Pop Culture Advent 2023: Door 15
For All Mankind
Behind Door 15 is a guest post from Hazel Chandler, co-host of the Nerdfest podcast and really lovely human. She nominates Apple TV’s For All Mankind, and in particular, its most latest season. Here’s what Hazel had to say about it:
2023 saw the release of the fourth season of For All Mankind, a show I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. It’s an alternate history drama, and it all started with the question, “What would have happened if the Russians had won the space race?”
The fictional answer is, well, a lot. The space race never ends. Firstly it’s about the moon and “the race to the base”. Then it’s about who can set foot on Mars the fastest. In the latest season, it’s all about mining an asteroid and which governments get the biggest piece of the pie.
Political appointments change (hello President Gore), technological improvements occur on a much faster timescale, and, in what is probably the best part of the narrative, the timeline for equality amongst genders and sexuality is front and centre.
It’s an Apple TV show, so you can count on the special effects budget being out of this world. But the most impressive thing about this show is the character driven writing. Even when the characters are literally in the middle of nowhere, drifting into deeper space, the focus on the people never drifts one bit.
Thanks Hazel, i’ll definitely be adding that to my watch list!
For All Mankind can be streamed on Apple TV.
Hazel’s podcast, Nerdfest, drops a new epsiode every fornight and can be found here and on other streaming services.
