FOR ALL MANKIND had its third season finale tonight. I will not spoil anything that happened tonight, but for much of this season, there's been a frequent dynamic in play that I've been thinking a lot about. It revolves around everyone's least favorite astronaut ever, Danny Stevens.
In season two Danny Stevens was a student at the Naval Academy. And he had a huge crush on his best friend's mom, Karen Baldwin, that ended in them sleeping together. Which felt really bad in every way. REALLY bad. She broke it off (thank God), but still. It was really really not good.
Season three, he's an astronaut, getting married, great wife, all is well. Except HE'S OBSESSED WITH KAREN BALDWIN. And this leads to an more and more bad decisions. He heads to Mars with Karen's ex-husband Ed, who knows nothing, and hacks their video communications with each other, which makes him more crazy. And then he starts stealing oxy from the medical supplies, which makes him even crazier. And then he starts becoming a Real Problem, and is responsible for Really Bad Shit.
And here's the thing: the longer it all goes on, the less sense it makes. How is nobody aware there are drugs missing from the medical supplies like, for months? And once he starts acting crazy and mouthing off, how are there no consequences? Almost directly after demonstrating Very Clearly that he is a mess, he is put in charge of a job that the entire mission depends on. As my grandma liked to say, It crazy.
But you know what all of these preposterous beats bring? Conflict. Danger. STAKES. All of which good storytelling usually needs. Your script should have conflict on every page, one of my screenwriting teachers used to tell us.
He also brings endless complications, new problems everyone else has to deal with. All of which is to say, he creates story.
In storytelling we talk about the Deus ex Machina, aka God in the Machine--a character, thing or event that solves a problem for your characters. It's usually some kind of cheat on the part of the writers. That doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, but it often can be, because it sort of breaks the reality of the story. Instead of the characters having to save themselves, suddenly something that has nothing to do with them is responsible.
I think Danny Stevens is actually the same thing, but for bad stuff. He's the Demon in the Machine, the Daemonium ex Machina, a tool the writers use to seriously fuck shit up. And he's different than other characters in that the problems he causes seem artificial in some way. Too much, unbelievable, inorganic.
I suspect characters hooked on drugs may be highly susceptible to becoming demons in the machine. Because drug use can be a good way to hide the fingerprints of the writers as they use that character to cause drama/complications/story for others. If you've ever watched someone high starting to mess shit up and felt a sort of ugh in the pit of your stomach--I know I have--I think that's our instincts telling us there's something artificial being added here.
When it comes to FOR ALL MANKIND, the audience rage around Danny is quite something. Some of that is fans being fans, right, wanting the show the way they want it. But I think the level of rage is a pretty big warning light, too. Something is not working.
I'm sure there are good Demons in the Machine, too, characters where the mess actually feels earned and believable. Prince Joffrey Baratheon, for instance, never seems like just a tool of the writers, even though he is absolutely always there to fuck shit up. Ramsay Snow, same way, although he's so damn good at being bad it does eventually start to ring a little less true.
But Danny Stevens is not one of them. And it's very worth watching season three just to follow his story. If you pay attention to where you're getting pissed off or something feels false, I think there's a lot to learn.
Next Monday is the series finale of BETTER CALL SAUL. I know, it's impossible to believe. And I'm going to spend the week digging into some of the final episodes. It's like Vince Gilligan's Last Lecture (in this world, anyway). Let's see what we can learn.
