For All Mankind 4.01
In which the evils of capitalism have arrived in space.
I think we all knew it was coming, given all the private enterprise now invested on the moon and on Mars, and the talk of budget cuts and bonus needing in the opening episode, but it still hurt when new character Miles and his fellow workers went from wonder and excitement at landing on Mars to realising what their life actually will be like. Not all of it was intentional on the part of Helios - they didn't know or predict the Asteriod capturing would fail so spectacularly the first time around, which immediately meant no possibility of bonuses or using their actual skill set for people like Miles who have the oil rigging background -, but most of it was, and for Miles it's one blow after another when he finds out that being he's getting effectively paid less than he was on Earth, he has no possibility to quit for the next two years without getting massively into debt, and there's very much a two classes society there with the astronauts and cosmonauts getting way better food and living space and everything else while the workers needed for the whole colonisation project are treated like tools, not human beings. The montage cut between Danielle's life in the day after her arrival on Mars versus Miles' was on the nose, but justifiably so, I'd say. To her credit, Danielle, unlike Ed, immediately realizes morale is low and fixes at least one of the wrongs (i.e. the satelite Helios had used to allow the workers communication with Earth which had broken down and which they had no intention of fixing whereas the astronauts could use another communication system) , but I doubt she will fix everything, no matter how well intentioned she is. Given the DS9 background of several of the scriptwriters, my current guess is this plot line will culminate in either or both of two possible ways: either we get a non-comedic remake of the DS9 episode Bar Association (in which Rom quotes the Communist Manifesto and starts a union), or there will be a Mutiny on Mars. The later offers just the type of drama this show excells at complete with added space menace (since the surface "atmosphere" is still not breathable for humans, so all of the drama is confined to relatively small rooms (i.e. the living space for the astronauts is far better than the bunks for the workers, but it's still not large and very vulnerable if actual shootings should happen).
My other reason for putting my money on "Mutiny" over "Unionizing" (or rather, before unionizing, since the later evidently needs to happen as well) is that it makes for a thematic parallel with what's going on on earth. As I guessed last week, this episode's last six minutes reveal that with a decade delay, the coup against Gorbachev happens in this AU as well. Now, this could end up with Gorbachev being replaced by Not!Putin (or maybe they'll use one of the actual coup involved people in this AU for next leader) and the Soviet Union continuing as is, but I doubt it, because as said elsewhere, the show doesn't need the US/USSR rivalry as an incentive for continued space exploration anymore, not with several other nations and a lot of private enterprise now in the game as well, so I think that as in real life, no matter who ends up ruling in the short term post Gorbachev, the various states within the Soviet Union will go for independence. A show created during the Ukraine War can't help but being highly aware the drive for independence wasn't just fed by the failing Soviet economy in "our" timeline. This should also make for an emotionally interesting situation for the cosmonauts currently on Mars, who left as citizens of the Soviet Union and then have to figure out their identities and loyalties anew depending on where within the Soviet Union they are actually from.
Back to the actual episode: Ed is near his most unsympathetic here, giving Danielle a very unconvincing excuse for not returning to Earth she doesn't buy for a minute, handwaving away her pointing out something needs to be done to improve the situation for the workers and spouting the corporate version of his old "be a man!" admonishment at Miles. This isn't a big surprise, though. Ed is and always was a test pilot. Yes, he did some administrative work before between seasons 1 and 2, but then he was assigning other astronauts to high risk misisons, that's still within his field of expertise, and he knew all of the astronauts in question. In order to be a good XO in a situation like Happy Valley, he would have needed to actually pay attention and interact with the workers, not just a few fellow astronauts, and he hasn't become more social in his old age. And he should have thought through how being treated second class would affect peopole in the long run instead of falsely comparing it to the harships of the original astronaut programs (where everyone was going through them in the same way). Yes, Danielle and Ed have a friendship of decades by now - and I love it - but there will be a big collision between them in the future, probably preceding the Mutiny and too late to prevent it.
