S03.E09: Coming Home

[paulvdb]

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Plans to leave Mars are complicated by an unforeseen issue.

Premiere date: August 5, 2022

[KarenX]

Loved the episode! Yay, Ellen! I was so proud of her refusal to sign a bill she didn’t like and her refusing to be blackmailed by secrets.

I found Dev’s speech about what would have happened if the British colonists gave up early and went home a little tone deaf/oblivious. Not surprised that Dev would be tone deaf but not sure if the show writers thought they were inspiring the audience, too.

European and British colonists giving up early and going home was not a terrible possible outcome, historically speaking. The whole speech bugged me.

[Tuggy]

I am so glad for Ellen (And Will, also, his embrace with his colleague was very moving)!! She finally takes the chance to control her narrative and get ahead of everyone! I am really looking forward to seeing how this plays out in the longer run. And man, what a speech!

I also quite liked the timelapse of the digging, it was really well done visually speaking. Even though the time jump did prevent us from getting important developments, I was not really annoyed by it, without knowing precisely why. Would it be that my expectations for this show are lowering?

And even if the Aleida story has been neglected a lot during the whole series, I found that this episode took the time to flesh her investigation. Her interactions with her former boss at NASA really helped getting a better feeling of her thought process. Not a huge fan of the scene with the FBI woman but I am willing to forget it.

I was genuinely surprised by the cliffhanger, even though I should know better by now. I find this new development both exciting (what's going to happen!) and a bit old (close to what happened on the Moon). So I'm waiting for what the writers have in store there.

And of course, Danny... For a moment, I almost thought that they had decided to use the time jump to revert him to a decent person :-/

[xaxat]

Although I enjoyed the episode, I really could do without the Mars Baby plot. Ever since she was a teenager, Kelly has been portrayed as perhaps the most responsible character on the show. It feels totally out of character for her to be having sex on a years long mission without contraceptives and condoms.

That was wrong of Ed to let Nick take the fall for the drilling accident. He has to at least suspect that his decision to put a drug impaired Danny on comms played a role.

Totally understand Aleida's conflict about what to do about Margo. She is the entire reason for her career and is the one who sent her to the moon.

I kind of assumed that their alt U version of Jamestown had a different history than the one in our universe which was a total shitshow.

[marinw]

4 hours ago, KarenX said:

Loved the episode! Yay, Ellen! I was so proud of her refusal to sign a bill she didn’t like and her refusing to be blackmailed by secrets.

That was great. And a shrewd political move when you think about it.

4 hours ago, KarenX said:

I found Dev’s speech about what would have happened if the British colonists gave up early and went home a little tone deaf/oblivious

The main difference is that Mars has no indigenous people to colonized and exploit. That we know about. But now we have at least one North Korean! That was a GREAT twist I did not see coming. Who else is on Mars?

3 hours ago, Tuggy said:

I also quite liked the timelapse of the digging, it was really well done visually speaking.

I have always liked the way FAM does time jumps/lapses. It really moved things along.

3 hours ago, Tuggy said:

And even if the Aleida story has been neglected a lot during the whole series, I found that this episode took the time to flesh her investigation.

I really felt for Aleida. She is truly in an impossible situation.

I have very stupid question: Why can't Phoenix send things down to Happy Valley? I'm sure that was explained but I must have missed it.

I sadly kind of knew that Martian Baby was in trouble. Because of gravity. And radiation. And the enormous stress Kelly is under. And Mars in general.

It's the last episode of the season next week!!! I'm not ready for this season to end! This season has its issues (Danny continues to suck) but this is the most engrossing "Hard" SciFi show I've seen since The Expanse. (I love the various Star Treks to varying degrees, but ST is doing something different than FAM and The Expanse).

Edited August 5, 2022 by marinw

[marinw]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

That was wrong of Ed to let Nick take the fall for the drilling accident. He has to at least suspect that his decision to put a drug impaired Danny on comms played a role.

Everyone is stuck with Danny until they Return to Earth, so it kind of makes sence to blame poor Nick. I'm sure Ed has his suspicions.

[katysax]

I expect Danny to die in the last episode-not a spoiler total speculation. If the show stays true to form, he’ll die doing something heroic that will save the rest of the crew. 

