Finished S4, For all Mankind.

It was good.

When Apple TV first launched a couple of years ago, I was curious to see what they did with this series, but to be honest, I was most excited about the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation. The Asimov project started off pretty wobbly, I think we’d all agree. But by the second season, it had found its feet.

I think For All Mankind smashed it out of the park from episode one. Every season gets stronger, and the first season was one of the best shows on TV. Of course, I'm biased. You don't get a lot of alternate history in popular culture outside of the silos in which I work, and this is pure, perfect, alternate history. The point of departure was the Russians winning the space race to the moon, kicking off decades of competition on the final frontier.

That competition led to all sort of accelerated and alternate futures such as fast female empowerment and fusion engines everywhere.

The cool thing is the writers and producers have dived deep into not just the positive aspects – Apple Newtons for everyone! – but also the unintended consequences.

The collapse of the fossil fuel industry, for instance, speeds up the culture wars that got rolling after 9/11 here. There is no 9/11 in For All Mankind. Instead we get a Saudi Civil War in the background. Oh well, that’s a shame.

We also get new Star Trek series, Martian colonies, and a wealthy Soviet Union that doesn’t collapse, but does regress. All of this big picture stuff, however, is background vision. The real power of this series is staying with characters for decades. I’m not going to go into any particular story arcs, because spoilers. But if you are looking for an epic decade spanning saga, with a huge dollop of What If, this is your jam.