Meanwhile, on Earth firstly we see Kelly in her scientific habitat (yay!) and then her and Aleida's storylines intertwine, and I'm here for it. Both Kelly and Aleida are literally and figuratively at loose ends due to their respective situations right then, and them teaming up gives us a good new character combination that already starts bearing fruit and reminds us of the way this show always has human beings help each other as well as making things difficult. It even shows the potential good side of private enterprise, as Aleida isn't wrong - this is the one way how Kelly can continue her life-in-Mars investigation now that NASA has had to cut down everything in order to focus on fixing the Asteriod exploitation program. It's also in character that this is what helps Aleida out of her PTSD (for now) - yes, she should go to therapy, but after a life time of being therapy hostility, she's not going to change overnight in that regard, and giving her a seemingly hopeless problem to solve is just the kind of thing she excells.
(I also appreciate that the current NASA administrator isn't malevolent or sexist or a villain; from his perspective, the budget cuts etc need to happen, he's coming from the car industry and space isn't a passion for him. If anything, capitalism/the system could be this season's big bad, not a person.)
The previously mentioned last six minutes during which we catch up with Margo in Moscow were very well done, too. I mean, I yelled "The coup!" as soon as Margo switched on the tv and there was nothng but ballet on screen, but Margo - who realises SOMETHING is wrong but doesn't have the benefit of Prime Timeline knowledge - still goes out anyway, and the eerie quietness until she saw the security forces in the square still racketed up the tension.
Current speculation: she'll probably use that phone number to get out of the arrest and it will turn out the people behind it are connected to the coup perpetrators, whereupon Margo will have to choose again. I also think we won't see her return to the US (or leave the Soviet Union) any time soon, she's clearly our pov on events there.
Also: I was relieved to see Lee the North Korean cosmonaut on Mars (even though he's currently not allowed to speak to Danielle by his secret service supervisor) - introducing him at the end of last season had to be more than an ironic twist, and that only works if he gets to be a proper character.
I think we all knew it was coming, given all the private enterprise now invested on the moon and on Mars, and the talk of budget cuts and bonus needing in the opening episode, but it still hurt when new character Miles and his fellow workers went from wonder and excitement at landing on Mars to realising what their life actually will be like. Not all of it was intentional on the part of Helios - they didn't know or predict the Asteriod capturing would fail so spectacularly the first time around, which immediately meant no possibility of bonuses or using their actual skill set for people like Miles who have the oil rigging background -, but most of it was, and for Miles it's one blow after another when he finds out that being he's getting effectively paid less than he was on Earth, he has no possibility to quit for the next two years without getting massively into debt, and there's very much a two classes society there with the astronauts and cosmonauts getting way better food and living space and everything else while the workers needed for the whole colonisation project are treated like tools, not human beings. The montage cut between Danielle's life in the day after her arrival on Mars versus Miles' was on the nose, but justifiably so, I'd say. To her credit, Danielle, unlike Ed, immediately realizes morale is low and fixes at least one of the wrongs (i.e. the satelite Helios had used to allow the workers communication with Earth which had broken down and which they had no intention of fixing whereas the astronauts could use another communication system) , but I doubt she will fix everything, no matter how well intentioned she is. Given the DS9 background of several of the scriptwriters, my current guess is this plot line will culminate in either or both of two possible ways: either we get a non-comedic remake of the DS9 episode Bar Association (in which Rom quotes the Communist Manifesto and starts a union), or there will be a Mutiny on Mars. The later offers just the type of drama this show excells at complete with added space menace (since the surface "atmosphere" is still not breathable for humans, so all of the drama is confined to relatively small rooms (i.e. the living space for the astronauts is far better than the bunks for the workers, but it's still not large and very vulnerable if actual shootings should happen).
