They sure make a striking couple don't they? Easily my favorite couple on the show. Loved when he was playing the guitar for her.
Lights on or off? Kink or Vanilla? -Faith
Yeah. Too bad they dont really have a lot to work with. Rene is one of the most interesting of the wives and they the show seems more willing to focus on the drama of cheating husbonds, social squabble and a fake relationship with someone that didnt excist. A very missed opportunity when you look at the story about women in that period, that they should have told. This is too soap opera.
shareI think Wilson looks a bit too young next to Yvonne who feels too mature compared to him. The age gap is not too big but I noticed it. Anyways she still has more chemistry with him than she had with Michael C Hall on Dexter.
Although I kinda agree that they have nothing to work with I don't find it such a big problem. So far Rene's character more interesting when her husband is not around.
Unfortunately the show has a soapy and sensationalist side but I hope that it will be less distracting in the second half of the season.
He does look pretty young without a bit of scruff, I agree. But I still think it works...
Btw, as for the soap opera feel; I saw someone on twitter refer to the show as "The Real Housewives of Nasa..."
Made me chuckle a bit.
She's only 20 months older, so that's not really the issue. The issue is that she's far more talented than he his. As a "Chuck" and "Dexter" fan, I think her image as a major league hottie and talented actress is well established. I remembered Wilson Bethel from "Generation Kill", but that's the only other thing I've seen him in and he was a minor character in that docudrama.
I think the talent level for most of the actresses playing the wives is better than the men. I like both Bret Harrison and Oddette Annabel, and think that's a great pairing, the best of the seven. But, in general, the male actors aren't particularly great, beyond Desmond Harrington and Evan Handler.
The women characters are better developed and have been given much more interesting story lines, understandably since it's their story being told, than the vast majority of their astronaut husbands so it makes sense that the wives stand out more. Except for the actors I knew coming in it's still taken me a while to tell which husband is who because they've mostly been ciphers.
shareAgreed, the guys playing Wally and Gus are about as plain vanilla as it gets.
shareWilson played one of the lead characters "Wade Kinsella" on Hart of Dixie, which was also produced by Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage's company 'Fake Empire,' just like Yvonne Strahovski's former show 'Chuck'...and this miniseries 'Astronauts Wives'...hence the connection. lol
Still though I agree that she (or especially her character) seems more mature than Wilson's, 'Scott Carpenter' even if they are close in age. If I'd had the ability, I would've loved for her character 'Rene Carpenter' to interact with Jon Hamm's 'Don Draper' (from 'Mad Men')...because I could imagine the verbal exchange & then some between the two (and because I feel Yvonne's a better actress than January Jones ), but of course its impossible (sort of...although pairing Yvonne & Jon in an entirely different project might be possible. )
Yeah, Rene is definitely one of the most interesting of the wives I agree. But, aside from the fake relationship (which I guess served a purpose) all the other things are necessary for the full picture. I love how well-rounded this show is.
shareIt can get a bit soapy for my taste, at times. The Louise-Max scenes in the last episode were not my cup of tea. But other aspects I like, so I take it as it comes.
Even the Louise-Max plot seems to have had a decent resolution. So far as I read it, what Louise took away from Max's determination to ask for and try to get what he wanted was her determination to ask for, and get, Alan to be faithful. At the end, it looked like he was going that way. Soapy, I guess, but okay.
They are my favorite, along with Gordo and Trudy Cooper. Part of the reason I like the Carpenter's is no doubt because I'm such a big Hart of Dixie (Wilson Bethel was one of the stars) fan but I do like them. I like that Rene tries to make a career for herself, there weren't a lot of women in her position doing that at that time. It makes me kind of sad to know they end up getting divorced, they seem like such a strong couple, at least compared to some of the other Mercury marriages. I think they are going to start getting more into the stuff Rene does away from being a wife and mother in the next couple episodes.
shareI'm getting pretty turned around with coupling. Scott and Rene are a good pair but I can't remember, are they the fake marriage? If not, I'm confused about their closing of the last episode, episode 6, are they splitting up? She didn't want to follow him but kinda did, but he asks what is she going to now, like they were going separate ways. My wife just started watching "Hart of Dixie", so my attention has come back around to this couple and wanna figure it out.
shareTrudy and Gordy Cooper are the 'fake' couple although they are actually married, but were separated when Gordy got the Mercury mission. They apparently decided to make a real go of it, but eventually divorced a few years later.
At this point the Carpenters are in love and still very much together, but they did get divorced in the early seventies and the show seems to be suggesting it's because they were living separate lives in separate parts of the country once Scott pissed off NASA (Chris Kraft) and went to work for SEALAB and Rene decided she wanted a writing career. The book was vague on why they actually divorced and I haven't read a definitive reason elsewhere although he did get married again pretty quickly after they divorced so I guess the separate lives reason works.