S01.E08: Flight

[formerlyfreedom]

After Shepard’s dramatic voyage to space, he feels underwhelmed and restless. Heeding Glenn’s advice, Shepard attempts to quell his ambition with gratitude for his wife and children. While Shepard’s marriage somehow remains intact, Gordo and Trudy’s may never recover. Meanwhile, when JFK publicly issues a challenge for NASA to send a man to the moon, Glenn’s drive to top Shepard is reignited.

Season finale. Dropping Friday, November 20, 2020.

 

[Haleth]

Meh. The movie was better. 

[Runningwild]

Barely made it through this episode (and the series).  I’m a big fan of the movie and this series was so boring and really didn’t have show any of the astronauts as nice people. 

[formerlyfreedom]

I actually really enjoyed the series quite a bit. I rewatched the movie last night (I barely remembered any of it frankly), and I think the show did a better job of fleshing out a few of the characters. I definitely take it all with a very large grain of salt, of course, but I really enjoyed the series more. I found Jake McDorman’s version of Shepherd to be unlikeable but believable. And Colin O’Donahue’s Gordo Cooper was so much more intriguing to me then Dennis Quaid’s version. All personal opinion, of course. YMMV.

[laugard]

I watched the entire series and just found it to be meh as well. Just very bland. I don't need my protagonists to be heroes, so seeing the characters flaws and weaknesses highlighted wasn't the problem for me. And I'm fine with quiet shows that aren't just about dramatic sequences or not knowing the outcome. The show just didn't seem to have a good sense of focus within the greater story. I was looking forward to this as I like a lot of the actors and the original movie. I even enjoyed the Astronaut Wives show that was on a few years ago. (It was soapy, but at least entertaining and knew what stories it wanted to tell.) But this production tried to sometimes feel documentary style and then tv drama and never moved the story along in a compelling or engaging way for me. It was just...there.

[Kktjones]

2 hours ago, laugard said:

I watched the entire series and just found it to be meh as well. Just very bland. I don't need my protagonists to be heroes, so seeing the characters flaws and weaknesses highlighted wasn't the problem for me. And I'm fine with quiet shows that aren't just about dramatic sequences or not knowing the outcome. The show just didn't seem to have a good sense of focus within the greater story. I was looking forward to this as I like a lot of the actors and the original movie. I even enjoyed the Astronaut Wives show that was on a few years ago. (It was soapy, but at least entertaining and knew what stories it wanted to tell.) But this production tried to sometimes feel documentary style and then tv drama and never moved the story along in a compelling or engaging way for me. It was just...there.

I think your description of "bland" pretty much sums it up. I did like that they tried to flesh the astronauts out a bit, but I would have liked to have seen more of the 7 bonding while training and preparing. Like tell us why they chose Shepard and Grissom for the first two to go up. I had heard that Deke and Gus were best friends - let's see more of that. More of the actual NASA stuff. Show us how risky this was and how that translated to them having the "right stuff". I believe they will get a second season, so I hope they can punch it up and make it more compelling.

[foxfreakinmulder]

I enjoyed it and hope there will be a season 2. I don't remember the movie I haven't seen it in so long so that's probably why I could enjoy the series. My dream car is that red and white corvette parked at the Motel, if I ever won big money that would be one of my purchases. So please Publishers Clearing House bring me my big check!