I’m not surprised at what I Ellen did. The scene with Pam last week made it her only option. 

[chocolatine]

Is it possible that the North Koreans quietly got to Mars before everyone else, so the entire NASA/Helios/Soviet "who will get there first?" spectacle was moot?

[CarpeFelis]

16 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Is it possible that the North Koreans quietly got to Mars before everyone else, so the entire NASA/Helios/Soviet "who will get there first?" spectacle was moot?

I’m wondering the same thing.

So Danny apparently never let on that he was the one at the comm during the disaster, not Nick. I wonder if he’ll ever own up to it.

There’s one thing about this season that continues to bug me. Karen should be in at least her mid-50s by this point and the aging makeup they’ve done on her is not very realistic. Sure, they’ve given her gray streaks and a few forehead wrinkles. But nobody her age is going to still have that perfectly smooth neck and sharp jawline without plastic surgery. Ellen, too, doesn’t really look any older than she did in season 1 which was a couple of decades earlier except for some subtle forehead wrinkles.

Edited August 6, 2022 by CarpeFelis
typo

[Cramps]

Hated the North Korean twist. Nowhere have we ever been told in this alternative universe that NK is advanced enough to have already gotten a man to the mars. 

[marinw]

2 hours ago, Cramps said:

Hated the North Korean twist. Nowhere have we ever been told in this alternative universe that NK is advanced enough to have already gotten a man to the mars. 

I liked this twist because NK is last nation one would expect to make it to Mars, in both the FAMverse or in ours.

Edited August 6, 2022 by marinw

[Goldfish77]

4 hours ago, Cramps said:

Hated the North Korean twist. Nowhere have we ever been told in this alternative universe that NK is advanced enough to have already gotten a man to the mars. 

I seem to remember them mentioning earlier in the season that NK sent a probe to Mars that disappeared 

[watch2much]

16 hours ago, marinw said:

Everyone is stuck with Danny until they Return to Earth, so it kind of makes sence to blame poor Nick. I'm sure Ed has his suspicions.

judging by the expressions on all the crews faces, they all suspect Danny.  Not only did Danny ruin this mission but also possible future exploration.  

[jcin617]

59 minutes ago, watch2much said:

judging by the expressions on all the crews faces, they all suspect Danny.  Not only did Danny ruin this mission but also possible future exploration.  

They did all have that “He doth protest too much.” look on their faces…

[wmdekooning]

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It feels totally out of character for (Kelly) to be having sex on a years long mission without contraceptives and condoms.

Since the show falls on soap opera tropes, then Kelly has to get pregnant.  The NASA astronauts should have had some sort of semi-permanent contraceptive (both women and since we’re in an alternate timeline, men).

<quote>Hated the North Korean twist. Nowhere have we ever been told in this alternative universe that NK is advanced enough to have already gotten a man to the mars. </quote>
 

I imagine the No. Koreans sent the astronaut in this “probe” and didn’t care whether he lived or not. There are speculations he may have been recently resurrected from some sort of technology that would allow him to survive. My thoughts are it may not even need to be the industry standard “suspended animation”, just placing him in a coma like they do in certain current medical conditions would be fine…

[KarenX]

I rewatched the end, to see Ellen’s speech and the North Korean again.

Margot gets very thoughtful during her speech. I think she is inspired by Ellen’s bravery, and her unwillingness to let fear of secrets affect future actions.

This was an episode about letting/not letting other people take the fall for you.
SPECULATION: I am certain the Russian delegation is confident they control Margot. If Margot spills the beans, comes forward, they lose that control. I don’t believe Margot will let Aleida take the fall for anything Margot has done. The show has always pointed out how smart Margot is. I think she’ll find some version of win-win.

I think Danny will clear Nick’s name somehow, too.

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

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Everyone is stuck with Danny until they Return to Earth, so it kind of makes sence to blame poor Nick. I'm sure Ed has his suspicions.

