Storytelling: Imperfections and Payoffs
Even good storytelling is rarely without its flaws, and sometimes I think audiences get too focused on flaws. This can be a real problem because I think it discourages creators from taking risks: like an olympic diver who would rather do a flawless straight forward plunge than a dive with twists and somersaults that is more interesting but much more difficult. Also I think people miss out on wonderful things because they get turned off by a mistake made along the way. Sometimes enduring blemishes along the path allows one to experience great things.
It might not seem like it yet, unless you’re on the same wavelength as me in which case may the gods, universe, or whatever else help you, but this is a post about For All Mankind, the alternate history science fiction show on Apple TV.
For All Mankind has flaws. Each season has at least one plot point that nearly ruins it for me. But despite that, I’m glad each season that I stick with it. It’s one of the more interesting shows I’ve seen. I’m really interested where the series will end up. And each season has payoffs that make it worth overlooking the part I didn’t care for.
For those that haven’t seen it, For All Mankind begins in the late 1960s and posits what would happen if the Russians got to the moon first. The first points of divergence happen earlier, but as a result of each change to history, the timeline of the show diverges further. The Space Race doesn’t end with the moon landing. As a result there’s a base on the moon in the early 1970s. People land on Mars in the early 2000s, set up a base, and establish permanent settlements.
During the gap between seasons, time advances and each season begins with a really interesting recap bending our own history with how things have changed due to the divergences in the show. Each recap is so interesting to me that I would likely watch the show just for it, fortunately there is a good deal more to recommend about the show.
Often when I’m writing fiction I know what the ending is, whether it be for a story, a chapter, or a scene. I know what the characters are striving for and am thrilled with that payoff. The part I sometimes struggle with is putting difficulties in place for the characters to overcome en route to that payoff that will be well thought out and entertaining. I feel like there are plot points in each season of For All Mankind that suffer from this problem: there’s a great payoff ahead but the problems that need to be overcome to get there are at times frustrating to watch.
The thing is though, that the payoff is worth pushing through the flaws in the plot. In a way it feels like the show and its frustrating characters are a metaphor for humanity. The characters are always fighting, squabbling over often trivial matters, and ignoring what can be achieved when they work together, until they finally work together and achieve that awesome payoff and then it’s like my hope and joy in people is restored. Nations are often on the brink of war, unable to overcome their own jealousies and greed or to overcome the pains of the past, and then they are pulled back from that brink by some discovery or sacrifice made in space.
The writers understand how massive an effect exploration in space can have on Earth. Our history is full of them: the Earthrise Photo taken by William Anders in 1968, the first moon landing itself, the shuttle program, even the voyage of the Artemis II crew felt like it brought a flicker of hope and dreams of what could be to what is otherwise a miserable time of decline (self inflicted by the election of the world’s worst people to office, but I digress.) In the show there are many such events and many times when tensions on Earth are defused through rare moments of working together in space. There is something about space and discovery in space that makes us experience an epiphany that what we are arguing about is petty in context.
There are so many moments with accomplishment and sacrifice resulting in a big payoff in the storyline. I won’t spoil those big season ending highs here, but that payoff is incredible. And I would never get to experience it if I got so hung up on the flaws that I never got past the mistakes and allowed myself to enjoy the good parts.
