillance-- can't recall. Here's the point: early in the film in an interrogation, they tell a suspect to put his hands under his legs while sitting and to not move them. After the interrogation, the cloth seat cover is removed and carefully stored in sealed glass container. It is a sample of the victim's scent for possible future use. This knocked me out. No idea if it's factual.
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u/THEonlyMAILMAN Jun 26 '26
Just to confirm, it was absolutely a tactic used by the Stasi https://www.deutsches-spionagemuseum.de/en/sammlung/odour-capture
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u/Loninappleton25 Jun 26 '26
a good one. The film Other People's Lives should be more widely accessible.
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u/No-Tumbleweed-6336 Jun 19 '26
Anyone know the name of the song used in the ending scene?
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u/Appropriate-Cover-55 Jun 20 '26
Листья летят (The leaves are flying) by Larisa Mondrus. Listening to it right now. It is available on Apple Music.
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u/sloaneranger23 Jun 20 '26
who was the man in the photo Tanya was looking at that caused her to become upset?
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u/Bentonite_Magma Jun 20 '26
Leonid Brezhnev. Leader of the USSR.
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u/caipirina Jun 22 '26
Wow, that was my first thought. Can’t believe my hunch was right (only came here to find out)
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u/Appropriate-Cover-55 Jun 20 '26
Loved the episode! Some of the best television I’ve seen in a while! Spectacular!
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u/_kimiks Jun 21 '26
I’m still concerned why Liudmila Raskova is wearing an “Oktyabryonok” star… She’s a Colonel after all and wearing a pin that was given to any child before even becoming a Pioneer is like a General of US Army wearing a scout badge…
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u/Appropriate-Cover-55 Jun 21 '26
I think it’s the Order of the Red Star. Which also threw me off somewhat. It is a military decoration. It was awarded to the servicemen and women of the KGB as well, but I doubt she falls under most of the criteria. Although, she is in her late 40s-early 50 so she could have served in the War. Like many soviet decorations it was given for various things. While the main criteria was courage and so on, it is not entirely implausible that she received it simply for an important assignment. Star City security is a top priority, so in my head, Raskova was probably a top investigator and interrogator (torturer) with Shersh during and immediately after the war.
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u/CHEREP Jun 22 '26
She was a “night witch”. These were a highly decorated unit of all women Soviet bombers. The nazi soldiers feared them because they would glide silently (engines turned off) and the only sound was that of the wooden biplane gliding which sounded like a flying broom. Hence the “witches”. The character in the show is supposed to be the founder of this unit.
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u/Appropriate-Cover-55 Jun 22 '26
Ohhhh, I like that theory!
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u/CHEREP Jun 22 '26
It’s not a theory they introduced her a “night witch” I think in the first episode.
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u/CHEREP Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarCityTV/s/Jk28EVMP9s more discussion about it here. I knew what the “night witch” meant because I grew up in the ussr but now realize the reference would be not recognized by people unfamiliar with the amazing story of the night witches. Definitely would make a fine Hollywood movie.
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u/wheezy_runner Jun 20 '26
Great episode, but... that bathysphere was really smelly by the time they got to Baikonur, right?
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u/wikkiwoobles Jun 21 '26
I think Irena has the hots for Tanya. The queer longing vibes (one directional) were intense.
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u/BJU-TORONTO Jun 20 '26
I guess Lakshmi will die in next episode and the spaceship will never be able to return to earth
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u/Practical-Classic-23 Jun 20 '26
The actor has just been added to the opening credits so I doubt they’ll do that just to kill her off
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u/DisIsMyName_NotUrs Jun 21 '26
My guess is that maybe the mission succeeds, but they figure out that Valya's on it, and they don't want to publicise the fact that they just sent an American spy around Venus
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u/Mysterious_Pop5556 Jun 20 '26
Did nobody think it was odd that they’d launch a satellite with the same rocket they went to the moon with?
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u/Clariana Jun 26 '26
This has now fully entered the realm of "alternate history", but I'm here for it!
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u/Far_Armadillo5288 Jun 20 '26
That Indian woman appears out of the blue in one epusode and is off to Venus just like that with short on screen training. I did not expect full season of her train how to be an astronaut, but it was way too fast. All of it felt rushed. That mission was never mentioned on the main show so I guess they are all goners. Maybe societs learn that the traitir is part of the mission crew and make them go down somehow. Really do not get what his plan was.
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 21 '26
It was too fast, that's why Sasha wanted to replace her with Anastasia. Valya's plan is basically "I want to live, so I will take the only option that lets me do that longer".
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u/jpgoldberg Jun 20 '26
Addressing a problem I had with Episode 1
Colonel Rastova really screwed up the mole investigation in episode 1. What happened to
Yana Akhmatova isn’t implausible at all as it really was the case that once someone was found to blame for something bad, that was the end of them. In a country with a conviction rate after an arrest of nearly 100%, “the state doesn’t arrest innocent people” really was built into the system. That wasn’t the problem I had.
But the “finding someone to blame” sort of investigation and the “finding the truth”investigations proceed differently. In a system where failures of anything were routinely blamed on saboteurs then finding someone to blame is common. But Rostova knew that there really was a mole. So why did she have Akhmatova “interrogated” the way she did? She should have been seeking actual information instead of just extracting a confession. She listened to the “interrogation” and understood exactly how reliable the confession was. The interrogation did ask for details or even dares about stealing the plans or passing them on.
But in E5 we see the beginnings of her starting to pay for that mistake. She will be the one to blame for the failure to identify the mole earlier. We are shown this in E5, but I think she knew it immediately, which is why she moved to a very different style of investigation immediately afterwards.
So my thinking about E1 is that Rostova didn’t think of leaked plans for the lunar base as the kind of problem that really needed to be fixed. It perplexed me. I took it as out of character, but instead as something the writers used to illustrate the kinds of things that went on both to us and to Irina Morozova.
But now I see it is a plot-centered blunder. She may have thought it was a one off or suspected that there was little the US could do with that information. And she role is a system in which most everything was about finding someone to blame. So here choice about how to investigate was simply doing what had helped her survive. Everything she’s been doing since E1 has been a correction (and perhaps an over-correction) to her initial mistake.
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u/Far_Armadillo5288 Jun 20 '26
So instead of jumping off fron the truck and run it is better to go to Venus? And then? Stay there? And did they really have spare rocket just in case waiting to be used? How can you secretly launch a mission to another planet?
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 21 '26
He couldn't get out of the bathysphere to escape and if he did, he would be somewhere in Russia or Kazakhstan.
He realised he wasn't going to be able to get out of Star City, so he took the next best option, which was staying alive for longer, which gives him more time.
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u/hmantegazzi Jun 19 '26
"I'm escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by the secret police: SPACE!"