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On this day, we honor Yuri Gagarin—the Soviet cosmonaut who made history as the first human in space
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Amid the Cold War’s fierce space race, his triumph wasn’t just a scientific leap; it was a victory for the Communist project, proving its potential to the world.
Gagarin himself tied his achievement to the collective strength of the socialist system:
"I am very happy and extremely grateful to our Party and our government for entrusting me with this flight. I carried out this flight in the name of our country, in the name of the whole heroic Soviet nation, in the name of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its Leninist Central Committee."
This show - which I do actually really like - has huge analytical issues with the Soviet Union and the story they're trying to tell. Because this story is a multi-decade alternate history story, you see a version of Earth play out where the Soviets never fell, a bunch of countries (including Mexico) turn communist, and by the 90's everyone is driving electric cars and energy is green and almost free. It's a ridiculously hopeful timeline with little war and constant progress, and America's international role is severely downplayed.
...but, it's still the soviet union, ew. So it never stops being depicted as a frozen wasteland hellhole that no one likes or wants to visit.
I hadn't thought about how much of that seething hatred was baked into the very first scene, until your comment.
I tried to watch this show as well when it was airing first and it just kept pissing me off until I lost all hope with the stupid shootout scene. And the way it portrayed the space race as if it was this extreme vitriolic rivalry was so absurd. In reality, Cosmonauts and Astronauts were great friends whenever they met in space, and were always co-operating and getting along, even today, after all the tension with the Ukraine war, Roscosmos still carries Americans to space side by side with their own cosmonauts. It really portrays scientists and explorers who are some of the brightest minds in society as so hateful and narrow minded, when they are the exact opposite in real life.
Yeah, you raise some really good points. It's always annoyed me how much the show basically venerates great man theory and, as you said before, is the usual mix of propaganda writing that you'd see on any other Apple TV show. The show otherwise hits all the right notes for me as a fan of harder sci-fi, but as someone who has watched it all, I can tell you the geopolitics don't get any better.
Season 4 is about mars unionization. Sure you can imagine how they butcher that.