Review: For All Mankind, "Crossing the Line" | Season 4, Episode 7
An iconic ending signals hope for a sagging storyline
It’s baked into For All Mankind’s premise that what was an exciting new horizon in one season will become comparatively mundane in the next: although you could argue that one should never find space travel and exploration “boring,” there’s no question that life at Happy Valley this season is very different from the high stakes environment we saw after the initial race to Mars in season three.
That said, the biggest problem with season four is just how boring Mars has been to this point. Last week’s episode was a perfect example, as the M-7 summit held all the episode’s meaning, with the action on Mars working its way to a strike but struggling to find the same resonance. Characters like Miles and Sam just don’t have enough substance to carry the story, and while the class conflict is a story with thematic value, that hasn’t manifested in a meaningful way on an episode-to-episode basis.
What “Crossing the Line” does that’s interesting is effectively write this fact into t…