My other reason for putting my money on "Mutiny" over "Unionizing" (or rather, before unionizing, since the later evidently needs to happen as well) is that it makes for a thematic parallel with what's going on on earth. As I guessed last week, this episode's last six minutes reveal that with a decade delay, the coup against Gorbachev happens in this AU as well. Now, this could end up with Gorbachev being replaced by Not!Putin (or maybe they'll use one of the actual coup involved people in this AU for next leader) and the Soviet Union continuing as is, but I doubt it, because as said elsewhere, the show doesn't need the US/USSR rivalry as an incentive for continued space exploration anymore, not with several other nations and a lot of private enterprise now in the game as well, so I think that as in real life, no matter who ends up ruling in the short term post Gorbachev, the various states within the Soviet Union will go for independence. A show created during the Ukraine War can't help but being highly aware the drive for independence wasn't just fed by the failing Soviet economy in "our" timeline. This should also make for an emotionally interesting situation for the cosmonauts currently on Mars, who left as citizens of the Soviet Union and then have to figure out their identities and loyalties anew depending on where within the Soviet Union they are actually from.
Back to the actual episode: Ed is near his most unsympathetic here, giving Danielle a very unconvincing excuse for not returning to Earth she doesn't buy for a minute, handwaving away her pointing out something needs to be done to improve the situation for the workers and spouting the corporate version of his old "be a man!" admonishment at Miles. This isn't a big surprise, though. Ed is and always was a test pilot. Yes, he did some administrative work before between seasons 1 and 2, but then he was assigning other astronauts to high risk misisons, that's still within his field of expertise, and he knew all of the astronauts in question. In order to be a good XO in a situation like Happy Valley, he would have needed to actually pay attention and interact with the workers, not just a few fellow astronauts, and he hasn't become more social in his old age. And he should have thought through how being treated second class would affect peopole in the long run instead of falsely comparing it to the harships of the original astronaut programs (where everyone was going through them in the same way). Yes, Danielle and Ed have a friendship of decades by now - and I love it - but there will be a big collision between them in the future, probably preceding the Mutiny and too late to prevent it.
Meanwhile, on Earth firstly we see Kelly in her scientific habitat (yay!) and then her and Aleida's storylines intertwine, and I'm here for it. Both Kelly and Aleida are literally and figuratively at loose ends due to their respective situations right then, and them teaming up gives us a good new character combination that already starts bearing fruit and reminds us of the way this show always has human beings help each other as well as making things difficult. It even shows the potential good side of private enterprise, as Aleida isn't wrong - this is the one way how Kelly can continue her life-in-Mars investigation now that NASA has had to cut down everything in order to focus on fixing the Asteriod exploitation program. It's also in character that this is what helps Aleida out of her PTSD (for now) - yes, she should go to therapy, but after a life time of being therapy hostility, she's not going to change overnight in that regard, and giving her a seemingly hopeless problem to solve is just the kind of thing she excells.
(I also appreciate that the current NASA administrator isn't malevolent or sexist or a villain; from his perspective, the budget cuts etc need to happen, he's coming from the car industry and space isn't a passion for him. If anything, capitalism/the system could be this season's big bad, not a person.)
The previously mentioned last six minutes during which we catch up with Margo in Moscow were very well done, too. I mean, I yelled "The coup!" as soon as Margo switched on the tv and there was nothng but ballet on screen, but Margo - who realises SOMETHING is wrong but doesn't have the benefit of Prime Timeline knowledge - still goes out anyway, and the eerie quietness until she saw the security forces in the square still racketed up the tension.
Current speculation: she'll probably use that phone number to get out of the arrest and it will turn out the people behind it are connected to the coup perpetrators, whereupon Margo will have to choose again. I also think we won't see her return to the US (or leave the Soviet Union) any time soon, she's clearly our pov on events there.
Also: I was relieved to see Lee the North Korean cosmonaut on Mars (even though he's currently not allowed to speak to Danielle by his secret service supervisor) - introducing him at the end of last season had to be more than an ironic twist, and that only works if he gets to be a proper character.