For All Mankind season 5 has been a perfect blend of tension and action so far, and Episode 5, "Svoboda," is the latest installment to also pull off this delicate balance. Picking up in the wake of the plans to automate Mars being leaked, "Svoboda" makes it brilliantly unclear when it comes to where the show will go next. On the other hand, some events seem worryingly predictable.
The Apple TV show has always shone with its season finales, with those particular episodes ranking the highest on For All Mankind's IMDb page. The impact of this is that the epic space opera can often hold back a little until it's time to see each season off with a bang and launch into a multi-year time jump. Season 5 has finally allowed the show to start unfurling long before it traditionally would. There is still plenty of room to grow before an inevitable masterpiece finale, but it's tough to find time for viewers to even catch their breath.
FULL SPOILERS ahead for For All Mankind season 5 Episode 5, "Svoboda."
The cold open for "Svoboda" is a harsh (but brilliant) reminder of a forgotten season 4 twist
It's been over two years since For All Mankind season 4 ended, the longest gap since the show began. So, it can be tricky to remember all of the finer details in the show's complex narrative. While the Goldilocks heist in general is fairly easy to recall, exactly who was involved back on Earth is a little fuzzy. At least, it was to me. For all the successful efforts of Joel Kinnaman's Ed Baldwin (RIP) and Edi Gathegi's Dev Ayesa that secured the iridium-rich asteroid for Mars, others failed spectacularly.
Roscosmos director Irina Morozova (Svetlana Efremova) was leading the charge on trying to snag Goldilocks for the Soviet Union, while also trying to fulfil her KGB role as Margo Maddison's (Wrenn Schmidt) handler. In fact, the two tasks collided in the worst possible way. When Margo was aiding in the plot to allow Goldilocks to be diverted to Mars, this resulted in two reasons for Irina to be punished by her superiors.
The entire cold open/2003 flashback that shows Irina being held at a Siberian work camp until a false confession of her part in the heist is signed was macabre, but brilliantly executed. The abhorrent living conditions made me feel genuinely stressed, and also kind of bad for Irinia when considering all she'd really done was try her best to follow orders. Giving so much screen time to the fallout of her season 4 ending was a really smart move to remind audiences what had happened, and way more compelling than just a traditional "previously on" segment.
"Svoboda" ends the cold open and takes For All Mankind season 5 to boiling point
In what is essentially its mid-season finale, For All Mankind season 5 spends most of "Svoboda" trying (and succeeding) to convince the audience to think of the anti-automation protestors as a pot of water coming to the boil. As the Martian leadership tries to surge on with its controversial plans with very little thought given to how this will impact the hyper-aware activists at Happy Valley, I found myself clenching my fists at how Costa Ronin's Lenya could even possibly try to calmly continue as the Mars governor in such a restless environment.
As well as the general risk of violent riots breaking out, "Svoboda" doesn't forget to address more minute possibilities, like Lily Dale's (Ruby Cruz) potential jail time for leaking the stolen documents, whether Sean Kaufman's Alex Baldwin will also be outed for his role in the leak, and how all of this will impact the ongoing mission to Titan in either some direct or indirect way. Even though some possibilities are objectively more high-stakes than others, "Svoboda" does a terrific job of making sure it doesn't feel that way. It all comes across as equally vital. Even the MPK corruption storyline that shoots off from the murder mystery twist is expertly tied into the main plot.
With the episode concluding amid a full-blown riot breaking out in the vicinity of every major player, Mars is quite clearly going to continue to be the focus for the duration of season 5. If Earth becomes a setting again, I struggle to believe it will be for long. Although next week could take an intentional break from the action to build tension, I worry that would scupper the immense momentum built by "Svoboda." Then again, For All Mankind's talented writers clearly know what they're doing, so maybe I shouldn't be so concerned and just continue to enjoy the ride.
Episode Rating: A+
For All Mankind is streaming now on Apple TV.
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