Just as I think For All Mankind can't accommodate any more storylines, an episode like "Open Source" comes along and makes me rethink what's possible. Furthermore, while lesser shows might struggle with so many characters and subplots to juggle around, the Apple TV space opera makes it look embarrassingly easy. Another round of kudos to all involved.
Season 5 has already been a thrill ride so far. In the three installments that precede "Open Source," we've already seen the deepening of the Earth/Mars political tensions, a high-octane chase scene, the death of a beloved character, and the beginnings of a compelling murder mystery storyline. "Open Source" doesn't just acknowledge all of those plots; it introduces new ones to make the show even more enthralling.
FULL SPOILERS for For All Mankind season 5 Episode 4, "Open Source."
Ed's death brilliantly kicks For All Mankind season 5's next big twist into gear
Episode 3, "Home," saw Joel Kinnaman make what's presumably his last appearance as Ed Baldwin in For All Mankind. "Home" dedicated almost its entire runtime to making sure Ed had a proper send-off, and the fallout of his demise also bleeds brilliantly into Episode 4, "Open Source." With Alex (Sean Kaufman) eager to live up to his grandfather's legacy, he takes a job at Helios and stumbles across a conspiracy to automate Mars.
In an act of espionage that runs paralllel to the murder mystery storyline (which feels purposefully absent this week), Alex discovers and shares clandestine documents that reveal Helios and Kuragin's joint decision to make it so that 98% of the labor on Mars can be carried out by automated technology. Considering how deeply patriotic Ed was when it came to his Martian status, it's very fitting that his own grandson would be the one to rebel against the plan to ship everyone back to Earth. The twist also gives Kaufman his first real chance to flex his acting chops, and he shines in the episode overall.
"Open Source" makes it impossible to know who to trust (and that's good)
For All Mankind has certainly had plenty of morally gray characters before, but it's always been pretty easy to tell whether we should be rooting for them or not. "Open Source" goes against that pattern by rapidly making it very tricky to know the true motivations of either Dev (Edi Gathegi) or Lenya (Costa Ronin). Despite both men feeling more like ambitious antagonists than villains-in-waiting until now, "Open Source" casts a healthy amount of doubt on this status.
Lenya's desires suddenly seem far more aligned with those of the Soviet Union, rather than those under his care on Mars. He came across as honorable in his earlier appearances — now, I'm not so sure. Similarly, Dev's apparent devotion to making Mars completely self-sustaining sits at odds with the plans that Alex found on the Helios servers. Surely the company's CEO would object to such plans and have them openly quashed if he knew about them? In a season that's already filled with subterfuge and underhanded tactics, "Open Source" puts the audience on the back foot more than ever, and it's fantastic.
The surprise return of Danny Stevens' daughter isn't something I knew I wanted
Perhaps I should have known better when I thought Danny's (Casey W. Johnson) baby daughter from earlier in the show was only ever meant as a way to highlight his downward spiral. For All Mankind has never made any secret of its generational arc, so it should have been predictable that Danny's offspring would come back at some point — and what an addition to the story she makes!
Danny's trauma always seemed solely his own, with all the fallout of his wrongdoings being limited to his immediate surroundings on Mars. For All Mankind already has such a dense set of storylines that it never occurred to me that what he did would eventually trickle down and become his daughter's concern as well. Ines Asserson plays Avery "AJ" Jarrett brilliantly, with just the right amount of standoffishness to be believable as someone who has lived their entire life under fire. Her debut also allowed for the return of Krys Marshall's Danielle Poole, a profoundly calming presence who is always welcome on my TV screen.
I'm very intrigued to see if she manages to elude the family history of battling with poor mental health, just like her father and grandfather (Michael Dorman's Gordo Stevens) before her. The show has covered similar topics before, but the recasting of Averry with an older actor finally gives For All Mankind the chance to embark upon the next chapter of the Stevens family tree as Asserson's character risks it all by heading to the moon.
Episode Rating: A+
For All Mankind is streaming now on Apple TV. A new episode arrives every Friday.
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