A fatal accident on the International Space Station leaves a lone astronaut to attempt to put her life back together in the Apple TV+ series Constellation. In case you missed anything, our recap of Season 1 details everything that went down in Episodes 1-8.
Constellation Season 1 Recap
- Episode 1 - "The Wounded Angel"
- Episode 2 - "Live and Let Die"
- Episode 3 - "Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart"
- Episode 4 - "The Left Hand of God"
- Episode 5 - "Five Miles Out, the Sound Is Clearest"
- Episode 6 - "Paul is Dead"
- Episode 7 - "Through the Looking Glass"
- Episode 8 - "These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin"
Episode 1 – “The Wounded Angel”
Jo and her team face turbulence on the International Space Station, leading to one of them dying. The team can send three of the four people home in a shuttle, leaving Jo to stay back to collect the data and hope to make it out alive.
While they fight to survive, Commander Henry wants to ensure his Data Core arrives home in one piece.
Episode 2 – “Live and Let Die”
As Jo gathers the batteries to disembark, her communication with the space station goes down, leaving her to handle the rest independently. On land, Commander Henry grows frustrated, knowing that his Data Core analysis might not be able to be retrieved. Jo gets in the shuttle with mere minutes to spare and departs, finally landing on Earth.
Commander Henry and his team arrive to collect his Data Core while Jo reunites with her daughter and husband.
Episode 3 – “Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart”
Jo struggles to adapt to everyday life upon returning from space. While her relationship with her daughter unravels, her relationship with her husband is clicking better than before she left. In the testimony about what happened on the ISS, she tells everyone that she saw a body, but after a lot of pressure and wanting to go home, she takes it back.
Commander Henry struggles to deal with the readings the Data Core has given while coming face to face with a doubter of his past that turns deadly.
Episode 4 – “The Left Hand of God”
Jo discovers the pills that Star City provided her with a prescription filled with lithium-7. She believes it was because she claimed she saw something up in space. Magnus finally confronts Jo about their relationship before she leaves for space and asks her if she cheated on him with Frederick, which she denies.
After an episode at Alice’s school, Magnus calls Frederick to help him with Jo. This is where Frederick reveals that he and Jo did have an affair. Jo and Magnus fight over the affair, leading to her accidentally pushing him, and he hits his head, knocking him out.
Constellation | Image via Apple TV+
Episode 5 – “Five Miles Out, the Sound Is Clearest”
Jo takes Alice and heads on the run after she accidentally knocks out Magnus. She rushes to the office to take Henry’s Data Core and heads to find the Skagerrak siblings to get the tapes. When meeting with Laurenz Skagerrak, she gave her the recordings to keep. On their way to the cabin, Alice pops in the tape from November 1967, and they can hear the cosmonaut, but it is a bit messy. Jo puts the tape player next to the Data Core and can hear it crystal clear.
Episode 6 – “Paul is Dead”
A reenactment of what unfolded on the ISS shows that it played out differently than in the first episode. Instead of Paul dying, it was Jo who passed away, and Paul had to do all the things Jo was set to do on the spacecraft before debarking. Before debarking, Jo’s body was giving Paul issues, so he left it in space, causing mass issues with Magnus and Alice. Alice struggles without her mom, and Paul struggles to adapt to life back in reality. Paul confronts Henry Caldera about the mission, but it turns deadly, and Alice and Magnus head to the cabin, where her mother arrives in the middle of the night.
Episode 7 – “Through the Looking Glass”
A twisted web of two Alices, two Jos, and a battle with Henry and Bud Caldera unfolds before our eyes. A race against time finds Magnus and Frederick trying to find Jo and Alice before something terrible happens to either of them. English and Swedish Alice talk to one another and unpack each other’s versions of their moms, who have swapped spots. Magnus finds Jo, who is trying to bring Alice back to life in the cold snow.
We see Alice awaken at the hospital, where she discovers that her mother has been taken to Irena Lysenko’s hospital.
Episode 8 – “These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin”
Henry Caldera is brought in for questioning after shooting Paul Lancaster. He attempts to convince the police that he and Bud Caldera are not the same. After taking a lie detector test, Henry passes with flying colors, but the DNA matches. This leads to his arrest for the murder of Mr. Rogers and the attempted murder of Paul. Irena Lysenka attempts to get Jo to live her life and forget about the past because she is pregnant.
Magnus and Alice are moving out, and she has one last conversation with the other Alice, saying goodbye. Alice visits Jo at the hospital and the two talk about the other variations of themselves. Alice believes the other Alice is okay with them accepting one another in their lives. The season ends with Alice asking her mother, “If she and her dad are from here and this version of Jo is from up there, where will the baby be from?”
That was our recap of Constellation Season 1 (Episodes 1-8). What did you think of the season overall? Was it too convoluted for its own good? Let us know in the comments.
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