To recap, Age of Confusion is an alternate history podcast, but told in the style of an non-fiction history podcast. It imagines a world where John. F. Kennedy survived his assassination attempt, and examines how history changes from there. Last time, we left off with the election of George Romney in 1968. Romney takes office in a time of change and turmoil. The Counterculture Movement is in full swing, and will bring big changes to the American cultural landscape. Meanwhile, Soviet Premier Alexander Shelepin is gaging Romney’s character. Shelepin, and his counterparts in East Germany, have been eyeing West Berlin hungrily. Back in America, both political parties are already focusing on the 1972 Election. It is an age of wonders, it is an age of terrors, but above all else, it is an Age of Confusion.
For those who have missed my review of season 1, you can find that over here. I thought that season 1 of Age of Confusion was absolutely fantastic. Season 2 not only matched its predecessor in terms of quality, but also exceeded it. Sean Munger built upon the groundwork he laid in season 1 to great effect. This was a season where a lot of shoes dropped. The intro to each episode lets us know that three things are going to happen: West Berlin will be invaded by East Germany, Robert F. Kennedy will be elected President, and something is going differently for the Apollo program.
First, let’s talk about President George Romney. Sean portrays Romney as a good man at heart, and someone who genuinely wants what is best for the America. However, that goodness is also Romany’s biggest weakness. Romney simply doesn’t know how to play the game of politics, and quickly finds himself way over his head. Romney doesn’t get as much flack for his Mormonism as you might think, but I think this makes sense. Most Americans had never heard of Mormons in the late 1960/early 1970s. Romney also specifically speaks of his strong Christian faith, but not specifically his Mormonism. In other views, Romney is a strong supporter of civil rights for African-Americans and Native Americans.
The one true success of Romney’s presidency is that he gets Medicare passed. JFK was unable to do this, as he did in our world, due to focusing on getting the Comprehensive Civil Rights Act passed. Romney takes office in the middle of a recession, and he argues that Medicare will help take financial burdens off of the American people. He also allows individuals age twenty-five and under to be covered by Medicare. Medicare is a big hit with the American people, but Republicans are absolutely furious. Many claim than Romney isn’t a true Republican. Romney winds up pretty much destroying the moderate wing of the Republican Party. The 1960s and 1970s were when the Democrats and Republicans solidified into their current forms. Before that, both parties had members from across the political spectrum. Kennedy, was a Democrat, and supported Civl Rights, but he also had to fight against members of his own party who opposed the Civil Rights Act.
I liked that this season also took time to focus on alternate history related to pop culture. A band called Refraction becomes America’s answer to The Beatles. Sean says that he had this happen because he was unsatisfied with how America never produced a band capable of rivaling The Beatles. The members of Refraction collaborates with director Frank Perry to make a movie adaption of the novel On the Road. Said adaptation is a massive hit, and wins a bunch of Academy Awards.
Meanwhile, Elvis Presley’s wife introduces him to L. Ron Hubbard. Elvis becomes very close to Hubbard, converts to Scientology, and donates a bunch of money to the Church of Scientology. I’m not sure if I can see this happening. Elvis was an extremely devout Christian in our world. In fact, he refused to be called The King because he thought it was blasphemous. Priscilla Beaulieu Presley did become a Scientologist in our world, but that was after Elvis’ death in 1977. Though, I guess anything is theoretically possible.
The outcome of the Moon Race is…underwhelming. Sean said that the Space Race wouldn’t be getting much focus, but it feels like it was tacked on almost as an afterthought. Romney guts NASA’s budget at a critical moment, and this allows the Soviets to get their act together and land a manned mission on the Moon first. There were a lot of politicians in our world who wanted to defund NASA on the grounds that the money could be better spent on programs on Earth. Walter Mondale is one example that comes to mind. It is also theoretically possible that the N1 rocket could have gotten a Soyuz craft to the Moon. So, this is a reasonably believable scenario. Still, it could easily have been an episode in and of itself. Actually, it could potentially be multiple episodes. I can’t help but feel that there was a massive missed opportunity here.
Let’s move onto something that was most certainly not a missed opportunity. East Germany is concerned about the brain drain they suffer thanks to West Berlin. Alexander Shelepin agrees, and decides that the time is right to finally invade West Berlin. Shelepin deemed Romney to be a weak-willed pushover, and didn’t expect any serious consequences. The war machine springs to life, and both West and East are on high alert. Soviet and East German troops move into West Berlin, while NATO forces mobilize to counter them. Citizens on the East Coast of America are told to head for the bomb shelters and prepare for the worst. The military is at DEFCON 1, and President Romney must decide if he should push the button or not.
Oh, and wouldn’t you know it, pretty much the entire presidential cabinet is away on various trips. Romney takes some time to pray and makes his choice. He knows that Shelepin is a madman who will make good on his threats of retaliation. Romney decides he will let the Soviets have West Berlin, but American forces will evacuate anyone, regardless of nationality, who wants to be evacuated. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are evacuated from both halves of Berlin. More importantly, all of the intellectuals and educated workers are successfully evacuated. And so the Berlin Wall falls twenty years ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, it falls because Berlin is united under communist rule.
Shelepin technically succeeded, as now Berlin is united under East German rule, but the brain drain is even worse than if he’d done nothing. A victory, but a rather pyrrhic one. On the other hand, relations between the NATO nations are seriously strained. West Germany is furious that America threw them under the bus. Britain and France also fear that America may betray them to the Soviets.
Still, Shelepin does find other bits of success. He manages to pretty much completely reverse the Sino-Soviet Split. Shelepin also enacts a new wave of political purges, but not quite to the extent that Stalin did. He doesn’t have enough charisma, and isn’t enough of a people person, to start a cult of personality like Stalin did. The Chinese Cultural Revolution goes pretty much exactly as it did in our world. The biggest difference is that Mao dies about five years ahead of schedule. That’s definitely going to have an impacts on future seasons of Age of Confusion.
