When you’re on a show as science-heavy as WGN America’s Manhattan—the second season of which starts Tuesday, October 13 (that’s tonight!)—you better know your stuff. After all, it is a series that follows the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb, with the greatest scientific minds doing their best to save the world… by making a bomb (Hey, hindsight is 20/20, folks).

So with that in mind, we took it upon ourselves to test the willing-and-able cast and creators about science. While visiting the cast and crew on set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we put their brains on the spot in a new game we’re calling “Science…Or Fiction?!” Using the periodic table of elements—and elements found/mentioned in a whole host of popular culture—we got Rachel Brosnahan, John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Ash Zuckerman, Michael Chernus, Harry Lloyd, creator Sam Shaw, director Tommy Schlamme, and more, to give it to us straight (or BS us if they didn’t know for sure). As it turns out? Real versus fiction can be harder to pin down than you might think! But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun with it in the process.

Although the actors and creators may have had a real go of it with the game, they’ve all proven themselves ready to rumble with the brave new world that produced the nuclear bomb. Which is why you should totally check out one of our favorite shows when it returns tonight—Tuesday, October 13—on WGN America. And if you need to catch up, the first season is currently on Hulu.

Are you a fan of Manhattan? Let us know in the comments below.

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Alicia Lutes is the Associate Editor of Nerdist. Find her geeking out about science she barely understands—and other sorts of tomfoolery—on Twitter (@alicialutes).