For All Mankind 3.3-3.4: The Race

Catching up with a double review of For All Mankind on Apple TV+ -- episodes 3.3 and 3.4 -- which started as a pretty good espionage story in and of itself, and catapulted into one of the most exciting out in space episodes of the series.  Before I warn you about spoilers, I've gotta say that the verisimilitude of this series -- fancy word for realism -- makes you, or at least me, feel like I'm really out there way off this planet.

[Ok, here's the Spoilers advisory.]

Episode 3.3, as I said, is an excellent spy drama, in which Margot gets sucked into being blackmailed by the Soviets to give them all kinds of essential information about our NASA space program.  We see her in a deepening, almost romantic relationship with her Soviet counterpart -- whom she's been giving some information to, for the benefit of all mankind -- but right before the two can consummate their romance, she's greeted by Soviet KGB tough guys, who say they'll kill her almost lover, unless she plays ball, i.e., gives them much more info, especially about our Mars mission.

The result sets up episode 3.4 quite effectively: a three-way race to Mars, with Helios, NASA, and the Soviets all launching missions to Mars at the same time,  The race is on.

The missions are dangerous, because, of course, they're all being done for the first time,  And as we've seen before with For All Mankind, this superb alternate history series isn't afraid to show that major lives can be lost in our pursuit of ever wider vistas off Earth,

I'm enjoying this third season immensely, and I'll see you back here next week with my review of the next episode.

See also For All Mankind 3.1: The Alternate Reality Progresses ... 3.2: D-Mail

And see also For All Mankind, Season 1 and Episode 2.1: Alternate Space Race Reality ... For All Mankind 2.2: The Peanut Butter Sandwich ... For All Mankind 2.3: "Guns to the Moon" ... For All Mankind 2.4: Close to Reality ... For All Mankind 2.5: Johnny and the Wrath of Kahn ... For All Mankind 2.6: Couplings ... For All Mankind 2.7: Alternate History Surges ... For All Mankind 2.8: Really Lost in Translation ... For All Mankind 2.9: Relationships ... For All Mankind 2.10: Definitely Not the End

get the paperback or Kindle of this alternate history here

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*** Note added 27 October 2023:  Check out my review of Jack Dann's new book, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History