Star City Season 1 Episode 7 just gave us the twist I didn’t see coming, and it’s the kind of gut-punch that makes you rewind and rewatch the last five minutes twice. Episode 7 picks up in the wreckage of that shuttle explosion, and honestly, the fallout hits just as hard as the disaster itself.
The Second Directorate Clips Star City’s Wings
We’re back in 1971, and the consequences of that catastrophic mission are rippling through every corridor of Star City. The Second Directorate has come down hard, restricting the program’s ambitions to Earth’s orbit only. No more reaching for the stars, quite literally. Instead, a new space station called Salyut-1 becomes the center of attention, officially framed as a scientific research platform. Unofficially? It’s a spy tool, quietly feeding intelligence on Western military and scientific facilities straight back to Soviet authorities.
And the tension doesn’t stop there. Later in the episode, we learn that Ambassador Bush has uncovered a Soviet film capsule recovered on American soil, a discovery that cranks up the diplomatic pressure between the two nations even further. It’s a small detail in terms of screen time, but it’s the kind of thread that feels like it’s going to matter a lot more down the line.
Lyudmilla Takes the Fall (And a New Boss Steps In)
Lyudmilla is carrying the weight of the botched mission on her shoulders, and it’s clear the “insubordination” whispered about throughout Star City is being pinned squarely on her. Enter Chief Designer Radimir Petrovsky, the new man in charge, and let’s just say the engineers aren’t exactly thrilled. Sergei, in particular, seems completely checked out. He’s overworked, forced into constant overtime, and disillusioned enough that he’s actually browsing for other jobs. Nobody on the team believes Petrovsky can fill the shoes of the previous Chief Designer, and the program’s new obsession with staying grounded instead of reaching for space is dragging morale into the floor.
Desperate to salvage the Salyut film operation, Lyudmilla promotes Comrade Stepanov to lead engineer. Then she does something riskier: she pays a visit to the former Chief Designer, who’s currently under house arrest. He’s smug about the chaos unfolding without him and initially refuses to lift a finger to help. But Lyudmilla, in a rare moment of vulnerability, admits that Petrovsky is a bad fit for the role and that she genuinely fears he could do irreversible damage to Star City. That honesty seems to crack something open in him, because he eventually agrees to help.
Irina’s Loyalty Gets Tested
Lyudmilla isn’t the only one wrestling with disillusionment. After failing to bring Tanya back, Irina finds herself demoted to listening duties again, a quiet punishment that stings more than any direct confrontation would. Meanwhile, Anastasia keeps up appearances as Star City’s star cosmonaut, even though she’s still grounded and clearly grieving. Sasha’s death from the previous episode is still sitting heavy with her, and any mention of space missions seems to reopen that wound.
That’s when Commander Tarasov shows up at her family farm, where she’s staying with her father, Vladimir. After some small talk over a drink, Tarasov gets straight to the point: Mother Russia has taken notice of everything Anastasia has sacrificed, and now they want something in return. Star City needs a cosmonaut for rotation aboard Salyut-1, and they’ve chosen her to lead the mission.
While that’s unfolding, Petrovsky makes his move. He pulls Irina aside privately and plants the idea that Lyudmilla has been “holding her back.” His real plan, though, is to use Irina to gather evidence and force Lyudmilla out of power entirely. It’s a classic power play, and for a moment, it genuinely feels like it could work.
The Bug That Changed Everything
Anastasia heads off for the Salyut mission, and that same night, Irina shows up at Lyudmilla’s home. She’s there to plant a bug, following Petrovsky’s orders to the letter. But just as she’s about to go through with it, she spots a photo of Lyudmilla with her son, who died in the war. That image stops her cold.
Instead of finishing the job, Irina comes clean. She tells Lyudmilla everything: the bugging, Petrovsky’s scheme, all of it. Rather than punishing her, Lyudmilla makes a smarter move and turns Irina into a double agent working against Petrovsky from the inside.
The Venera Mission Breakthrough
On a completely different front, Sergei tracks down Stepanov and pushes him to get access to Salyut-1. Stepanov eventually caves, and once they’re on a secure channel, Sergei brings up the Venera mission. He’s spent time combing through the data collected by the Yevpatoria Telescope, and something about it doesn’t add up.
After running a few tests, he isolates a signal transmitting data using his own algorithm. There’s only one other spacecraft in existence capable of producing that exact signal, and it’s coming from the very shuttle that exploded in the previous episode.
The Episode Review: Star City’s Best Slow Burn Yet
That final reveal reframes everything we thought we knew about last episode’s tragedy. If a signal using Sergei’s algorithm is coming through, that means the shuttle wasn’t fully destroyed, and there’s a real chance at least one cosmonaut survived. It’s a chilling way to end the hour, and it recontextualizes the entire “training mission” cover story the Russians have been so eager to bury.
What struck me most about this episode is how much of it centers on institutional decay rather than space spectacle. We’re watching an entire program rot from the inside because of ego, bureaucracy, and fear, and it’s honestly more compelling than another launch sequence would have been. Petrovsky is clearly nothing more than a KGB plant, and his presence has done nothing but stall Star City’s progress in the space race.
Irina’s arc this episode deserves real credit too. The choice to have her turn against Petrovsky the moment she sees Lyudmilla’s grief up close feels earned rather than convenient. It’s a quiet character beat, but it says a lot about the kind of loyalty this show is interested in exploring: not blind obedience, but loyalty built from shared pain and history.
By the time the credits roll, it’s obvious the stakes are about to escalate hard. Between the surviving signal, Anastasia’s mission aboard Salyut-1, and the fragile alliance between Lyudmilla and Irina, Star City has set up a back half of the season that feels genuinely unpredictable. I’m already anxious to see how these threads collide.
Star City Season 1 Episode 6 | Star City Season 1 Episode 8
