The Bleeding Edge

## Chronology

"**The Bleeding Edge**" is the second episode of the second season of *For All Mankind*. It was released on Apple TV+ on February 26, 2021.

## Synopsis

Margo must lead a seemingly impossible mission. Danielle wants to return to the Moon. Gordo grapples with life on Earth.

## Plot

Molly Cobb tells Ellen Wilson that she took shelter in the lava tubeW, trying to reach Wubbo Ockels, but when the two finally reached Jamestown, she was not feeling very well herself. Ellen tells her that she made the right call and a doctor says that it is uncertain how bad Wubbo would be, but would likely develop cancer in the next few years. Ellen tells Molly that she would be returning to Houston with her, but Molly complains since her dosimeter was green. Ellen tells her that her decision was final.

Margo Madison talks to Ellen through video communication and asks her how the power situation was holding up. Ellen says that they were recuperating and told Ed that life support systems should be doing fine, but the Mars program would have to be put on hold, also mentioning that the fuel rods were damaged. Margo takes note that they would need to send more plutoniumW and says that she would alert GuamW to implement nuclear transportation guidelines, only to be told by General Bradford that they would need to ask the PentagonW first. Administrator Thomas Paine walks in with news that the President wanted to ease tensions with the Soviets, mentioning that putting missiles on *Pathfinder* was on hold for now and that they needed an American astronaut and a Soviet cosmonaut to come together for a handshake in space. Margo laughed, but Thomas told Ed Baldwin to prep the crew. Margo said that it would never be done, but Thomas told her to relax and to figure something out.

Ellen looks around Jamestown and remembers how long she had been up there in total, preparing to leave and assigned Alex Rossi as commander of Jamestown. She got into the LSAM with Molly and more people who were ready to go back to Earth.

Gordo Stevens played a video game, but was told by Ed that he would never win. After he loses, he goes to Ed who is manning the bar. In the meantime, Danielle Poole was unsure about leaving her car; she read a passage from the Bible, but still did not get out. Gordo said that he could not imagine what Danielle was going through. As soon as Danielle got to them, they all said "Hi Bob" to each other. They discussed changes made to Outpost like a plant Karen Baldwin wanted to put there and the removal of the pool table. Ed asked Danielle how she was and she said she was okay, but missing Clayton, who had struggled during his last nine years. She tells them that she wants to go back to Jamestown since none of them had been up there in nine years, but neither of them want to go back. Gordo tells her that there was more to being an astronaut than just going to space, but said she was tired of reminiscing. Ed tells her that he would start the paperwork the next day, and they all celebrate.

In Los Angeles, Tracy Stevens gets pictures taken. She gets a phone call from her husband and answers.

Gordo is giving another presentation on his Jamestown story for the Rotary ClubW somewhere. Everybody laughs at what he has to say. Afterwards, he has sex with the waitress.

Molly and Ellen make it to Earth, where the former is not feeling so good. They are received by many people, and Ellen thanks the crew. Wayne Cobb greets Molly and hugs her; he gets her out of there and tells her nobody would notice.

Karen makes Kelly and Ed breakfast. Kelly is in her room, but leaves to have breakfast with her family, hiding an AnnapolisW brochure she was reading.

At Ellen and Larry Wilson's house, they both watched the news, joined by another man, who told Larry he needed to go, and kissed him. Ellen tells Larry that he had "trained" the man well. She asks him if it is a serious relationship, but he says he does not know. Ellen says that she is not ready for any romance at the moment since she was busy, and asks Larry if he had been promoted, but he says he had not since Boeing only gave people promotions in December. They say goodbye to one another and leave.

Ellen makes it to NASA, where she greets Margo, Thomas, and Bradford. Margo tells her their first meeting would be concerning budgets and they begin talking. Margo says they need more money for Jamestown and they would need to get it from the Mars program. Ellen says that the Mars program was very delayed and said that there had to be another way, but Thomas says that they need to pick their battles. Margo looks through index cards and finds Aleida Rosales listed, and asks for a minute.

Margo walks up to Emma Jorgens and asks her what the flashcard meant, but Emma asked if she was supposed to know who that was. Margo said that it was fine and went back to the meeting distracted by the name she had read.

Ed looks at his board and gets visited by Tracy, who gives him Ed McMahon's mug. She mentions that Johnny wanted to shoot a few segments in Jamestown, but Ed tells her that he needs her more focused on the program and even though it would give kids more insight on what they are doing on the Moon, Ed reminds her that she had missed her third SIM and launched in a month. Tracy apologizes because she had gotten her schedule mixed up after celebrating with her new husband Sam. She mentions that she would go to SIM, but after noticing he was being cold to her, she asks him if there was a problem, but he says there was not. She asks if he could not be happy for her, but he tells her that she did not have to announce her marriage on national television and Gordo deserved to know before. However, Tracy mentions that he was never concerned with her knowing about Gordo having sex with women in Cape and leaves.

Ed greets new NASA recruits, welcoming them as astronaut candidates or ASCANS. He tells them that everything would be graded and he would be in charge of doing so. As he gives the introduction, Molly is reciting it as well, word for word.

Later, Ed plays golf with Karen, Molly, and Wayne. None of them do a very good job, except for Wayne, who hits a perfect drive. Molly makes fun of Ed for having to use reading glasses and says that she sometimes felt that being on Earth felt like being in outer space. Ed tells her that he read the incident report and knew that there was no way she had waited in the lava tube for the storm to pass and asks if she is okay. She tells him that she is fine and asks if he misses being on the Moon. He says he does, but not as much as he thought he would. Molly asks him if he was okay with someone taking "his baby", the *Pathfinder*, to space, and he says that he had had all the time he needed up in space. She says that when she first met him, she never expected to see him happy behind a desk, and he agrees. He says that he found himself happy, even though he did not expect to find himself where he was before. He smells marijuana, and Molly says that Wayne and Karen would deny having smoked it.

Gordo is cooking a steak, but just keeps looking at it while his son Jimmy hangs party decorations. Danny, who is now a soldier, greets his father as Captain Stevens, saluting him. Gordo smiles and tells him to hug him instead. He tells his son it was good to see him. Jimmy greets his brother and the two hug. When Tracy makes it, she looks at Danny and holds him, while proud to see him. She hugs Jimmy afterwards and greets Gordo awkwardly. Gordo decides to make a toast, saying that Danny had made sticking out in Annapolis easy, also mentioning that he was proud. He also congratulates Tracy on her marriage and tells her he is happy for her.

Danny tells his family about his life in Annapolis, and Gordo smiles while looking at everyone having a good time. Tracy gets up and says she has to go. They both say goodbye to one another and Gordo grabs another beer. He tells his kids that he had snacks and more alcohol, but Danny says that they were going to see some friends. Gordo says that it is fine, and tells them to have a good time.

Margo tries getting a sandwich from a vending machine, but has to hit it in order to get it out. Finally, she sees that she can cause negative pressure within the machine, by opening and closing the "push" flap, and gets it out, screaming triumphantly.

Danny and Jimmy are hanging out with their friends, where Danny tells them all that after the first month, everything was easier. Kelly asks him if he had been able to ride on an aircraft carrier, and he says that he had, saying that the best part was seeing a TomcatW come in for a landing since it was a cold stop.

Ed works on painting a small biplane, when he gets a call. He picks up and is called by Karen to Outpost, since Gordo was drunk and making everyone uncomfortable. Ed makes it to the bar and tells Gordo to go for a walk with him. They walk and Ed tells him to forget about Tracy since they had been divorced for nearly five years and she had moved on. He says that he cannot leave the past behind because he had left something up on the moon and felt like he did not exist on Earth and did not know what he was doing. He recognizes that Ed had been through worse things, like Shane's death, but he had found a way to make peace. They sit down and Ed told him that his kids worshipped him; Gordo asks Ed if he remembered what it was like for them, and his friend said he did. Gordo said that before everything seemed possible, but not anymore, and starts crying. Soon after, Gordo tells Ed he would sleep and wishes Ed a good night. Ed looks at one of Gordo's pictures, one where he stood with him dressed in his space suit.

Molly makes it to Mission Control, where Wubbo greets her and tells her that he would be heading back to The NetherlandsW since he was leaving the program voluntarily. Molly told him that he was taking the easy way out, but he said that if he only had a couple of years left, he wanted to spend it with his family, but Molly tells him to not give up. He thanks her for everything and leaves.

Gordo is woken up by a woman from JSC, who tells him that a weekly staff meeting had been moved to that day. She hangs up and Gordo gets up and heads to NASA. He makes it to the meeting room, where he immediately grabs a cup of coffee. Danielle tells him he looks like hell, but Gordo says he feels excellent. He asks Danielle why the meeting had been moved up, but she did not know. Ed enters the room, and wishes everybody a good morning. He tells them that there would be a Jamestown 81 debrief and that he had a new flight assignment to announce. He tells them that Danielle would be joining the crew of STS-83 Romeo, Jamestown mission 91. After everybody congratulates her, he says that Gordo would join her as well. When he goes to congratulate him, Gordo tells him that he would not head back up and reminds him that he knew it. However, Ed reminded him that he was the one who decided who goes up and when.

Molly is smoking a cigarette outside, joined by Gordo who asks her for one.

## Cast

show/hide list

**Main Cast**

* Joel Kinnaman as Edward Baldwin
* Michael Dorman as Gordo Stevens
* Sarah Jones as Tracy Stevens
* Shantel VanSanten as Karen Baldwin
* Jodi Balfour as Ellen Wilson
* Sonya Walger as Molly Cobb
* Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole
* Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin
* Casey W. Johnson as Danny Stevens
* Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison

**Guest Starring**

* Nate Corddry as Larry Wilson
* Dan Donohue as Thomas Paine
* John Marshall Jones as Nelson Bradford
* Noah Harpster as Bill Strausser
* Michael Benz as Gary Piscotty
* Lenny Jacobson as Wayne Cobb
* Teya Patt as Emma Jorgens
* Garrett Reisman as Garrett Reisman
* Bjørn Alexander  as Wubbo Ockels
* Scott Michael Campbell as Alex Rossi
* Linda Park as Amy Chang
* Charlie Schlatter as Paul Michaels
* Dave Power as Frank Sedgewick
* Justice Leak  as Peter

**Co-Starring**

* David Chandler as Jimmy Stevens
* Kayla Blake  as Dr. Kouri
* Tyler Lofton  as Corey
* Mindy Montavon  as Waitress
* Ian McQuown  as Photographer

**Other**

* Jon Briddell  as Gary Hart (voice) (uncredited)
* Gary Hart  as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
* John Lennon  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Marisa Mendelson  as Bar Local (uncredited)
* Jim Meskimen as John LennonW (voice) (uncredited)
* Ronald Reagan  as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Jim Tooey  as Fred DecordovaW (uncredited)

## Appearances

### Vehicles & vessels

 ***Columbia***
Space Shuttle
## External links

### Soundtrack

  Soundtrack of episode 2x02, "The Bleeding Edge" on Tunefind
### Transcript

  Transcript of episode 2x02, "The Bleeding Edge" on TV Show Transcripts