For All Mankind S2 got a Feb release date! I am really holding out hope for more wlw content in Ellen’s storyline (hopefully with Pam)! That S1 finale gives me hope that they may focus *something on them. Just wanted to share haha :)

Ah, nice, that’s not far off then! Time suddenly seems to have really sped up and now we’re almost at the end of 2020. o_o 

Yes, I’m definitely expecting more for Ellen, they wouldn’t have done so much with her at the end of s1 if they weren’t going to expand on that, right. Can’t highlight how unjust and sad it was and then be like, welp, back to Reagan. And actually, given that President AIDS is back in the picture, and Larry…it’s going to be relevant. 

I’m not sure, now, how I want the relationship with Pam handled. If they rekindled something in the timeskip, great, but I don’t want them to just be in love for 10 years, apart, and only back in each other’s lives because the camera’s back on and it’s time to pick up certain arcs. In that case, I’d almost prefer them having moved on to other people who they’re happy with. …though it would be super romantic, heh. I’ll just wait and and see.

if Away will be affected when filming control room scenes, wouldn’t it be the same for For All Mankind too? I think they stopped filming because of covid

Yes, but it probably makes a huge difference that FAM stopped with just a couple of episodes left, compared to a show that has the full season left to shoot AND write. Whatever concessions FAM were going to make for covid, it’d have to work with the plot already written and the eps already shot. Most of what they needed would already have been rented or bought and planned out for and in weighing what to do, they’d have to take into account that the bulk of the season was already done, as opposed to not started at all. As a bunch of renewed shows not yet taping found out when they had the renewal rescinded. And as a matter of fact, I think FAM’s already gone back and finished shooting the leftover eps.

Considering Away s2 hasn’t even been written yet, they’ll have to make wholesale changes from the very start. FAM might have, for example, removed a scene here or some people there, but Away won’t even write them in to begin with. 

In for all mankind 1×06, when Pam asked “does that scare you?” And Ellen replies, “no” I didn’t understand Pam’s reaction to that.. would you be so kind to explain it from your perspective?

Sure! I can offer my interpretation. 

So, this scene starts off with Ellen having gotten anxious enough about the FBI investigation into Larry to voice her fears and frustration and suggest they take a break, right. When they’re talking about it being a phase, I don’t think Ellen even thinks that, she just grabs onto it in the middle of their argument as a possible escape, a fantasy, because otherwise this FBI thing, in one way or another, is her whole life. She originally sat up to resolve this unease by either being reassured or instigating a breakup, whichever way it ends up going.

When she says that she feels like a different person with Pam, she means it in the sense that, oh, this is “normal”  me and now this is the dangerous part that likes a woman at all. She’s just talking about sexuality. But Pam means it in the sense that there’s the regular non-loving Ellen part and the loving-Ellen part as the two different versions of her, she doesn’t just mean sexuality, she’s narrowing it to Ellen specifically, making it suddenly deeper and more romantic and like, signaling a shift in their relationship, something more meaningful and committed and long-term. She knows that’s clear to Ellen too and kind of challenges Ellen, considering the conversation they’re having, if that scares her and Ellen’s “no” means, on some level, accepting that shift, instead of pulling away. So it’s a big step forward for them and Pam is, I think, emotional and pleased about it.

I finally watched for all mankind! Now I’m just left with all these feelings like that finale. I saw all your gifs and posts but still wasn’t prepared lol What are you hoping for next season?

Ah, yay! Didn’t the trajectory of the season really build up to so much drama and action and rooting for everyone in these amazing absurd space stunts! It started off kind of dryly political (and super male-centric) and then was just like, Armageddon time. The way the show SHIFTED after the second ep and then built up to these female heroes. :> It was so emotional at the end, I still don’t know how to fit in some of the last ep’s stuff into gifs, but I want to! Ellen’s final jump…

Hmmm, for next season, tbh, I hope we get more than what we saw in the trailer. Somehow events in this alt timeline changing but changing so much they cancel themselves out and we STILL get a damn cold war, but in space? I don’t want that to be the main part of s2, I’m hoping it’s a fakeout like the first two eps of s1 and actually s2 will be mostly about something else. I mean, I know that the competition against the Russians has been the impetus behind much of the changes in the timeline but hopefully things have changed enough that they can continue on their own. I hope there are all kinds of equal rights movements that get a head start, for sure I want Ellen to be happy, ideally with Pam. I want more POC because there should be, the talent’s always been there and much of the point of the alt timeline is to do what we didn’t.

It’s tough, I do get that they have to balance so much, the full show’s arc with a seasonal arc with episodic arcs with character arcs. They can’t do too much or too little at once, different people will be doing different things and have different new dynamics with other people. I just–I guess my biggest hope is that it stays more hopeful than cynical. 🙂

What do you hunks in store for Pam and Ellen next season?

Well, I’m not sure! So much will depend on how the timeskip was handled. 10 years will have passed since where we left them and I don’t know if the show will have decided they get back together when Ellen comes back down or they spent all that time apart. 

Assuming that Pam is of course even in next season, I think she and Ellen will still be narratively circling each other, whatever other love interests each might have had in between. As much as I want them to have gotten together, I feel like the incredible sadness of them having spent the 10 years apart might may be glossed over for the increased dramatic value of a reunion onscreen. It’s easy to write that kind of pain when you don’t even have to show it.

For that same narrative value reason, I don’t think Ellen will have come out offscreen so there’s scope for that to happen this season. It would definitely be too early in terms of realism but this show is all about taking little things and making them into sweeping progress and I can see them turning the coming out of someone as wholesome and all American and popular as Ellen into an LGBT milestone and speeding up their acceptance. Surely their world isn’t going to wait till 2015 for gay marriage? 

I’m just not sure, I try to veer between what I want vs logic based on what we’ve seen and what the natural next step would be vs realistic pessimism, considering what we usually end up getting.

Hi! Wondering if you’ve seen/your thoughts on the For All Mankind S2 Teaser that was just released!

Hey! Yep, I saw it last night while making the gifset I just posted and was like, does this affect it in any way? …nah. 😛

In case anyone wants to see it:

I guess my biggest takeaways are:

  • lol at them using Sweet Dreams as a backing track
  • they’re really going all-in on the timeskip, everyone’s been aged up
  • I’m glad all the people I liked are there, excepting Pam, although obviously the lack of her in the teaser doesn’t mean anything, Larry wasn’t there either and there was hardly any of Ellen (but she’s still leading missions? Yay!). Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, there’s a lot of Molly but I feel almost nervous, if that means a sendoff or just a lot of her. Also don’t think I saw Aleida?
  • Booooo, Reagan
  • I guess we need some kind of conflict to continue to push the premise of the show, that our program is pushed by competition with Russia or China or somebody and not just for the ideal of progress, but I’m not sure whole gunfights on the moon are where I wanted to go with this

I’m excited but nervous!