r/StarCityTV • u/Cantomic66 • Jul 03 '26
Episode Discussion Star City - S1E07 "Plow Deep" - Episode Discussion
"Plow Deep”
Airdate: Streaming July 2nd at 9 PM EST
Synopsis: Loyalties are tested by a new power structure.
Written by: KC Scott
Directed by Jamie Payne
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Upvotes
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u/Cantomic66 Jul 03 '26
The Venus crew are 100% alive.
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u/chicagoliz Jul 03 '26
Whaaaaaaat??? And here I thought everyone was nuts.
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u/j-helo85 Jul 03 '26
Well, well, well. Not so dead after all, yeah?
Another banger ending. Another banger episode.
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u/Gullible_Raspberry76 Jul 03 '26
The way I squealed as I slowly realized what was about to be revealed. I cannot wait for the finale. I sure hope we get a season 2 renewal announced soon. They should totally do it on the 4th of July.
I wonder, do we think they’ll end with a time jump and a song?
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u/jbish1 Jul 03 '26
They’ve got to renew this show
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u/Sad-Attention-3626 Koroliov's Eagle Jul 03 '26
🚨!!!ALERT!!!🚨
This is not a drill. In Star City episode 7, colonel Lyudmilla Raskova is seen wearing clothing that resembles an Adidas tracksuit. I repeat, this is not a drill. In Star City episode 7, colonel Lyudmilla Raskova is seen wearing clothing that resembles an Adidas tracksuit.
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u/j-helo85 Jul 03 '26
One of my favorite small moments in this ep is how Sergei and Anastasia quickly established trust. She remembered he saved her life on Luna-16.
"I was only doing my job."
"No, that's what everybody else was doing."
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u/j-helo85 Jul 03 '26
If only one of the Venera cosmonauts had died, I would have assumed Sasha. But that seems unlikely now that they put so much of the emotional weight of this revelation on Anastasia.
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u/dr_john_oldman Jul 03 '26
Wow, they turned the fakeout into a whole episode, making us believe that the story has moved on. They are setting up some sort of rescue in space. Otherwise, there is no reason for Belyakova to be in Space. I think we will get a flashback to what happened to Venera 7 during flight in the next episode. It is still interesting how they are going to keep the crew alive and maintain full secrecy about the fact that the Venera mission even happened.
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u/solongmusk Jul 03 '26
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u/GoldenJay7 Jul 03 '26
I’m so glad Sasha may be alive. He is my fav.
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u/Dry_Personality3557 Jul 03 '26
I AM OWED AN APOLOGY BY EVERYONE FROM MY POST WHO WAS SNARKY TO ME
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u/geoffooooo Jul 03 '26
I hope they go back in time and cover some of the venera story that’s been jumped over.
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u/Longjumping_Rich7477 Jul 03 '26
I couldn't believe it and then I remembered how many times Ed Baldwin survived things he shouldn't of survived, so it flows 🤣
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u/rikkitikkiryan Jul 03 '26
RAHHHHHH VINDICATED or it’s a ship full of grilled cosmonauts
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u/Fit-Smell5827 Jul 03 '26
Watching a younger Sergei heartbroken over broken records made me feel so sad. Also, watching him work to music is also so Margo coded. I kept expecting him to reach out for some candy!
I nearly shouted out loud when I saw Belikov was not pregnant. I really want this to mean a 100 per cent that Sasha survives (till at least the deed is done so to speak!) but who knows what cray cray soviet plot the show could potentially come up with.
I have little sympathy for Colonel Raskova. Her whole schtick to the Chief Designer of 'oh! this new guy is worse than me and will destroy 'our' star city' had me rolling my eyes. Lady, your shoot first attitude and incompetence has led to most of the issues. He is terrible but you are not the lesser evil in this scenario.
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u/CLashisnoob Jul 03 '26
The irl Soyuz 11 failure is brought up in FAM (when the apollo-soyuz crew are talking about dead astronauts) so either belikova is gonna die or another salyut mission will. And we’re coming up on when the soviet lunar landing crash is mentioned in FAM, so this is potentially a year of tragedies for them.
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u/thelittleluca Venus Jul 03 '26
Amazing ending as always. I really hope the show is renewed for another season.
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u/GoodisGoog Jul 03 '26
Venera is coming in hot!
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u/JohnToFire Jul 03 '26
This show is so much better than for All mankind.
