I have read the book and greatly enjoyed it, but as far as the show is concerned, I was disappointed. Here, each woman is determined that her husband be the first in space, and none are that appreciative of the talents of the other astronaut candidates. Most also undervalue themselves, believing that it is their job to help their respective husbands get what the husbands want. Only Rene Carpenter (Yvonne Strahowski) believes that she has something more important to look forward to, after all, she's the mother of four and a college graduate.
The wives of these Mercury Seven could have easily been forgotten but LIFE Magazine decides to do a photo shoot for the wives and continues to follow their story. Of course all the wives are in, and voila, the story begins.
Sure, the wives appear gorgeous, the perfect housewives, but there is more than what meets the eye.
The Coopers marriage is beyond rocky, though Trudy (Odette Annable) has stayed, but solely for the sake of his career. She even went as far as filing the papers, but it would have ruined her husband's career, so she stayed, though anger could sometimes get the better of her. She also believes that she's a modern woman, and maybe she is, but only for the late 1950s.
It is also her idea to surprise the men for a test launch of a rocket only to have everything go horribly wrong. Louise Shepherd (Dominique McElligott) catches Alan (Desmond Harrington) with another woman, something I saw coming, after all, at the beginning his secretary was in his office, not at her desk.
But even worse, the rocket explodes only seconds after launching. Most of the women are sick and grateful that their husbands weren't on board. Louise, however, is the exception, saying simply that they will learn from their mistakes. Most of the other wives leave in a huff, not realizing before how dangerous the whole thing was.
When it comes time to launch, the Russians have beaten the Americans, having put a man in space first. Whereas that was done is almost complete secrecy, the press is all over the rocket that carries Alan Shepherd into space. But Louise refuses company, terrified out of her mind and nearly faints when she finally stands up, thrilled that mission control made contact with her husband inside the capsule. She doesn't let anyone know how scared she is, and manages a gracious, beautiful statement to the press gathered outside her door.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at things, this is only the beginning, with the moon as one of the next goals, so there is no time for breathing room, leaving Louise forced to understand that her fear will become routine not a rarity. She decides that she needs kindness and compassion from other humans who vaguely understand what she is going through. The wives are friends, for now.
Now, there are some things that the show gets right. For example, Annie Glenn (Azure Parsons) has a stutter in real life and also in the show so at first, many don't like her because she's painfully shy. Marge Slayton (Erin Cummings) was also previously married and divorced, something she refused to discuss, not that anyone could blame her.
However, the show fails. There were several great moments and the performances of the wives are pretty good, not Emmy worthy, not even close but certainly good enough to keep the show moving. The husbands are mostly underdeveloped and most are interchangeable at this point which needs to change. The show also moved at a speed far too brisk, skipping over many events and jumping between gaps in time far too quickly. The pilot opted to cover two years in time, which is just far too much and most of the wives haven't been introduced properly yet which is a real shame. The dialogue is also bad, most of the time far too modern for the time. This show has the material to be much better than it is, and I think it has the talent to make it better but it is nothing more than a wasted opportunity thus far, hopefully it will get better. Grade: B-
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