‘The Astronaut Wives Club’ episode 8 reaction: Remembering Gus Grissom

Last week’s episode of “The Astronaut Wives Club” was one that introduced a variety of important topics, including whether or not these women will receive better care from NASA when something goes wrong. Nobody wants to hear about a death or something tragic in an insensitive manner, and they understandably want to be in the no.

For Betty Grissom, tonight meant an opportunity to try and seek justice for what happened to Gus, and unfortunately for her that proved to be no easy task given that nobody really wanted to take the blame. In the end, a powerful speech at the end of the episode started to put all in perspective: Everyone was in some way to blame other than the men on the mission. His death was a case of Americans becoming Icarus, and flying too close of the sun without the preparation necessary to do stuff. A pretty powerful moment, no?

Moving into the end of the night, we did see some other happy news just as Betty was ready to start a new journey: NASA had decided to delay the Apollo program slightly in order to ensure everything was put together properly, and that future casualties could be avoided. Betty won, but at the same time learned that a Russian cosmonaut had suffered a tragedy in a similar fashion. They too, were so caught up in the competition.

For the most part, we feel like “The Astronaut Wives Club” does a pretty solid job of condensing the story of the women close to these men. Does it feel at times like the stories are rushed? Sure, but that is what happens when you are adapting a work into just ten episodes. There is only so much time to tell a story.

What did you think about the way “The Astronaut Wives Club” handled some of tonight’s events? Share in the comments, and head over here to get some other previews for what lies ahead. Also, you can sign up here to get some more updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)