Away Finale Recap: Did the Atlas Safely Make It to Mars? — Plus, Grade It!

Kimberly Roots
·3 min read

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Away.

The crew of the Atlas suffered many catastrophes, hardships and near-fatal incidents on the way to Mars, but all of it proves worth the trouble in Away‘s Season 1 finale when Commander Emma Green and her team safely land on the red planet.

The lead-up to the historic touchdown, however, is not without its problems. At the start of the episode, Emma has (perfectly understandable) nightmares about the ship bursting into flames upon entering Mars’ atmosphere. And there’s still weirdness between her and Ram regarding the way he feels about her. Kwesi counsels his heartsick crewmate that Emma does love him — in the same way she loves him, Misha and Lu — and “just imagine what a burden that is for her today.”

While the crew is going over the plan for landing, everyone back on Earth prepares for the historic event. News crews camp out in front of the Greens’ home, so Mel comes by to take Matt and Alexis off for a horseback riding excursion with her and her daughter. While they’re there, Mel tells Matt that things have gotten “complicated” (and she’s not just talking about helping him care for Lex). When he appears clueless, she says, “You really can’t see it, can you, Matt?” Oof. Pretty soon, though, they’re distracted by Lex’s test results: She doesn’t carry the gene for cerebral cavernous malformation, meaning she’s not hereditarily susceptible to the kind of stroke her father had.

Up in space, everyone suits up. Ram gently tells Emma that no matter what happens, “our deaths are not your burden to carry.” Misha and Lu have a sweet chat. Kwesi says a prayer, then they head into the command module. At Ground Control, the gathered crowd — including Lex’s boyfriend, Isaac, who’s there at Matt’s invitation — watch video messages each member of the crew recorded right before the landing sequence was initiated.

The descent is fiery and scary, as predicted, but Atlas eventually touches down safely. Everyone cries in relief. “Anyone wanna go again?” Emma jokes weakly. They’re overjoyed to see that their supply ship, Pegasus, also has landed in one piece not far from the Atlas. There are tense moments at Ground Control, thanks to some audio lag, but then everyone erupts in celebration upon hearing Emma’s announcement that they’ve arrived on Mars.

The Atlas’ crew leaves the ship and walks around outside, awed by the terrain. And though China had negotiated for Lu to be the first person off the ship and to send the first photo of herself (visor down) from the heretofore unexplored planet, her anger at her country’s attempts to erase her name and identity from history — as well as their hesitance to reinstate Mei at Ground Control — lead her to an act of defiance.

So when the first photo from Mars is transmitted to the world, it is of all of the Atlas astronauts standing on the red ground, together.

Now it’s your turn. We want to know what you thought of Away‘s finale and of Season 1 as a whole. So grade them via the polls below, then hit the comments to expand upon your thoughts!

More from TVLine

Best of TVLine

Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter