Away Season 1, Episode 7 recap: Goodnight Mars

Away Season 1, Episode 7 recap: Kwesi & Lu study a plant.

When we last saw the intrepid crew of the Atlas, they had to begin emergency water rations, which meant Kwesi had to sacrifice his garden. In Away Season 1, Episode 7, Lu and Kwesi are awestruck by a long plant that has somehow managed to survive the drought.

Their contrasting ideals as a woman of science versus a man of faith come to a head as they try to figure out what is keeping the plant alive. Kwesi cites previous studies on the rare dandelion that sprouts from between cracks of cement. Could the stalwart plant be a miracle from God? Or is Lu correct in thinking there is a scientific explanation?

Neither of them is right. In reality, Emma has been using her very limited water rations to keep the single plant alive. And as Ram says, “a ration of a ration” can still cause plenty of problems. It fits with the theme of the episode, too, since Emma is struggling to let go of Earth for the next three years (Side note: Everyone kept saying “next three years” in this episode, but they’ve got to be at least one year into the mission by now, right? So it should be more like 2 years or a little more? I guess I’m a little confused about the timeline at this point).

Away Season 1, Episode 7 recap: Emma’s exhibits alarming behavior.

As mentioned, Emma is not acting like her usual self in Away Season 1, Episode 7. She’s moody, irritable, and exhibiting signs of extreme dehydration.

Misha and Matt, who have, adorably, become pen pals while trying to figure out the best way to handle the water system, keep in touch to discuss Emma’s worrying behavior. Even her messages home have become stilted, frantic, and odd. Lex points out she signed an email as “Commander Green, instead of her usual “Mom.”

Somehow, Emma manages to pass her psych evaluation, although since Ram was in charge, it’s easy to see why. He’s obviously in love with Emma, and Misha has started to pick up on their charged interactions. I doubt Emma would cheat on Matt, but I’m not going to deny that I’ve really enjoyed Ram and Emma’s emotional interactions.

Still, everyone misses the dehydration symptoms Emma exhibits. As her behavior makes her increasingly emotional, Lu tells the others she thinks she understands what Emma is feeling. While she loves her son as fiercely as Emma loves Lex, Lu has managed to accept she will not be his parent for the three years. Emma cannot let go of the life she left behind and is feeling mounting guilt over leaving Lex and Matt behind.

The crew begins to question Emma’s leadership. They start to consider ushering in temporary new leadership. However, once Ram realizes she is dehydrated, he gives Emma a saline drip and she slowly starts to recover. Also, Ram happens to pick one of Emma’s favorite Debussy songs and they hold hands for a moment. It’s a really sweet scene. I love watching Ram take care of her, even if they just remain close friends.

More. Away Season 1, Episode 6 recap: A Little Faith. light

Throughout the episode, we also see flashbacks to when Emma first realized she was pregnant. In the early days of her NASA training, she was intent on not letting anything become between herself and Mars. Then she got pregnant. From the beginning, it was clear Matt loved her. He was immediately ready to become a father and start a family with her.

Emma took more time to come around to the idea, including visiting Melissa, who had decided to give up her astronaut dreams by that point. Melissa called her out for wanting to see if she was a case study in how bad things could become. The younger Emma clearly wanted someone to tell her what to do, but deep down, she knew she wanted to become a mother, too.

She did her best to balance her two dreams. But part of this episode’s theme is about how Emma’s dreams and passions changed as she grew up. That’s what she wants to instill in her daughter, “there’s more to life than flying,” she tells her, which is obviously a metaphor, too, to tell Lex not to get caught up in just one thing. Life can contain multitudes and her dreams don’t have to be singular.

Away Season 1, Episode 7 recap: Lex makes an impulsive decision.

As for Lex, she struggles to keep her motorbiking journeys with Isaac secret. The poor kid winds up getting stuck in the middle of a battle between Lex and her father. Personally, I thought the adults were a little hard on him. Lex continued lying to Matt about her secret motorbike passion, although he did catch her in one lie when she claimed her friend Annie dropped her off despite Matt seeing Isaac’s truck pull away from the house.

Isaac becomes increasingly uneasy with all the lying and sneaking around concerning the bikes. To make matters worse, Lex lashes out at her mother — who sends her a strange email while in the midst of her dehydrated episode — and rides the bike too fast and carelessly, resulting in an accident that puts her in the hospital.

Afraid to upset Emma in her delicate state, Matt tells the crew first, anticipating they’ll best know how to handle the news. It triggers a meltdown in Emma when she finds out, but thankfully, Lex is okay. The accident results in her getting a mild concussion, but that’s all.

When Emma starts to recover, she sends her message to Lex apologizing for her weird behavior. Rectifying her previous message, she tells Lex to remember that there is more to life than just Mars, as she eventually found being Lex’s mother mattered to her just as much, if not more.

Another aspect of this episode is about the similarities between Lex and her mother. She tells Isaac one of the reasons she likes motorbiking is because it makes her feel connected to Emma, who used to be quite the daredevil when she was younger. She flew a cropduster when she was only 14, and Lex clearly loves to brag about her mom’s bravery and wanted to be like her with her motorbike talent.

It’ll be interesting to see if she gives it up altogether after this or if she and Matt can come to some kind of agreement. As for Isaac, Melissa and Matt are extremely short with him at the hospital, Melissa even says she or Matt will kill him if anything happens to Lex.

I thought that was a little harsh, but I guess they hadn’t gotten the full story there yet. Isaac is a good kid and a great love interest for Lex so I’d like to see their story continue. Hopefully, someday, Emma will get to meet him.

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Learn more about the real events that inspired Away in an interview with creator Andrew Hinderaker.

All ten episodes of Away Season 1 are now streaming on Netflix.

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