Don't Be Cruel
- Episode aired Apr 2, 2021
- TV-MA
- 1h 2m
Ellen is challenged by her new role. Margo's allegiances are put to the test. Karen explores new opportunities - personally and professionally.Ellen is challenged by her new role. Margo's allegiances are put to the test. Karen explores new opportunities - personally and professionally.Ellen is challenged by her new role. Margo's allegiances are put to the test. Karen explores new opportunities - personally and professionally.
Photos
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Russian names scratched on the door of Poole's room in Star City indicate it was previous occupied by cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova, Alexei Leonov and Anastasia Belikova, the last one being the (fictional) first female cosmonaut to walk on the moon in the first season.
- GoofsThe newsreel footage of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on alert status during the time frame of 1983 shows F-4 Phantoms being launched from the carrier. By that time the F-4 had already been replaced by the F-14 Tomcat and would no longer be flying off of U.S. Navy carriers. Certainly the alternate time line further reinforces the idea that military technology would be more advanced, not less, therefore making it even clearer that F-4s would be replaced by F-14s and no longer be in use.
- Quotes
[Margo approaches Sergei's hotel room, where a Marine is standing guard]
Sgt. John Perkins: What can I do for you?
Margo Madison: I'm Margo Madison, I need to see Sergei Nikulov.
Sgt. John Perkins: No one goes in, no one goes out. Those are my orders.
Margo Madison: [flashing her ID badge] I'm the director, Johnson Space Center.
Sgt. John Perkins: I'm sure you are, honey, but you're not getting in.
Margo Madison: What's your name?
Sgt. John Perkins: Sergeant John Perkins.
Margo Madison: OK, Sergeant John Perkins, I know you have a job to do but so do I. I'm gonna give you 15 seconds to get in touch with your superior officer, 12 seconds to explain the situation to him, 45 seconds for him to reach General Nelson Bradford and confirm I am who I say I am. Another 15 seconds for your boss to get back to you, and ten for you to open this door. That puts you 97 seconds away from either a cold beer at the end of your shift or an open-ended transfer to Thule, Greenland.
[glances at her watch]
Margo Madison: Your time starts now... honey.
- ConnectionsReferences Apocalypse Now (1979)
Man after man being gradually killed-off so their roles can be replaced by strong faultless genius heroic women, constantly being reassured by others how "badass" or "brilliant" they are, chauvinist infantry soldiers referring to NASA Directors as "honey", to predictably be put in their place with with a wonderful "you tell him girrrrl" threat of being re-assigned to Siberia or what ever, honey.
I really don't want to sound like 'that' guy but the wokeness for want of a better word is going off the flipping scale, instead of reducing as we enter supposedly more enlightened eras as time moves on.
If any of this felt earned it would be fine, but it doesn't. We've seen the Ellen character do nothing or interest for the entire show, she had one flight way back in season 1 where she and Tracy saved the day (natch) while Deke was dying, having just seen male astronaut Harry graphically sucked into an engine, who was only just introduced in the episode (the men are dropping like flies by this point). She was commander (natch) of the moon base between seasons 1 & 2, so we didn't actually see any of it. The large majority of her story has been her LGBTQ relationship struggles for scene after scene, and suddenly everyone is telling her how brilliant she is and she was born to take the role of Tom (another man killed off) as the ADMINISTRATOR of flippin' NASA! When she's done nothing to show any of this 'brilliance' for a job of that type.
The bar scene at the end was just plain weird, and with her dead son's (wow, another male character killed off, and then literally replaced by a female) best friend.
The virtue signalling & messaging is going into hyper drive nonsense, and the tone of the rest of the show is all over the place too. A lot of it is just plain bad and uninspired writing. Are we supposed to be cheering all Gung Ho for the dumb ending where they fly in, expertly-piloted, (of course) Apocalypse Now style on the space helicop.....I mean LSAM? I don't know by this point. I don't even know if the writers know, or care.
I'm still just about intrigued enough by the purely sc-fi elements of the show, which are now almost non-existent, but the rest of it is becoming more farcical with each episode.
- Metal_Robots
- Apr 4, 2022
Details
- Runtime1 hour 2 minutes