I’ve been pretty up and down on For All Mankind, AppleTV’s alternative history series built on the question, “What if the Soviet Union had made it to the Moon before the United States?” From that question springs a host of twists and turn on history as we know it, including the Soviet Union lasting into the 21st century. For my money, the combination of seasons one and two of the series offered some of the finest writing, directing, and acting Apple has put out to date. In particular, the last several episodes of season two are an absolute barn burner of tension. But since that high water mark, the series has faltered quite a bit. Its third season was a narrative mess – ending with the death of one of the show’s best characters and the demise of one that was truly failed by the show’s writing (in addition to losing a couple characters we won’t speak of). And season four struggled to really find a foothold thanks to a major issue the series never addressed way back in season two – making sure to keep seeding the show with new, compelling characters who could move into larger roles as the show’s original cast “aged out” of the stories.
So here we are, in season five, and old man Ed Baldwin is still somehow alive and kicking. Without spoiling anything, I will say that while Ed remains part of the central cast of characters, his role is much more as a supporting element of the story, as the real focus finally starts to shift to some of the younger characters. Unfortunately, a large number of those younger characters are teenagers – namely Alex (Sean Kaufman this season), Kelly’s son, and his fellow classmates (which includes Miles’ aged up daughter) – who are far too prevalent and have way too big of a hand in the central storyline of the season. We do get more time with Aleida (Coral Pena, who really should be the star of the series at this point), now an executive at Helios who is continually butting heads with Dev (Edi Gathegi, greatly underused this season) as her rationality and his unfettered and unfiltered ideas clash. And Kelly (Cynthia Wu) starts to come into her own. But if you started watching this series because of the excitement of space exploration, well, have I got some bad news for you.
While there is a mission – to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons – that takes place and makes for an interesting subplot, the major arc of the season is the sociopolitical unrest on Mars. When a dead body of a North Korean is discovered just too far enough away from the station to be a suicide (or, “pulling a Gordo” as the kids call it – RIP Gordo), tensions start to rise. What caused a seemingly content man to seemingly take his own life? But, more importantly, we see the citizens (or are they citizens?) of Mars start to push back against the various governments and corporations that control the station, demanding a seat at the table. Not necessarily an invalid claim, seeing as their lives and livelihoods are totally intertwined with the station’s operations. But after the choice to capture the Goldilocks asteroid for Mars at the end of season four, those on Earth aren’t exactly receptive to the wants of Mars. And the interplanetary government has installed a Soviet governor (Costa Ronin, the perfect choice for a morally grey Russian in power) who, in turn, has installed his own tactical team of storm troopers who are armed and in body armor. (Which, yes, hits a bit differently in light of all that is happening in the US at this moment.) Among their ranks is a new character played by Mireille Enos*, who turns out to be the only member of the goon squad with a nose for actual investigation.
*For fans of The Killing – a show that famously hooked everyone in and then absolutely lost the entire goodwill of the audience with its season one finale – yes, Enos and Joel Kinnamen get to work together, albeit briefly. Find someone who loves you as much as the casting team at For All Mankind love alums of The Killing.
It’s an interesting story on paper – who should have a say in what happens on a station on another planet, the people living on the station or the governmental bodies located on a different planet – but there’s not enough juice in the arc to drive the action throughout the season. There’s tension, there’s drama, there’s people making some really bad points who start to prove that perhaps the real issue is that those screaming the loudest aren’t really the smartest. But, it does give Miles (Toby Kebbell, who has mastered his hangdog look but lacks the charisma to really hold the screen) a purpose on the series. The story is fine, the important plot points get hit, but it all feels really predictable and like something that we could see on any other drama – just on Mars.
When the story switches to the Titan arc, I started to get the same feeling I had in the early years of the series – watching something terribly dangerous unfold as astronauts attempted to take humanity to somewhere they’d never been before. And, with Kelly and Aleida at the heart of this particular arc, we were getting the chance to watch two characters we’ve literally seen grow up finally become the focal point of the story being told, even if only for a handful of moments at a time. And it was in those moments that it struck me what a missed opportunity it was in previous seasons not to take the time to bring in more characters who could move forward along with them – why we left someone like Sally Ride in the dust after a brief arc in season two, or Will Tyler, the openly gay astronaut from season three. Instead, we have a handful of characters on Mars from season four who I vaguely recognize, several legacy characters from earlier seasons who pop in for guest or recurring arcs (I won’t spoil who), and a number of new faces who are fine, if largely forgettable.
On a series like this one, built on moving the story forward each season, adding new characters rather than bringing along established ones makes it hard for the audience to really care about just how the story is impacting those new faces. The end of season two works because we had come to love Gordo and Tracy. Season three’s finale hurts so much because Molly had become a crucial piece of the story. That’s not the case for most of season five – when people are in peril, it’s hard to care all that much since we’ve only just met most of them. Had the writers taken the time to add in a couple of characters each season to slot into the next, well, things might mean more and might work a bit better than they do.
I’m sticking with For All Mankind because it earned a shocking amount of good will way back in season two. I know just how great the series can be. It sounds like I really didn’t like this season, and that’s not entirely true – there are some truly great moments (most of them involving Aleida – seriously, Coral Pena is just exceptional this season) and one particular moment that rewards those of us who have watched from the beginning – but I miss the sense of wonder the show could so easily evoke. I miss having characters I could follow from season to season to see how they grow and change with the years. And I really would like the show to stop centering teenagers as the dramatic impetus for so much – it’s not a great source of storytelling. But, if you’ve stuck with the series all these years, I would say keep on going. Just don’t expect season five to be the season that gets the show fully back on track.
For All Mankind premieres on March 27. Eight of the ten episodes were provided for review.
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