I don’t do reviews of television programs. Sure, for several seasons I wrote up each incident of Game of Thrones, spun through the on-screen occasions, tried to size up any propose behind what was happening, and offered my own rarely-right prognostications on what was coming up. But that was because Thrones was already a phenomenon when I started, really had been one since My Buddy George( tm ) became “the American Tolkien” even before the depict went on the air.

That’s certainly absolutely no truth to the rumors now. I’m not detailing the latest episode of For All Mankind, or even any episode of For All Mankind — I’m just telling you that you should watch the show.

For All Mankind( let’s go with FAM, because I’m really going to get tired of typing that) is one of the initial programs on Apple’s home-grown streaming service. But before you storm out on a highly-justifiable train of “geezus, another streaming service” or an equally reasonable “Apple suctions because( fill in the blank) ” note that you can watch the show on a ton of different devices, you don’t have to buy any Apple hardware. You are also welcome to watch at least the first two bouts, and probably the whole firstly season, without send Apple a dime — because free previews and transactions on the service are everywhere. So precisely … ignore where the programme is playing for the moment. Let’s look at the content.

If you’ve caught anything of the concept of the establish, it’s probably this — it’s an alternate history springing from the notion that the Soviets got to the Moon firstly, acre a single cosmonaut on the lunar surface just weeks ahead of Apollo 11 ’s contrived arrival. I’m not botching anything by telling you this. It’s in all the promos( see image above) and it’s likewise handled in the opening moments of the opening episode.

The problem for how FAM is bringing promoted is that little tidbit seems to be all that anyone is getting. And on the surface, that seems a little … defeatist. A little like a downer. Even a little insulting. Who wants to watch a show in which America comes off the loser in one of the great feel-good instants of national history? But that’s totally not what the show is about. FAM correctly sets the moon land in situation, as something that happens along the road from then to now. It was an event. A instant mashed into a year and national societies absolutely wracked–and nearly wrecked–by issues on every figurehead.

For All Mankind clutches on that moment as a starting point to put out an justification that is just so damn much more important than who “won” the scoot to the Moon. An assertion that says there really are no end points to real life narratives, and that every fib can be better when it’s more expansive, more inclusive, and even more daring.

While it’s possible to talk about the show at length just looking at how it handles race, gender politics, military issues, and moral decisions, it’s first and foremost a program about which this needs to be said: It is actually, really gone. Good as in having make ethics that are off the charts. Good as in having dialogues that are smart, challenging, and tightly-paced. Good as in having an swelling shoot of actors who are perfect for a combination of personas — including some who are saddled with playing real world beings and remaining true-blue to their essence while confronting them with new situations.

The core of the show isn’t about how “America lost the race to the Moon.” It’s about how first-boots-on-lunar soil was always an artificial finishing line created for a chest-thumping moment. It’s about different cultures that concluded that possible by making use of some tough and admirable alternatives … and by making use of some earnestly wrong, sexist, racist, and otherwise exclusionary decisions.

It’s not a program about cavity. It’s a program that’s about parties. It’s not a programme about a past that might have been. It’s a program about selects we still have to make.

In an ensemble shed that’s laded with terrific conducts, it’s hard to point any particular performers who standout, but … I will. Wrenn Schmidt as the first bride to take a role in NASA’s control room and Chris Bauer make an amazing profession of channeling cosmonaut program prime Deke Slayton are both excellent. However, it’s Sarah Jones and Shantel VanSanten, who play the spouses of two Apollo cosmonauts, who really elevate the appearance — especially when the two are onscreen together, indicating their seriously modifying relationship.

I’m pleased that in this first season FAM is laying in some characters whose places in the bigger narrative clearly won’t be set for years. I can only hope that confidence is reflected by the program getting the chance to stimulate the bouts that cause those reputations contribute. So I hope you’re going to watch and give them that chance.

This is a program about the importance of building a diverse culture that appreciates its own contribution and potential in everyone. That only happens to have rockets. That’s a future everyone can get behind.

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