The personal and the professional are forever linked, as they are both driving factors for the future. For both to become so compromised by reality, so hurt by factors completely out of one's control, leaves this sense of weight that previous episodes only hinted at, but finally it comes in full force now. Shane's deteriorating health, and pairing it against the deterioration of the Jamestown base as the Russians start to slowly infiltrate the edges, is that previously mentioned link. It's the hardened world on those edges starting to seep into the idealism that For All Mankind wears proudly, where goodness doesn't always prevail. Shantel VanSanten is exceptional throughout, managing to hold back the influx of emotion and saying so much with Karen from that mask she puts over her feelings, over her own well-being, to keep everything on the level. Even after the second opinion, Karen refuses to let her emotions get the better of her, only breaking down when telling Ed the truth. The way she goes through the paperwork, already planning Shane's funeral, is another coping mechanism, this idea of keeping busy and refusing to stay still and allow her thoughts to get in her way.
Another powerhouse of the episode is Sarah Jones, Tracy becoming the rock for Karen under such trying times. There's a quiet ferocity to the way Tracy protects Karen, and how she's willing to be the softer touch while Karen goes through the phases of grief before our eyes. It's a moment that comes as a choice for emotion over practical, when the rest of the episode is directly in the opposite mode. Perhaps her father will be a push in the right direction, as his watchful eye takes in more than he lets on.
