Review: For All Mankind, "Glasnost" | Season 4, Episode 1
The old guard refuse to sweetly surrender in the Apple space drama's Asteroid Season
Welcome back to Episodic Medium’s coverage of Apple TV+ drama For All Mankind, which continues with its fourth season debuting today. As always, this first review is free to all, but subsequent coverage will be exclusively for paid subscribers. For more information on what your $5 a month will get you, see our About Page, and become a free subscriber for future coverage updates.
For All Mankind’s previous seasons have each represented an extremely specific milestone in its alternate history space race. The first season followed the battle to colonize the moon, while the second explored the dynamics of this new front of the cold war once that colony was achieved. The third season, meanwhile, jumped forward in time to the efforts to colonize Mars. These were explicit and monumental frontiers, making the beginning of each season seem extremely legible despite the often disorienting passage of time between seasons.
Season four, however, lacks such a clear hook. There’s technically a new frontier when the season begins, but it just doesn’t have the same impact (pun slightly intended). The first humans to walk on Mars? That’s a huge story. But the first person to walk on an asteroid feels comparatively thin, no matter how much slow motion footage of Kuznetsov’s hand trailing alongside the giant space rock the show deploys. And while we’re told that it represents a huge leap forward, that leap seems to be primarily in service of the efforts to mine the cosmos for resources, rather than principles of exploration or scientific discovery.
But as “Glasnost”—named after the Gorbachev-era policy of government transparency and openness—unfolds, I started to realize that this was a feature and not a bug. For All Mankind is a show built to reboot itself, but it’s also a show that feels a loyalty to its recurring characters and their presence within this story. Last season, that became a hindrance with the continued focus on Danny Stevens, and the efforts to use his brother as a window into unrest back on Earth. It felt like the space and the opera were no longer in the same orbit, the show’s stories becoming smaller at a time when they should have felt larger than ever. But with the Cold War contracting in the wake of #Gorebachev, we’ve now reached an equilibrium where the personal stories feel more closely in tune with the day-to-day of the space race, even if the stakes remain as high as ever (as evidenced by Kuznetsov’s tragic death during the failed Kronos mission).
That day-to-day is ultimately an existential crisis for our returning heroes. Ed Baldwin is an old man seemingly suffering from a progressive nerve disorder, and putting off his return to his daughter and grandson on Earth because doing so would accept that he’s never going up again, and he’ll have nowhere to hide from his grief over Karen’s death. Danielle, meanwhile, has retired from service but maintains a relationship with Amber Stevens and her daughter, and carries regret over Danny’s fate on Mars that makes her hesitant to return when asked. Aleida is similarly traumatized from the events seven years ago, reliving the Houston bombing every time alarms start going off, while Margo is trapped in a bleak Russian Groundhog Day as she watches the space race from the sidelines desperate for the usefulness the Soviets promised her when she defected.
The quality that unites all of these characters is that they should absolutely not be involved in the space race. Ed should walk away, and Danielle should stay away. Aleida should try to find a job that doesn’t trigger panic attacks, and Margo should probably stop ruffling feathers at Star City and just accept the free pastries when they’re offered to her. But none of them are truly capable of this. Danielle is the one who is presented with a clear choice, invited back by Admin Hobson (Daniel Stern) to take command at Happy Valley following the asteroid mission failure. His pitch is that she not only has a responsibility to her country as any NASA employee would; he appeals directly to her history with the space race, arguing that if the problems aren’t solved then everything she did will be in vain. And while it’s ultimately catching up with queer astronaut icon Will Tyler that convinces Danielle to return to Mars, there’s this idea floating around the season that she and the others have all signed away their souls to the stars no matter the consequences.
But in that failed Kronos mission, we are given a moment of clear contrast. When the cables begin to fail and the asteroid starts wobbling, Kuznetsov announces his plans to return outside to try to rescue the mission. He does this out of a spirit of discovery, and of service to his country and the collaborative spirit of the space race. But then Parker—another astronaut on the mission—volunteers to help him, realizing that Kuznetsov’s oxygen levels will make it impossible to complete the task. But when pressed by his colleague Massey about the decision to ignore the Commander’s orders, Peters reveals that he’s not doing this in the spirit of discovery or service—he’s doing it because he’s a Helios employee, and he gets a bonus if the mission is completed successfully. Both men die, but while one died in a heroic sacrifice to try to save a mission, the other died trying to settle his debts.
The tensions of private capital’s investment in the space race were certainly present in the third season, but wrapping them up in Karen and Ed’s story ultimately served as a distraction, similar to how the insight into the impacts on the domestic workforce were poorly served by Jimmy Stevens’ radicalization. But this is the clearest reset in the season, as Toby Kebbell emerges as our new second-billed lead. Miles is a normal guy trying to make ends meet when he interviews for a job on the Moon, which has become such a normalized part of culture that it has its own Gold Rush-style reality show (Moon Miners).1 But when he learns the waitlist is longer than expected, even after lying about having a college degree, he’s on Danielle’s shuttle to Mars in order to secure a financial future for his estranged wife and daughters. He’s not going to Mars because it means something to him—he’s going to Mars because the oil rigs he worked on were shut down, and it’s the only option he has to try to fulfill the American Dream.
The result is a much more grounded season, at least in theory. There’s still hints of intrigue with Margo’s new friend telling her to be patient amidst the ongoing shifts in Russia’s political landscape, and obviously the asteroid mining initiative will be continuing, but there’s definitely more room for these stories to breathe than there has been in the past. For the first time, we’re really thinking about space as a job, not as a calling, and that opens up new avenues for exploring these characters and their legacies. We still don’t have any clarity on whether the show intends to continue beyond this season, but it certainly feels like the narrative foundation of “Glasnost” is designed to create an end to the Ed Baldwin chapter of For All Mankind, in one way or another.
And yes, on a basic level, my hopefulness for this season increased once it was clear that Danny Stevens did not leave Mars alive. It’s a story decision that hopefully speaks to some self-reflection on the part of the series’ writers, but it also just makes sense given the story being told. The mystery of what happened with Danny after he was marooned in the North Korean shuttle may never be answered, or we may end up seeing it in flashbacks, but the point is that Danielle has had to carry that with her. While Ed couldn’t return to Earth to face Karen’s death, Danielle couldn’t stay on Mars to face Danny’s, all while Aleida’s sense of responsibility to NASA (and the mentor who she thinks is dead but in fact defected) has her trapped in her trauma. It’s a good setup, even if there’s no major space race development attached to it.
There are, however, more loose ends than usual as a result of the significant time jump. Kelly is technically not a loose end, but she’s stuck back on Earth with mother-in-law problems, even if Alexi’s mother has a pretty good read on her father if you ask me. We get a brief reference to Dev in the opening montage, but there’s no sense of where he might fit into the story as of yet, given that Edi Gathegi is still a listed cast member. And while Jodi Balfour is listed as a guest star for her appearance in said montage, we get only gestures at her marriage to Pam and subsequent retirement, with no real clarity on if we’ll be checking back in with her beyond that. And while the latter decision makes sense, there’s this tiny, nagging voice in my head that wants to relitigate the third season: all that buildup on Ellen’s political intrigue and the impact on LGBTQ rights in America and no meaningful followup within the season itself (with Ellen legalizing Gay Marriage during her second term in the montage)? We spent all that time on Jimmy Stevens and the insurrection just for him to be a courtroom sketch?
I’m happy with the season we have (and certainly happy Jimmy is nowhere to be seen), but compared to past seasons it feels like the setup from season three ended up getting cut short, which does have some narrative consequences. But because of how quickly the show moves—the montage suggests it still takes 1-2 months to travel to Mars even without having to wait for the Mars window—we’ll probably forget about those consequences before too long, leaving us to explore this next (last?) chapter in our original characters’ relationship with the cosmos.
