IN REVIEW: THE RIGHT STUFF (S1 – EP7) Ziggurat

Synopsis: This week on The Right Stuff. Weather endangers Shepard’s flight, as tensions between he and Glenn hit breaking point.

The Story

In the wake of the Caban Missile Crises. Nasa director Bob Gilruth decides it is time to send Shepard up. But the unpredictable nature of Florida’s tropical storms makes it difficult for the team to predict a reasonably safe launch window.

Meanwhile, tensions on the grown reach boiling point as Alan Shepard’s actions get his fellow astronaut candidate Scott Carpenter demoted. Further adding to tensions is Carpenter’s wife who reveals the truth about Alan Shepard’s infidelity to his wife Louise.

Elsewhere, the tension between Shepard and Glenn reaches boiling point.

The Acting

Patrick J. Adams and Jake McDorman share some tense scenes together as Astronaut’s John Glenn and Alan Shepard finally have it out and air their grievances. We also see a fantastic performance from Shannon Lucio and Jade Albany Pietrantonio in which Louise Shapard learns the truth about her husband from Rene Cooper.

The acting throughout this episode is solid as pretty much most of the characters get something to do. But a majority of the story focus is on Shepard and Glenn as they both make preparations for the coming mission.

Overall

This was a solid episode, which tightly focuses on the escalation of the tensions between Alan Shepard and John Glenn on the eve of Shepard’s journey. The scene that the two share on the rooftop of the Nasa building is wonderfully realized.

We also get a little more storyline in regards to the early days of the Mercury 13 and Jerrie Cobb as she pushes herself to the limits of human endurance to try and be the first female in space. Although the Mercury 13 never got to go to the final frontier. It is still important that some of their story should get aired in this series. Added to which. It is a part of history that is not that well known outside of NASA.