In Review: The Right Stuff (S1 – Ep5) The Kona Kai Seance

Synopsis: This week on The Right Stuff. An indiscretion leads to greater conflict that could determine who will be chosen first.

The Story

While the Mercury Seven are in San Diago. Gordo’s wife Trudy decides to do a spot of flying and is met by a fellow pilot Jerrie Cobb. Cobb asks Trudy to run the idea of female astronauts by her husband in order to get the idea on Nasa’s radar. As readers will soon find out thanks to the Netflix film The Mercury 13. Cobb was one of the first 13 women to train as an astronaut.

Meanwhile, things hit a bit of a snag in San Diago as the Mercury 7 gets restless and Al Shepard makes the mistake of getting very drunk and caving to the temptations of a local lady. Unfortunately, he gets caught by the media, which forces him to ask John Glen for help. Glen manages to clear things up, but the way in which he does it causes conflict amongst his fellow astronauts. Added to this is the fact that it is on the eve of when they’ll be asked to decide the order of the first three men to go into Space.

The Acting

Patrick J. Adams continues to impress as John Glen who was very much the leader of the astronauts when it came time to steady the ship. Furthermore, he was also very much the big brother figure of the group. This episode continues to explore the rivalry between Al Shepard (Jake McDorman) and Glen and by the close of the story. We learn which one of them has The Right Stuff to be the first American in space.

Overall

Yet another great episode, which explores some of the conflicts amongst the astronauts. I really enjoyed the addition of Jerrie Cobb to the storyline. Especially given that her role in forming The Mercury 13 is likely worthy of a drama series itself.

Overall. A solid hour of television, which is building nicely toward Al Shepard’s journey into space, which will likely make up the storyline of the first season finale. I look forward to seeing how well the space missions get portrayed on this show.