The Stars Come Out

For All Mankind -- a show I absolutely raved about in its first and second seasons -- just came off its fifth and arguably weakest season. Less arguable: the alternate history show has been losing steam whenever it has drifted more into colonial allegory and away from space exploration. It feels like a show that really needs to get back to its roots for its upcoming final season.

Ironically, getting back to the show's roots is the elevator pitch for what's going on over on Star City. This spin-off series rewinds the clock to the first crewed moon landing of 1969 -- in this universe achieved by the Soviet Union, rather than the Americans. Star City also follows how the world unfolds differently under these alternate circumstances -- this time, from the Soviet perspective. But that simple description doesn't tell the full story of Star City. At least, not unless you immediately think very deeply about what "the Soviet perspective" might be.

Star City feels like a gritty Cold War thriller -- John le Carré by way of Dostoevsky. It's a show that zigs at almost every opportunity where For All Mankind zagged. Where the parent show filled in the space around outer space with family drama, the spin-off fills it with tense, paranoia-driven espionage. Where Mankind serves up a pristine digital picture, Star City is made to look like a grainy film print perhaps only recently dug up from some archive. Where Mankind fills out its cast of characters with civilians near the space program, Star City does so with the KGB operatives spying on their own people to keep everyone in line.

Nor is Star City content to simply retell major events of For All Mankind from a new point of view. Much of season one centers on previously unknown events in this alternate timeline. This deftly allows viewers to come onto this new show even if they haven't seen the first, and keeps fans of the original from knowing exactly where the new story is headed.

The acting is tightly restrained on this show, in keeping with the Cold War Soviet setting. Thus, it's harder to praise compared to many TV shows where the characters are showy and outwardly emotional. Still, there's solid work here from many performers. Rhys Ifans is the "chief designer" of the Soviet space program, and is no stranger to this sort of "palace intrigue" after House of the Dragon. Anna Maxwell Martin plays a delightfully detestable villain, the head of the KGB surveillance department within the space program. Two actors have the interesting challenge of playing characters we meet "later" in For All Mankind, Agnes O'Casey and Josef Davies; both give interesting hints of the performances of the other actors without being beholden to mere impersonation.

To be blunt, Star City didn't grab hold of me immediately, the way For All Mankind did. Still, I eventually found myself more deeply engaged than I have by the parent show since at least season three. By the very cliffhangery ending of the eight-episode season, I definitely wanted to see what comes next. (Sadly, no word yet on a season two.) I give Star City a B+, continuing the streak that almost every series I've ever watched on Apple TV+ is worth the time.