As you might imagine, the events of the Berlin Crisis play a major role in the 1972 Presidential Election. It comes down to Ronald Reagan vs. Robert F. Kennedy. As for how that line-up come to be, I’ll leave that for you to discover. Obviously, we know from the intro that Kennedy wins. Ultimately, it was the war scare that swing things. Americans wanted someone who was going to deescalate things with the Soviets, not ramp them up. George Wallace also ran again, but only managed to win three states this time round. Of course, the real fun is going to start next season, when RFK officially takes office.
That covers all of the major points I wanted to discuss. There’s still several bits that I didn’t mention, but I’ll leave those for you to discover. Season 1 of Age of Confusion was amazing, but it was just the warm up act. Season 2 is where the fun really starts. Sean has said he wants to take some time off to rest before working on season 3. I can respect that. It is import to avoid overexerting yourself in your creative endeavors. There’s no shame in taking time off to rest and recuperate. And hey, based on how season 2 turned out, I know that season 3 and 4 will be absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to listen to them whenever they come out.
I liked that this season also took time to focus on alternate history related to pop culture. A band called Refraction becomes America’s answer to The Beatles. Sean says that he had this happen because he was unsatisfied with how America never produced a band capable of rivaling The Beatles. The members of Refraction collaborates with director Frank Perry to make a movie adaption of the novel On the Road. Said adaptation is a massive hit, and wins a bunch of Academy Awards.
Meanwhile, Elvis Presley’s wife introduces him to L. Ron Hubbard. Elvis becomes very close to Hubbard, converts to Scientology, and donates a bunch of money to the Church of Scientology. I’m not sure if I can see this happening. Elvis was an extremely devout Christian in our world. In fact, he refused to be called The King because he thought it was blasphemous. Priscilla Beaulieu Presley did become a Scientologist in our world, but that was after Elvis’ death in 1977. Though, I guess anything is theoretically possible.
The outcome of the Moon Race is…underwhelming. Sean said that the Space Race wouldn’t be getting much focus, but it feels like it was tacked on almost as an afterthought. Romney guts NASA’s budget at a critical moment, and this allows the Soviets to get their act together and land a manned mission on the Moon first. There were a lot of politicians in our world who wanted to defund NASA on the grounds that the money could be better spent on programs on Earth. Walter Mondale is one example that comes to mind. It is also theoretically possible that the N1 rocket could have gotten a Soyuz craft to the Moon. So, this is a reasonably believable scenario. Still, it could easily have been an episode in and of itself. Actually, it could potentially be multiple episodes. I can’t help but feel that there was a massive missed opportunity here.
Let’s move onto something that was most certainly not a missed opportunity. East Germany is concerned about the brain drain they suffer thanks to West Berlin. Alexander Shelepin agrees, and decides that the time is right to finally invade West Berlin. Shelepin deemed Romney to be a weak-willed pushover, and didn’t expect any serious consequences. The war machine springs to life, and both West and East are on high alert. Soviet and East German troops move into West Berlin, while NATO forces mobilize to counter them. Citizens on the East Coast of America are told to head for the bomb shelters and prepare for the worst. The military is at DEFCON 1, and President Romney must decide if he should push the button or not.
Oh, and wouldn’t you know it, pretty much the entire presidential cabinet is away on various trips. Romney takes some time to pray and makes his choice. He knows that Shelepin is a madman who will make good on his threats of retaliation. Romney decides he will let the Soviets have West Berlin, but American forces will evacuate anyone, regardless of nationality, who wants to be evacuated. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are evacuated from both halves of Berlin. More importantly, all of the intellectuals and educated workers are successfully evacuated. And so the Berlin Wall falls twenty years ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, it falls because Berlin is united under communist rule.
Shelepin technically succeeded, as now Berlin is united under East German rule, but the brain drain is even worse than if he’d done nothing. A victory, but a rather pyrrhic one. On the other hand, relations between the NATO nations are seriously strained. West Germany is furious that America threw them under the bus. Britain and France also fear that America may betray them to the Soviets.
Still, Shelepin does find other bits of success. He manages to pretty much completely reverse the Sino-Soviet Split. Shelepin also enacts a new wave of political purges, but not quite to the extent that Stalin did. He doesn’t have enough charisma, and isn’t enough of a people person, to start a cult of personality like Stalin did. The Chinese Cultural Revolution goes pretty much exactly as it did in our world. The biggest difference is that Mao dies about five years ahead of schedule. That’s definitely going to have an impacts on future seasons of Age of Confusion.
As you might imagine, the events of the Berlin Crisis play a major role in the 1972 Presidential Election. It comes down to Ronald Reagan vs. Robert F. Kennedy. As for how that line-up come to be, I’ll leave that for you to discover. Obviously, we know from the intro that Kennedy wins. Ultimately, it was the war scare that swing things. Americans wanted someone who was going to deescalate things with the Soviets, not ramp them up. George Wallace also ran again, but only managed to win three states this time round. Of course, the real fun is going to start next season, when RFK officially takes office.
That covers all of the major points I wanted to discuss. There’s still several bits that I didn’t mention, but I’ll leave those for you to discover. Season 1 of Age of Confusion was amazing, but it was just the warm up act. Season 2 is where the fun really starts. Sean has said he wants to take some time off to rest before working on season 3. I can respect that. It is import to avoid overexerting yourself in your creative endeavors. There’s no shame in taking time off to rest and recuperate. And hey, based on how season 2 turned out, I know that season 3 and 4 will be absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to listen to them whenever they come out.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment