All 10 episodes of For All Mankind season 4, ranked worst to best

The fourth season of For All Mankind has wrapped up. We still don't know if we're getting a fifth, but we can celebrate another 10 episodes of space-exploring, asteroid-stealing, Cold War-ing sci-fi drama. Let's go through the season episode by episode, from its worst to its best, starting with...

10. Episode 403, "The Bear Hug"

For All Mankind is a show that takes its time to get going. This year, the characters were dealing with an asteroid full of a valuable element, the return of an old friend from out of the cold, international incidents, class struggles on the Red Planet, and more. All that takes a while to ramp up, and there were episodes that seemed dedicated mostly to setting up other things. "The Bear Hug" was one of those episodes.

"The Bear Hug" finds our characters in a state of transition. On Earth, Aleida and Kelly try to sell their services to the highest bidder in way ends up feeling like a watered down episode of Succession. On Mars, new character Miles starts up a black market smuggling ring that feels inspired by a Martin Scorsese movie. And in the Soviet Union, Margo Madison endures torture at the hands of a rotating series of menacing Russian guards. For someone who usually sits behind a desk and thinks about math, Marto's story is very different from what we're used to.

In the end, "The Bear Hug" ends up being a memorable episode of For All Mankind, but an odd one.

9. Episode 402, "Have a Nice Sol"

"Have a Nice Sol" revolves around Miles, a blue collar worker who goes to Mars in hopes of making money for his family back home. Only things don't go as planned. Private space company Helios exploits him and his fellow workers to the point where he may actually make less money on the Red Planet than he did back home. This episode introduces an upstairs-downstairs dynamic that runs the rest of the season.

Miles is a likable new character who quickly works himself into the fabric of the show. The class commentary is a little board and the episode is a little slow, but we like him immediately.

8. Episode 401, "Glasnost"

"Glasnost" reintroduces us to the world of For All Mankind with style. Ed is up in space mining an asteroid, doing anything but going home to see his family. NASA is instituting cutbacks, and Margo is living a cold barren life in Soviet Union, having defected from the United States the season prior.

It's good to see everyone again, but like a lot of episodes of For All Mankind, especially in the early going, there are so many plots to set up that nothing really has room to lift off. To make sure we're entertained, "Glasnost" does throw in an action scene aboard Ed's mining ship, which is reminiscent of the space hotel set piece from season 3.

7. Episode 409, "Brazil"

Let's skip to near the end of the season. The penultimate episode, "Brazil," is ramping up to the climax, which involves a plot to "steal" as asteroid full of precious iridium. A select group of conspirators, including Ed and Dev, want to keep the asteroid in orbit around Mars. That way, the governments of Earth will have to fund space exploration. Meanwhile, those governments want to bring the asteroid home to Earth.

Usually, For All Mankind is slow and steady to a fault. In "Brazil," things speed up a bit too fast. Ed and Dev's plan starts to fall apart incredibly quickly, to the point where they have to choke out a guy towards the end to keep their secret from getting out. It's exciting, but it's the writing isn't as careful as it usually is.

Four episodes down, six to go. Click the button below to continue: