For All Mankind, we have a nepo-baby problem

Instead, season five keeps leaning on soap opera-like tendencies that made the fourth one such a slog. That is, it recycles arcs without adding anything substantial. Why did “Svoboda” also end in a shoot-out between a large group of protestors on Mars and the cops who are in charge of maintaining decorum, when we’ve seen a version of this take place already? At least it was a tad easier to care about the outcome because Ed and Dani were involved. But now, the only reaction I could muster up was writing “Who cares?” in my notes. And that’s despite Alex and Lily both getting injured. It doesn’t have the same impact because For All Mankind hasn’t done nearly enough to build up who these people actually are, especially Lily. We know she has a rebellious streak and wants to be involved in activism, just like her dad was in the early aughts. But even Miles can see that times have changed and advises her against following in his footsteps.

Miles doesn’t want to accept that Lily could be involved in leaking the Helios files at the end of episode four, the same ones that revealed how CEO Dev is planning to turn to automation so that Mars can become self-sufficient. Once he does it, 98 percent of the folks living there will have to return to Earth. It’s caused panic among those who don’t want to go back to their home planet because Mars is where they belong now—henc, the protests and the excessive use of the “Mars is ours” chants in “Svoboda.” For his part, Alex is glad he gave those files to the media after discovering them. He thinks his grandpa Ed would’ve been proud of him for exposing Helios’ plans to the press, even though Dev doesn’t agree. Dev actually doesn’t even get angry at his mentee for leaking private information to the press and is shocked that Alex wants to quit Helios. It made no sense to me. Dev’s attitude is as nonchalant as almost every performance on the show now. But I can’t blame the ensemble, whether it’s Edi Gathegi or Mireille Enos, for material that doesn’t seem to challenge them. 

Enos, who joined FAM in season five, barely got to share screen space with her former The Killing co-star Joel Kinnaman because Ed died at the end of “Home.” And now, her character keeps drifting because of the show’s trademark slow-burning pace. At least I was glad to see in this episode that Officer Cindy Boyd has realized that, unlike her, most of her peers are corrupt and that it was her pal Fred (Tyler Labine) who murdered the North Korean refugee in the premiere. She has to choose between going along with their orders or stopping the protests from becoming violent. Ultimately, Cindy is helpless when the guns start going off during the arrests. This entire storyline is not only repetitive, but it’s also a far cry from what made For All Mankind special in the first place.

I can see what message the show is trying to send with this arc: that humanity will destroy itself by going to war no matter where in the galaxy we end up. The idea that our greed and narcissism fuel our actions, even if it harms others, is resonant. But the execution is tiresome and, at this stage, robs FAM of its strongest qualities. This show used to mine from the idea that humans are inherently excited by—despite their fears of—the prospect of exploring space, even if it takes a toll on their personal lives. And now the notion of trying to find life on Mars or Titan has become a mere footnote. Perhaps the season’s latter half will turn the tables, once Kelly lands the Sojourner on Saturn’s moon. It’s just too bad that FAM has devolved from being a formidable series into an over-the-top drama about geopolitics with thinly-sketched character dynamics. Watching the armed conflict at the end of “Svoboda” destroy Ed’s memorial felt like a symbol of exactly that. 

Stray observations

• • This episode features a reunion between Aleida and Russian handler Irina, who both docked on Mars recently and work for rival companies (Helios and Kuragin, respectively). After dancing around the elephant in the room, Irina asks Aleida how Margo is doing and gets a simple response: “She’s just peachy.” 
• • The Governor of Mars, Lenya Polivanov (Costa Ronin), is facing a lot of pressure from his countrymen and the protestors on Mars, who have now almost taken over the control room. That’s not going to end well, is it?
• • It is so funny that Miles is worried that Lily’s activism will get her admission to Tulane revoked when they are literally living on Mars. 
• • Scratch that, the funniest part of this episode comes courtesy of a protestor who says she’s originally from Florida and goes on to explain the situation by asking Floridians to imagine what it would be like if they were forced out of not just Disney World but Orlando and the state itself.  

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.