The years surrounding World War II are a fascinating time in U.S. and world history. Aside from the myriad of boots on the ground stories, this was a time for huge technological advancements. While on one hand, science was working to improve, simply, and advance the lives of citizens, science was also working out a way to destroy all human life in a large area in one fell swoop. Exciting times, no? Manhattan is the story of just one piece of this huge, atomic puzzle. It tells the story of the dozens of scientists sequestered out into the New Mexico desert trying to invent the first atomic bomb, also known as The Manhattan Project. The show focuses on a one core group of scientists under the watchful eye of Oppenheimer. The first season deals with the struggle behind figuring out how to make a bomb that would work, and the second season (which had its finale on Monday) dealt with the building and testing of bomb ending with that very first successful test and the mushroom cloud.
This show is mostly based on actual events though is embellished for dramatic effect. There are soviet spies, conspiracy, love, deception, murder, and most of all Science! This very quickly became one of the top shows in my household. While we're not super great at watching shows live, Manhattan is never on our DVR for more than a day. I am extremely emotionally invested in the lives of all of these characters and I cried at the end of the season finale. While the show is not getting a ton of attention now, I think it has the potential to be as big as and as good as "Boardwalk Empire."
My husband is a history nerd and I am not but we are both entirely obsessed with this show. Do yourself a favor and find a way to see this show. Torrent it if you have to. You will be (pardon the pun) blown away. Okay, that pun really hurt. In all seriousness, Frank and Liza Winters are my favorite tv power couple right now and they used science and insanity to burrow their way into my heart.
Okay, Spoilers ahead...
The season finale finds us on the day of the first atomic bomb test. It is pouring down rain but the military is stubborn and refuses to call it off. While one hand full of scientists is running around trying to make sure the test will come off without a hitch, another handful of scientists are separately plotting ways to sabotage the test either to stall the test until weather is more predictable or to cause the bomb to function abnormally killing those on the ground and sending a message to the U.S. military. While the viewer has known who the spies on the hill have been the entire season, their status as traders has just come to light among their colleagues. There is an old saying in playwriting that if a gun is placed on a table in the first act, it must go off by the end of the third and as with all good writing, it does so in the way that is both the least expected and most heartbreaking.
The best kind of show is one in which none of the characters are actually evil, they just all have different ideas about what doing the right thing looks like. This show is an excellent example of this. While Dr. Winters (the physicist one) thinks that dropping the bomb on an uninhabited island is the best coarse of action, Dr. Winters (the biologist) doesn't think we should be dropping it on ANYTHING until we know what the ramifications for all living creatures within the fallout range first. Dr. Issaics embraces the idea of becoming the monster in the rest of the world's eyes in hopes that the fear of what our military is capable of will scare any possible uprisings into submission. With a problem as complicated as what to do with an atomic bomb, there can be no right answer and the consequences for every answer are astronomical. In the end, it doesn't actually matter what any of the scientists or double-agents think because the U.S. Military is going to do exactly as they please regardless.
I appreciate shows with a finite run capacity. This forces concise storytelling and strategic writing. If your main character is introduced as having terminal cancer in season one, it starts to get creepy if you let the show draw out too long. Same goes for historical event-based shows. If you have a team of scientists working to build Little Boy and Fat Man, at some point you have to have a mushroom cloud. I appreciate the urgent pace of "Manhattan," as it aids the idea that these scientists were being rushed for answers and feeling the pressure of the daily soldier death count on their shoulders. And sometimes when someone has that much pressure on them, there isn't time to look around and ask, "Is this even a good idea?"
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