Caemeron Crain
I had mixed feelings about Star City in the wake of its two-episode premiere, but by the time I got halfway through Season 1, the show had hooked me. I think, in large part, this has to do with the fact that I watched those first two episodes right on the heels of For All Mankind Season 5, and was hoping for more connections in Star City to the flagship series.
Star City does exist in the same alternate timeline as For All Mankind, but it justifies its existence not through connections to that series so much as by unfolding into what feels more like a spy thriller, showing cosmonauts and others struggling to pursue their dreams within the repressive political structure of the Soviet Union.
At the center of this is the Chief Designer (Rhys Ifans), whose passion for scientific inquiry causes him to butt heads with a government more interested in using space exploration for propaganda. The existence of a mole in Star City may be a threat to the program, even in scientific terms, but it quickly becomes clear that the powers that be in this fictional USSR would rather scrap a mission than give any advantage to the Americans, even if that might mean some Soviets die.
The space missions in Star City up the stakes of the political intrigue, and open the door to moments within the series that are sublime in ways that resonate with For All Mankind, but to watch the show correctly is to recognize the espionage drama as its core, and it would be entirely possible to enjoy this show without ever having seen For All Mankind.
Through its first season, at least, Star City only meaningfully deepens two characters from For All Mankind: Irina Morozova (Agnes O’Casey) and Sergei Nikulov (Josef Davies).
The young Irina is more compassionate and idealistic than she will become, and her plot arc in Star City can be seen as the story of how the political context she came up in led her to a more cynical view of humanity. I still have little sympathy for her, personally, even if Star City wants to garner it, but her arc is compelling, nonetheless.
Sergei, in contrast, is a character I’ve always felt deep sympathy for, because it’s clear that he just wants to be an exceptional engineer who contributes to the successful exploration of space. The younger version of Sergei in Star City feels like exactly the same character as the one we’ve come to know from For All Mankind, which is impressive given that he’s played by a different actor. The question is how he’ll get from the position he holds in the 1970s to the one he is in by the 1990s.
But, again, you don’t need to watch For All Mankind to enjoy Star City. It’s better to take this series on its own terms, to put aside your quibbles about Russians speaking English with a British accent, and to focus on the drama that unfolds in the lives of cosmonauts like Anastasia Belikova (Alice Englert), Sasha Polivanov (Solly McLeod), and Valya Mironov (Adam Nagaitis) as they grapple with Lyudmilla Raskova’s (Anna Maxwell Martin) security efforts.
Get outraged at injustice, but find some space for hope (and some hope for space).
Star City Season 1 is now available in its entirety on Apple TV.
