‘For All Mankind’ Season 4 Recap: What to Remember Before Season 5

“For All Mankind” is back and we’re headed to the 2010s, but before another time jump it’s worth refreshing what happened in the 2000s during the series.

The fourth season of the Apple TV sci-fi series split time between the goings-ons with Earth and life on the Mars colony Happy Valley. Things are not as great as you would think on Mars despite the place being sold as a beautiful place to live and make money. The introduction of an asteroid ready to be mined of its rich resources means Earth and Mars might be on opposing sides for the first time.

Here is what you need to remember about “For All Mankind” Season 4 before you jump into Season 5.

The Goldilocks Heist

Much of the fourth season of the show revolved around the ludicrous amount of resources to be mined from an asteroid dubbed Goldilocks. As the season progresses, Earth becomes more convinced that if they can get control of the Goldilocks asteroid and mine it themselves then they would make more money and be able to cut Happy Valley and Mars out of the equation. If that happens, funding for the Mars colony would likely plummet to nothing.

Ed – who had been sidelined from flight duties during the season after suffering tremors – works with Dev to come up with a plan to pull the asteroid into Mars’ orbit and secure mining duties of the resources. They’re helped out by a number of the blue (red?) collar workers brought in hoping to make a better wage for their families back home. An assist from North Korean citizen Lee Jung-gil at a crucial part of the plan helps them pull off the heist and secure Happy Valley’s future.

Happy Valley Riot

Throughout the season, it is clear that a lot of the promises made to workers courted to travel from Earth to Mars for work by Helios were lies or exaggerations. Miles ends up making the trip in hopes to bring in more money for his family back home but finds that he traveled all that way only to make less money. His outrage serves as a catalyst for disgruntlement that had been brewing at Happy Valley for some time.

Toward the end of the season, a riot breaks out in the colony. Miles, Ed, and others who think they were wronged by Helios rise up and take a stand as the people who should be calling the shots on Mars rather than suits back home. Danielle – who was sent to Mars early in the season to reign in some of the disorder – is stuck between her duty and her friendship with Ed.

During the course of the riot, the gun that was buried in Season 3 returns to cause problems and Danielle is shot. The attack stops the riot and leads Happy Valley to rally together across the board to ensure her survival. In the end, the riot and the Goldilocks heist hope to make a permanent change for those living on Happy Valley and Danielle is able to be sent back to Earth to be with her family.

Margot’s Redemption

Ed and Dev got some help during their Goldilocks heist from an unlikely source back home. Margot had been living in exile in Russia following the events of Season 3 but is brought back into the spacing life by Irina Morozova and the Roscosmos.

She learns of Earth’s plan to bring Goldilocks to the planet’s orbit and keep it from Happy Valley. Initially, Margot does not make much of this but after she learns that Irina had Sergei killed she decides to help sabotage Earth’s plan. They want to shut Ed and Dev out from being able to redirect the asteroid into Mars’ atmosphere and instead have it make a burn toward Earth. Margot convinces her former protege Aleida to input some code she wrote that would supercede NASA’s ability to shut Dev and Ed out. Her plan works but at a cost.

Margot takes the full blame for the code and protects Aleida one last time. She is arrested and taken away but not before Aleida rushes in for one last hug – cementing her redemption in the eyes of the one person she cared about most.

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