Stray observations
I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to take Old Man Ed fully seriously knowing just how much of an old age makeup situation is happening, so I’ll be curious how the show continues to navigate that. I was also a little surprised at how much makeup work they were doing for Margo, but it became clear that her physical deterioration is a story point, in terms of how she’s withered away within the Soviet system.
Speaking of Margo—no real sense of whether anyone had any reason to suspect her defection. I expect we’ll see someone visit her grave before the season is done, but I suppose enough lives were lost in the explosion that the fact they never found or identified a body shouldn’t be too surprising.
In terms of alt-histories, it does in fact seem as though 9/11 won’t be happening in this timeline. That said, we still see Danielle go through heightened security when she meets with Hobson, so perhaps the argument is that that bombing created a climate that made the attacks impossible? (We notably don’t get a “9/11 thwarted” news story in the montage, although there is war in the middle east—Riyadh, specifically—found there).
I noted in my review of last year’s finale that the North Korea piece of this story felt a bit arbitrary for a last-minute reveal, and the same is true now: again, there’s a bit in the montage, but there’s no real exploration of how the North Koreans actually getting to Mars first impacted things beyond the clarification about Danielle and Kuznetsov’s status as the first from their respective countries to walk on the red planet.
I sort of wish the show would forcibly rewind the montage for people so that you’re forced to watch it twice—I tried taking notes, but you’re often too busy reacting to one thing to focus on the next. It didn’t help that they buried important exposition about Hobson (who saved Chrysler by committing to electric vehicles) in there.
Other details in the montage:
In a post-Ellen Wilson world, Ellen runs for at least six seasons (it ran only five).
Hillary files for divorce from Bill, who was never a Presidential nominee in this timeline (and thus presumably never met Monica Lewensky?).
Clint Eastwood stars as Ed in Race to Mars alongside Jada Pinkett (timely!) as Danielle.
Weinstein was Me Too’d almost two decades earlier.
Stanley Kubrick? Still died in 1999, whereas JFK Jr. lives and John Lennon performed at a Super Bowl halftime show (which, I have questions).
Y2K impacted the Space Station, which…technology has advanced faster and they didn’t figure that one out?
And with that, welcome back to our coverage of For All Mankind. As I’ve said before, there’s no greater feeling operating a site like this one than being able to return to coverage of a show, as it means reigniting old conversations within the community. Whether you’ve been subscribed since last summer, or resubscribing for these reviews, or new to the conversation altogether, I’m really excited to be able to dig into the season ahead with y’all.
My biggest timeline quibble is the way it depicts reality TV—the montage suggests that The Real World didn’t exist in this timeline (maybe it didn’t!), and ultimately it feels too early for Moon Miners given that Deadliest Catch didn’t kick off the wave of working class documentary series until 2005. Was the space race enough to justify that moving earlier? Sure, why not!
This is nitpick, but Bill Clinton was presidential nominee in '92 — that who Ellen Wilson beats to get into White House.
Anyway, me glad to see Episodic is reviewing show, and me agree that even without race-to-Mars-level stakes, it seem to be setting up some potentially great (and Stevens-free!) character drama. And one thing me liked about asteroid mission was that we got to see astronauts at work close up. It really felt like Kuz and Parker were in space, not just on Mars-red-tinted soundstage, and for me, at least, astronauts-at-work stuff is one of highlights of show. Sure, it exciting that Moon is shaped like cookie, but it more exciting to think about how we might be living there in real life one day.
I got the impression from Parker that he did truly believe in the mission, and just hid it behind this "aw shucks, I'm just here for the money" demeanour. The fact that he was right behind Grigory, and didn't take the out that Massey gave him about following orders, suggested to me that there was something more going on there with him (but I do agree with you that his death was tragically needless, but this show's great at the "space will kill you" thing).
Speaking of Miles, it's my first exposure to Toby Kebbell, and I like him already. And I hope you have Oscar Isaac's "I can't believe this is a thing" meme face ready in case of "Somehow, Danny Stevens returned."
But I am glad to have this show back, and have your recaps to go with it.