Having watched S1 with no expectations, I approached Season 2 with more of an idea of what I was in for this time. But once again I was wrong (in a good way).
Things got off to a bit of a slow start - but that’s mostly because time has passed and they need to set up the new layout of this parallel timeline.
All things considered there are probably areas that could be improved, (and some unnecessary drama along the way tbf) but overall I think they do a masterful job of introducing new ideas, while still hewing very close to actual historical events.
For All Mankind is walking along a tight rope of history, keeping things as close to reality as possible while also extrapolating a whole new future - and the possibilities of that concept are what make the show so good. By the last few episodes I was on the edge of my seat. That slow setup paid off in a big way. Wow. Really.
Once again this show has surprised me. There’s a whole big future out there, and I can’t wait for the next season.
Would definitely recommend persevering through the occasional lull if you’re at all interested in space travel. It’s worth it for that last shot alone.
Jason Momoa really shines in this, and as numerous people have said, the cinematography is just stunning. Overall I found it to be an interesting premise, thought out to enough of a degree to result in a suitable suspension of disbelief on some of the more borderline aspects of the show. It's an ambitious concept, and told from a difficult perspective, so I’m really impressed with what they managed to do with it.
The basic backstory is that several generations ago a virus wiped out a large portion of humanity, and left the rest blind. For me it was entirely logical that there would be a certain amount of societal regression, if only because a great reduction in population is always going to have a massive effect in the way the world operates, especially when previously sighted people now have to come to grips with life as a blind person. It makes sense that a great deal would have been lost in the initial chaos, and the remainder wiped away by time. But overall, that doesn’t particularly matter, because the show doesn’t focus itself on the past, and obsessing about the how’s and why’s of everything would have just unnecessarily bogged down the central story.
I enjoyed the acting, the characters, the story, some of the clever intuitive ways in which people have learned to cope without sight, even taking into account the subtle enhanced abilities that the populace has developed. But what I really loved was how able the blind characters are. Baba Voss is a force to be reckoned with, and the story never makes the characters seem like they’re somehow lesser just because they lack sight.
The society that has built up in the aftermath of the virus is fiercely capable, and intricate, and compelling, and often quite brutal. It’s a very entertaining show, though the more aesthetic elements do have a certain element of irony to them, and I remain unconvinced on the continued use of clothing dyes in a post-sight society, I though the majority of it was handled really well.
To those who find the occasional little inconsistencies upsetting - eh, fair enough, don’t watch it. I’ll just sit over here and continue to enjoy the show for what it is.
I wasn't expecting to love it this much when I first started watching. But it was just so clever, and every aspect of it, from the acting, and the direction styles, to the cinematography, and the amazing soundtrack (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross are hard to beat), was just so beautifully and precisely crafted to serve the story. The writing in this show genuinely excellent, and often multilayered in its delivery - in particular "She Was Killed By Space Junk", and "A God Walks Into Abar" are especially magnificent.
If you aren't familiar with the Watchmen universe on some level, then it's true, you'll miss some of the references and double meanings that really elevate the show. However I do also think that it's possible to watch it without any prior knowledge, as the show throws everyone into the deep end - fans and newcomers alike, and reveals the state of the world and the characters that occupy it in small increments. If there's something that the audience needs to know, you just have to have a little patience, and a healthy dose of curiosity, and trust that the writers will reveal the necessary information at the right moment. But it's worth sticking around for.
That said, it probably won't be for everyone, and there will undoubtedly be people who find some aspects of it offensive. And that's fair enough. But I will say that while the show is often unflinching in its delivery, it rarely feels gratuitous.
It's true, I'm firmly in the contingent of those who enjoy this type of story, and I'd been looking forward to watching this for a while, but the quality of Watchmen took me by surprise (and I can be quite critical of these things). The story is peculiar (sometimes downright bizarre), and delightful, and fast paced (but then also occasionally meandering), and often unsettling. But providing you like your stories a little weird, there's plenty to stick around for, and Watchmen has some of the best writing I've ever seen in television. I can't recommend it enough.