No only that, but as was pointed out by the other astronauts, he's dead so there isn't much more that can happen to him.  I suppose they could sue his estate but there probably isn't much there.  I think it makes things cleaner for Helios:  "The responsible party is dead, there is nothing else for us to do"

[Joimiaroxeu]

Ed listening to Kelly's baby's heartbeat was sweet. Meanwhile, have we ever seen Karen's reaction to the news of her impending grandchild?

Yeah, recording the Oval Office conversations never made any sense to me. But knowing the recorders were running, why say stuff that could potentially wreck you either politically or legally? Who would that have ever benefited other than your enemies?

I didn't realize Dev doesn't own Helios. His being replaced by Karen as CEO doesn't sit right with me.

IMO Aleida should have left the Margo & Russians thing alone. What did she think would happen after she told Bill? He wasn't trying to risk being deemed a co-conspirator by keeping his mouth shut.

Danny lucks out again, though it looks like the karma bus might be finally heading his way. What was that investigation based on? If he was questioned about what happened he must have lied.

It wasn't believable to me that Larry called a WH press conference and didn't have a speech prepared. He really didn't want to be up there trying to wing it. Whatever, Ellen falling on her sword for him (and their son) by coming out was incredible. And Will Tyler receiving his vindication with such emotion was a powerful moment.

Poor Kelly. They're probably going to have to give her an emergency C-section. But is the baby far enough long to survive because they likely don't have an incubator handy. Maybe Danny can MacGyver one. 🙄

USA, Russia, North Korea about to have an international incident on Mars. Of course. Wait until Dani and her Russian counterpart realize the NK guy was on Mars before they were.

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I kind of assumed that their alt U version of Jamestown had a different history than the one in our universe which was a total shitshow.

And that Native Americans don't exist in this alternate universe. Regardless, Dev has always seemed to me like a pro-manifest destiny kind of guy, and Mars is the new frontier.

[chocolatine]

6 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I didn't realize Dev doesn't own Helios.

The chairman of the board mentioned stock prices being in free fall, so Helios is a publicly traded company.

[Hanahope]

I’m not sure NK has been there that long.  Didn’t they say the NK probe was a month ago? Kelly is like 5 months?  
 

impressed they are able to save the lam and make fuel.  I guess they always expected a slow process?  
 

way to combine the scandals of Nixon and Clinton.  I guess Reagan wasn’t the saint here, but Nixon was?  Lol

looks like Ellen’s admission took the sails out of Larry’s affair.  

[paramitch]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:54 AM, KarenX said:

I found Dev’s speech about what would have happened if the British colonists gave up early and went home a little tone deaf/oblivious. Not surprised that Dev would be tone deaf but not sure if the show writers thought they were inspiring the audience, too.

European and British colonists giving up early and going home was not a terrible possible outcome, historically speaking. The whole speech bugged me.

It bugged me too! It was incredibly tone-deaf. I mean, what, yay, colonialism? Grr.

On 8/5/2022 at 1:47 PM, xaxat said:

Although I enjoyed the episode, I really could do without the Mars Baby plot. Ever since she was a teenager, Kelly has been portrayed as perhaps the most responsible character on the show. It feels totally out of character for her to be having sex on a years long mission without contraceptives and condoms.

I agree with this as well. I also hate that Kelly was this really brave, smart, interesting character who has now been reduced to a "pregnant woman/womb in peril" trope. So tiring. Especially when I do not believe Kelly would be this stupid. Above all else, given her circumstances, I would think she would have been INCREDIBLY careful not to get pregnant. Sheesh.

On 8/6/2022 at 12:00 AM, CarpeFelis said:

There’s one thing about this season that continues to bug me. Karen should be in at least her mid-50s by this point and the aging makeup they’ve done on her is not very realistic. Sure, they’ve given her gray streaks and a few forehead wrinkles. But nobody her age is going to still have that perfectly smooth neck and sharp jawline without plastic surgery. Ellen, too, doesn’t really look any older than she did in season 1 which was a couple of decades earlier except for some subtle forehead wrinkles.

This seems to be a Ronald D. Moore show thing, because he did the same thing on Outlander (before I noped out permanently in season 4 I think) -- I mean, after a certain

Spoiler

major time skip, Catriona Balf's character has supposedly aged 20 years

and she looks exactly the same except for a few artful streaks of gray. It's hilarious.