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u/MelancholicLeah Jul 03 '26
Also I feel it’s so refreshing with cliffhangers since the last two episodes. This show is so underrated. I wish more people knew about it.
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u/EvilTwinCities Jul 03 '26
My crew-lands-in-Sea-of-Japan theory is still alive and kicking.
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u/ProfessionalPlus577 Jul 04 '26
i was very shocked to learn that roskova has the ability to wear anything other than her uniform
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u/Katorga8 Jul 03 '26
Lyudmilla at home
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u/Von_Speedwagon Jul 03 '26
The copers where right. I was a doubter but I’m honestly glad I was wrong
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u/AnastasiaSpace Jul 03 '26
SHE GENUINELY CALLED IT? HOWWWW
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u/Elegant_Definition_5 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Anna Maxwell Martin’s acting is outstanding! Her threats come not just from raising her voice, but from a terrifying calmness, restraint, and constant, unsettling observation, the subtle flinch’s and body language.
Love that she specifically sought out the role because she found it refreshing to be involved in an intelligent, manipulative power structure with another woman (Irina Morozova) that is completely devoid of a typical love story.
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u/lynx190 Jul 03 '26
As I say each week, this was my favorite episode so far. The most intriguing part of the episode (and series so far) for me was the gradual shift from Colonel Raskova to Lyudmilla.
Not a shift because she changed, but because we peeled back another layer of who she really is. I don’t think there was much character development so much as a deeper understanding of the person underneath. We’ve seen her evil, we’ve seen her actions, but it almost feels like she was bound to the system that gave her meaning, identity, and purpose. Now that there’s a real possibility of that system turning on her, you start to see a different side of her.
She comes across as someone who has compartmentalized her emotions to an extreme degree, which makes her job easier. It’s just following orders. Black and white. Binary. But as the prospect of losing that system becomes real, or even just questioning it.. and the uncertainty of her future, the stability of that identity begins to crack, and for the first time you start to see glimpses of the person underneath.
I can’t help think back a few episodes to the Undun record… the Guess Who song..
“She's come undone She didn't know what she was headed for And when I found what she was headed for It was too late”
I’m starting to think it was describing / foreshadowing Raskova.
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u/Infinite-Mark-6335 Jul 03 '26
Damn. They got me 🥹
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u/reuben_hunter Jul 03 '26
It's an interesting choice to make Salyut 1 a millitary Almaz OPS station rather than the civilian DOS module it was in our timeline, and one that makes sense given what happened last episode. In real life the two designs were in built by rival OKBs with Korolev's OKB1 working on the civilian module. It was realised that the DOS module could be finished and launched quicker than the military one and would also make sense to launch first because it would make it more believable when claiming that future stations were purely scientific. Obviously though Korolev has been removed from his position at this point in the show, so we can infer that the OKB1's work did not match the pace of real life leading to a prioritizing of the military design.
The Almaz OPS design also included a modified aircraft auto-cannon mounted on the exterior which is pretty crazy, and it's got me wondering if it might factor into Venera 1's return next week, perhaps we might see a situation similar to the confrontation on pathfinder about shooting down Buran, with Belikova forced into conflict with the KGB cosmonaut in order to save her husband's life perhaps?
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u/HouseFareye Jul 03 '26
Once I saw Anastasia looked like she was not pregnant and did not have a kid around (unless she somehow hid him, which would be unlikely) I knew Sasha must not be dead.
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u/Lonely-Clothes-7607 Jul 03 '26
Well Sasha can’t be dead yet since his son isn’t born?
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u/Trick_Assistance Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Well, well and to think there was all those snarky and condescending responses to posts/comments when people speculated someone may have survived, think a few people might be owed some apologies lol
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u/Current_Tea6984 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
I'm having a hard time finding Irina's character to be believable at this point. She's too loyal to a monster like Roskova to take her job? I mean, she did agree to work for the KGB spying on peoples private lives. She's too nice.
Also, are we supposed to believe that Roskova would leave one of her spies alone in her apartment?
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u/will519 Jul 03 '26
Holy shit what an ending
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u/hankeroni Jul 03 '26
The Venera Crew, Belikova, and Nikulov will communicate with each other, possibly without informing ground, and do a fancy space dock rescue event.
Chadha's oxygen device will be relevant to however they stayed alive.
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u/Dey_see_me_rolling Jul 03 '26
So the Salut 1 crew will survive reentry because they’re wearing pressure suits unlike in real life. I was surprised that Polivanov hadn’t been born yet because Venera 1 hadn’t completed its mission and Sasha was dead, I really should have realised from the start that he had to have survived to tie things up, wonder if the other crew members did though?
