‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Superbly Units the Collection Up for the Future
The fifth season of For All Mankind begins this week, and it’s better than almost everything else on TV or streaming. Which is to be expected. The Apple TV+ alternate reality drama has constantly been one of the most exciting, fascinating, and emotional shows anywhere, with a look and feel akin to a Hollywood blockbuster. It’s also the number one show to recommend to a friend who you can almost guarantee hasn’t heard of it, but will certainly love it if you get them to watch it.
All of that continues in season five, which takes the story not just deeper into life on Mars, but well beyond. The problem is, as the show continues to expand and time continues to pass in its reality, some of what made For All Mankind so incredible in its earlier seasons has, ever so slightly, begun to shift. It’s still amazing, and For All Mankind fans will love it, but more than ever, season five is about taking the show in a whole new direction, and that takes time.
Apple TV gave io9 access to eight of the season’s 10 total episodes for review, but don’t worry. We won’t spoil anything major. It’s just an overview with some broad plot ideas that Apple has already placed in the trailer. Still, if you want to go in cold, go in knowing that For All Mankind still rules.
Season four of the show ended with the residents of Mars staking their claim to remain on the Red Planet, in spite of opposition from Earth. Season five then begins with life thriving on Mars some years later. It’s the 2010s, and everyone is a little older, a little wiser, and a little more stubborn. Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), one of only three cast members remaining from the first season, is now in his 80s, and his grandson Alex (Sean Kaufman) is about to graduate from Mars High School with his friends.
As you’d expect, Ed plays a pivotal role this season but gracefully starts passing his starring role not just to Alex but to his daughter Kelly (Cynthy Wu) as well as fellow Mars leader Miles (Toby Kebbell). Miles’ daughter Lily (Ruby Cruz) is one of Alex’s friends and fellow graduates, too, and she plays an equally important role.
The main drive of season five is the citizens of Mars fighting for their independence, which happens on several fronts and gets increasingly hostile. Superman star Edi Gathegi plays a big part of that as billionaire CEO Dev Ayesa, and back on Earth, everyone’s favorite NASA genius turned traitorous spy, Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt), puts in her two cents, along with protégé Aleida Rosales (Coral Peña). Again, we’re trying to keep it vague, but all your favorites are back, with plenty of new blood, such as a cold, mysterious security officer played by Mireille Enos.
Mars’ struggles, and their ripple effects on Earth, are fascinating and often all too real and scary. There are subplots about AI taking over jobs, brutal police forces imposing their will on the citizens, and more. However, because the large majority of the story is focused on Mars, the show feels a little smaller than usual. One of the best things about For All Mankind was seeing how its larger concept played out on a huge canvas. Remember, the whole show is a ripple effect of Russia landing on the Moon before the United States. That one event has changed the course of history in unforgettable ways. Ways that were way easier to see and understand while the story was on Earth.
On Mars, though, the fact that they’re on Mars itself is the big change. Beyond that, life there is pretty normal. People have jobs, go out to the bar, fall in love, all of it. It’s just that instead of doing that on a familiar street, it happens within the confines of cramped steel corridors. As a result, some of that magic of “Oh wow, look at that cool butterfly effect changing things” has slipped away. The wow is more often off-camera than on it.
That’s also because, while the new characters play significant roles, they’re still new. Season five is very transitional in that way, and rightfully so. Ed Baldwin is old! Margo Madison is old! Even Aleida and Kelly are getting old. This is a story about the second but even more so the third generation, and we haven’t fallen as deeply in love with them as we had with the first. Patience is needed, especially at the start.
And yet, this is still For All Mankind. By the time the season gets about four or five episodes in, some of those weaknesses become strengths. We relate the struggles on Mars. We feel the pressure of being so desolate compared to the rest of humanity. We care for these characters and sympathize with their trauma. It also helps that Mars isn’t the final goal. Season five does, eventually, see the show try to go beyond Mars, deeper into space, raising the stakes for everything. Once that happens, the nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat moments For All Mankind is so well known for start returning in droves.
All of which is before I’ve even seen the final two episodes, which have constantly been the best episodes of the previous seasons. We see no reason why that won’t continue, especially after the cliffhanger episode eight ends on.
Suffice to say, while For All Mankind season five is a tiny bit less than previous seasons and takes a little longer to lock in, near the end, it easily returns to everything that makes the show so special. Plus, you get the sense that the show’s slight dip was a worthy sacrifice because it set up so many new characters and storylines that could continue well beyond this season, and we sincerely hope that happens.
Season five of For All Mankind premieres Friday, March 27, on Apple TV. One new episode will follow each Friday until the finale on May 29. We’ll be here for the ride.
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