u/Icy_Park_7919

S2 alpinista here.

Call it another reason to never hit 100pc charge, but I’ve been caught by surprise on my way to work in the morning with no engine brake.

Fortunately no harm done as I could react. But I’ve been getting used to riding most of my commute without touching my brakes, so I was a little bit startled not to getting any engine braking.

The problem is that there is no engine brake at 100pc, and it only becomes available a few pc of charge down. This all makes sense because when you’re at full charge, regen shouldn’t be available as the battery has no storage left to store more energy.

But it would be great, if Livewire could software update our dash to show when regen is unavailable.

Anyone has a similar take on this?

The finale gives us a few hints as to who are the main characters going forward. Let's discuss. Here are my thoughts:

- Graciana, Aleida's daughter, is developing a relationship with Margo, very much reminiscent of Aleida's coming of age. Graciana is out of the teenage rebellion and getting interested in science. Eight years on, we're likely to find her working in Nasa/Helios/ or somewhere in the field.

- Alex Poletov Baldwin. Need I say more.

- Lily. Miles' daughter, Alex's partner. She's here to stay. She needs her own subplot though, to get away from the shadow of her dad and partner.

- President Miles Dale. Zoom in on the Houston Sentinel article in the S5 Finale, and that's how he's referred as. President of Mars. Likely still in charge after the time jump to 2020.

- Dev. Alex's last family. Dev's been very discreet this season. But he was tearing up seeing Alex in battle. Dev's daddy issues are known. Alex needs a father figure. Even though Dev never met Alexei Poletov, he had a very strong bond with Ed, then Kelly. That relationship will continue to evolve.

- Polianov. President of Russia, back on earth. sounds likely.

- Stevens, Jarrett is last seen on the surface of Mars, close to where her dad died, and wearing a Helios spacesuit with the name Stevens. She's here to stay.

- Haskell. Shot then saved by Alex, with help from Stevens. He's a bit flat as a character. Doesn't sound like he's here to stay.

- Walt and Elena? Neither really made a splash. I suppose Walt will stay. I hope Elena doesn't the Mister Piscotti treatment, changes the world and disappears off the radar. She has potential.

- Will Tyler. Come on. That phone call was a fantastic teaser. We need more of Will.

- Irina Morozova. The ultimate antagonist perhaps. She knows everything. Nikulov's elimination, Margo's betrayal, Miles' war crimes, Dev's tricks, Polianov's double agent play. She's super powerful. That's not going to get wasted in the writing room.

All of a sudden sudden, a season only sounds like very little. I hope we get a double season, like in S1. With a proper time jump in the middle, and plenty of further exploration.

Setting aside the lack of engine noise and vibration, the clutch is the one thing I wish I had on my Del Mar.

It’s doable though… If I could add one feature to the bike, it would be a virtual clutch. Yes. A left hand lever. Not only because my left hand feels empty, but I’d love on occasion to disengage the engine brake.

Think of a red light. The engine brake will take you all the way to a full stop. It would be great to be able to pull a lever to coast at snails pace just before getting to a full stop.

Lane filtering in heavy traffic would also benefit from that, especially when the pack is slowing…

Similarly, I’d love to be able to coast, rather than engine brake when I’m coming down a mountain…

I get that the roll fwd regen is doing the exact opposite, as in you could a custom ride mode with zero regen and play with the roll fwd to engine brake when you need. But the missing clutch lever is exactly the one thing I’m missing for this ride experience to feel complete.

One can dream. What do you think?

Hi, Bob.

Something's been nagging at me watching Season 5, and I want to know if others have noticed it too. I’m seeing NASA fading out of the story. Is there more to it?

**In-universe:**

NASA feels increasingly sidelined. Seasons 1-2 were essentially a NASA show. By Season 4, Helios was stealing the spotlight and NASA felt more like a bureaucratic obstacle than a protagonist. Now in Season 5, with the story centered on Mars autonomy and private enterprise, NASA seems to barely register. Happy Valley's tensions are framed as Earth vs. Mars, not NASA vs. anyone. Is this intentional, NASA losing relevance in the alternate timeline the same way institutions do in our own? Or has the writers' room just moved on from the agency entirely?

**Behind the scenes:**

Here's something I dug into that surprised me. NASA as an institution was apparently *never* formally involved with the show. In a 2019 interview, technical consultant Garrett Reisman (former NASA astronaut, then at SpaceX) said they tried to get NASA's approval and support but were turned down. The agency was overwhelmed with the Apollo 11 50th anniversary and wasn't comfortable lending its weight to a show that alters iconic historical moments. The real technical consulting came from Reisman personally, plus Michael and Denise Okuda. And Reisman's IMDb credits only run through Season 2.

So there's no NASA license to revoke, no PIO announcement to look for. NASA was never really "in" to begin with.

Do you think NASA's diminished screen presence in S5 is a deliberate narrative choice reflecting its reduced power in the alternate timeline?

Anyone know if there are *any* NASA-connected consultants still credited in Seasons 3-5?

Edit: HT u/oot42 Garrett Reisman is credited as technical consultant in every single episode, for all 5 seasons. Also on IMDb. (per IMDB)