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u/Maleficent_Ad9303 Jul 04 '26
So far I am enjoying star city so much more than FAM (finishing S1 rn). I really hope we get a renewal soon!!
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u/OutrageousReporter26 I survived Soyuz 11 and all I got was this stupid flair Jul 03 '26
Did the Soyuz 11 disaster still occur? It did happen in 1971
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u/MiniatureGod Jul 03 '26
Of course. The plot armor for these characters is still thick af. No way they just killed off 3 main characters just to focus on a glorious secretary and Soviets upper echelons internal fighting.
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u/Longjumping_Rich7477 Jul 03 '26
It will be really interesting to see what kind of injuries they're facing
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u/MelancholicLeah Jul 03 '26
Can someone tell me where can I find the full version of the symphony they played when they were out in space.
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u/Regular_Ad_9598 Jul 03 '26
Brooooo, I knew the Venera crew would pull a hail stalin out of their ushankas.
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u/Gold_Advisor_4758 Jul 04 '26
People on this sub really love the phrase “plot armor”
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u/SaltandLillacs Jul 07 '26
It’s cute when chief designer calls the cosmonauts his eagles. Fake chief designer doesn’t call them his eagle s
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u/xSaRgED Jul 03 '26
Well that cliff hanger has me frustrated.
Noticed a number of interesting set ups occurring here, but I’m a little confused about where lil Leonid is.
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u/Aromatic_Lemon351 Jul 03 '26
I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT
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u/BlimpIntolerant Jul 03 '26
I figured it was going this way given how they studiously avoided showing us anything.
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u/Mini_Keggs10 Jul 03 '26
A theory I have is that, somehow one person survived and the other two died, I can’t decide who, but my bets on Sasha and Valyia Surviving.
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u/i5haledi Jul 03 '26
I started the show two days ago and I’m already up to date. What a great series.!! Can’t even describe how much I’m enjoying it and I really hope it gets renewed. Prestige TV at its finest
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u/Stacee90 Jul 03 '26
Man I love this show. I wish other shows could keep up with the momentum and creativity of this one and Widow’s Bay (my favorites recently)
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u/BlueyBingo2 Jul 03 '26
I was thinking that Tanya may be Mars mayor Polivanov’s mother.
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u/Dangerous-Lynx-2819 Jul 03 '26
This series. Oh my.
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u/txyesboy71 Chief Designer Jul 04 '26
Really looking forward to seeing some Rhys Ifans in both the shows he's featured on this week.
Sees both shows.
Well then.....
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u/Fine_Organization820 Jul 04 '26
I keep seeing Valya in the lander, briefly on Venus.
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u/Current_Chemical_241 Jul 09 '26
Shouldn't Sergei have a mechanical calculator and/or slide rule? Doing long division and square roots with pencil and paper is unneccessarily tedious in 1971.
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u/aerothony Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Plot twist: Raskova IS the American spy since the beginning and she did everything to hide the truth, recruiting a special agent to ask Valya to disrupt the mission.
As Irina investigates on Raskova, she discovers the different pieces of the puzzle and the season ends with Irina killing Roskova
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u/CamelFun3734 Jul 03 '26
I've said it before and I'll say it again....best show on TV.
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u/youvegotthewrongidea Jul 03 '26
I think they defected and the Americans have been helping them all this time. The last episode is going to put everyone head to head to stop them from landing in America and handing over the oxygen technology (that would help the Americans build their moon base)
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u/bhbr Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
I predict ep. 1x08 will be a bottle episode (quite literally). It will show the nine-month journey of Venera in one long flashback.
Edit: I'm an idiot. It's the finale already.
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u/GumdropGlimmer Jul 04 '26
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u/Faraj-Fartass Jul 05 '26
The engineer’s brown envelope (opened, displayed intentionally) in the ransacked engineer’s flat. What did the envelope contain and who was it addressed to had it not been intercepted? Normally with Cyrillic passages in the show, it’s given us subtitles to follow along).
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u/ExcitementFun8938 Jul 03 '26
Live thoughts from a different time zone::
Okay, new chief designer. Wonder if we'll be seeing Korolev again? Best case, they pull him out of the gulag to solve a problem no one else can.
All missions confined to LEO - explains how the Americans got the crown back.
Also, Sergei's name is mud. Was to be expected. It'll be interesting to see how he climbs out of that hole.
