Full spoilers follow for Star City Episode 3, which is streaming on Apple TV now.
It’s only Episode 3 and Star City has already gotten a (short) time jump from late 1969 to 1970. Security has tightened in the months after last episode, as Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin) promised, now that she’s on the scent of Americans trying to smuggle something into Star City. Toward the end of this episode, “Bad Dancer,” we learn what it is — a small radio transceiver — and who did it (I’ll tell ya at the end of this). But the hunt for that piece of equipment that still makes it onto a Soviet spacecraft headed to the moon anyway creates problems everywhere, from everyday inconveniences to the death of a cosmonaut as a result of rebooting the onboard systems to disable the foreign radio signal.
The lockdown looks different for all of our sprawling cast of characters. Tanya Mironova (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis) finds solace in musical contraband pressed onto X-rays, what her stressed-out husband Valya (Adam Nagaitis) calls “bone records.” (These were real, by the way!) There’s a tragedy in the way the records warp after so few plays; she can’t even get one clean listen in because each time she’s interrupted. Still, Tanya’s connection to music allows for some lovely color to her character and draws in young Irina (Agnes O’Casey), who’s still learning the rules of engagement when it comes to being a good intelligence officer at Star City.
As part of her regular surveillance assignment, Irina listens in on the Mironova apartment. Her connection may be via scratchy tapes, but she’s clearly become endeared to the couple, especially Tanya. But Star City is a small place. Out at the town square market, Irina learns that Tanya actually teaches piano to her daughter Zoya, and Tanya invites the two of them over. Wilder yet, Irina accepts. O’Casey is great in this scene, barely concealing her feelings of interloping. It leads to Irina being probably too vulnerable in sharing details about Zoya’s father. He’s a “bad man,” but in exactly what ways, we don’t know. In a clever continuation of Irina relating to places through the tapes, the audio cuts out as she speaks. Later, she magnetizes the part of the tape of her visit we don’t hear. I’m guessing it won’t be a secret for terribly long, though. Certainly overseer Lyudmilla will catch this act of self-censorship, inquire after it and give her a hard lesson about her job.
On the space side, the Sergeis Korolev (Rhys Ifans) and Nikulov (Josef Davies) are in the throes of their next rushed moon mission, while also trying to move quickly on their secret Venus project. The Chief Designer has to do his share of smuggling, too: a gigantic deep sea pod that can take extreme levels of pressure — the same needed to withstand Venus. But in splitting their time between – and managing the stress of – the projects, that American radio transceiver manages to make it onboard Luna 17.
And who is the rat? It’s Valya, who’s been training the Luna 17 crew (which includes Solly McLeod’s Sasha). During the launch, Valya takes a trip with Tanya to see a pianist perform in Moscow, where he’s approached by a mystery woman in a manner that makes it seem like an affair, but zoom in and we hear the reality. She’s pressuring him for another job since the transceiver was found out. We’ve only spent a short time with Valya, but now it all adds up why he’s been so stressed out and a distant husband, leaving room for Sasha to elbow his way in with Tanya. I’m very curious to know how he was recruited. Blackmail? Over what?? We’ll find out!
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