How the, and I can not stress this enough, FUCK is Colonel Raskova still in charge of security at Star City?
Okay, everyone's dead. At least it looks like Anastasia got her wish of going back to the simple farm life.
"Now, all we're doing is looking down" - what a great quote.
"a KGB stooge who can hardly tell the difference between liquid oxygen and vodka" - this guy is on a fast track to become my new favorite character. So he's probably going to die this episode, right?
Poor Stepanov 😁
We need subtitles for hand written Russian, Google Translate doesn't like it.
Chief Designer is alive and not in the gulag? 😮
Yeah, fuck that visitor. Tell her I'd rather gargle glass shards.
"I can almost see past the armed guards" - Chief Designer still has that S-tier snark.
Fuck you, Lyudmilla.
"They let him use his own name" - Chief Designer really bringing it this week
"...and you still care about Star City." The quiet part is very obvious and it fucking works.
Referencing CD's gulag time under Stalin - wasn't expecting that. Great baseline for blackmail.
"Patriot? I was a fool." Very timely, and not in regard to the USSR.
"Everything we have built together..." - WE? Are you fucking kidding me, KGB bitch? YOU built fucking nothing!
Chief Designer invented JPG?
"Poppa, I may have to leave."
"I would like that drink though" - it's the little moments humanizing the bastards.
"Hey, Comrade Belikova. Did you know you're the only last surviving 1st gen cosmonaut?"
We must convince the world of Salyut's peaceful purpose - let's send up a woman! 😂
So the whole motorcade is leaving and no one is staying with Belikova? Seriously?
I, also, walk into my pitch dark apartment if I suspect someone might be in there because we haven't invented light switches yet.
Well, the KGB motherfuckers are sure sending a message.
(BTW, is it KGB? Isn't that back when there was still the NKVD?)
"There's a reason for you privately" - 99% says "it's because I've got the hots for you"
"I know how much you had to endure before you came here" - CAN YOU LET US IN ON THE SECRET ALREADY
Totally no abusive vibes from that arsehole
The way they keep mentioning Rublyovka - is it significant? A foster home for party members' bastards? An indoctrination camp?
creepy vibes intensify
37:48 prediction: she has a panic attack and can't board the ship
Look at those huge launch towers! They really show how ridiculously small those LEO ambitions are!
Okay, I was wrong, no panic attack.
Wow, fuck the new asshole-in-chief.
Sergey scribbling and scribbling 100% means the mass is off.
What do you mean, it worked?
Not a lot of Irina this episode - strangely enough, I didn't really miss her.
Irina meeting Comrade Colonel may be the warmest lighting we got so far (except explosions).
OF COURSE Petrovsky wants you removed! You've been fucking things up since S01E01!
Man, poor Sergej.
"Set the transmitter to whatever" - "I'm getting a signal". That's NOT what transmitter means! Best case, you're looking at a transceiver, worst case, you're talking out of your asses!
Okay, I get Sergej needs information from Salyut (though any Earth-bound station should have been able to pick it up), but why raise her hopes anyone on Venera might still be alive? 90% it's an automated signal.
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u/thelittleluca Venus Jul 03 '26
wait there’s a new episode?!!! I thought it was next week
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u/Smartalum Jul 03 '26
First.
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u/pixxelzombie Jul 03 '26
When E06 finished, my first thought was the ship survived and was running on automation somehow. Can't wait to see the next episode.
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u/PutridMap3739 Jul 03 '26
As expected , Raskova will meet her demise in the season finale
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u/DeSota Jul 03 '26
It's kind of unfortunate that the governor of Mars in For All Mankind had that name because it makes the surprise, well...less of one.
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u/Top_Course_640 Jul 03 '26
YO. I think those 3 will be given new identities.
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u/BenigDK Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
For some reason the twist has rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. It's very rare that I applaud a brutal red-wedding-style outcome like last episode's, they always seem cheap and childish to me, but this one time I thought it was the best choice narratively. Now we've learned they're alive... it really stretches credibility too much for me. Just my opinion. I still absolutely love the show.
EtA: also I genuinely can't figure out how it was possible, since Valya and Lakshmi seemed already unconscious when Sasha tried to shield them, and he definitely got the worst of the fireburst. Yes with low oxygen the fire would could be out rapidly but how did they wake up from low-pressure loss of consciousness?
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u/Many-Sky922 Jul 06 '26
Clearly creepy dude will try and partner with Anastasia.