For All Mankind Season 5 is not as bad as Season 4 because it actually has something that makes it feel like the show we knew and loved: high stakes.
With Soujourner’s trip to Titan, the show reclaims the major human leaps that were core to the story and justify the title.
However, this arc has been shrunk, with politics taking center stage. It has been sidelined to the extent that it doesn’t feel like it matters.
And after the disappointment that was For All Mankind Season 5 Episode 6, this hour is quite the surprise.
Okay, part of it is a nice surprise, and the other part we could have done without.
The Nice Sojourner Surprise
The cold open immediately proves that the show’s priorities have been misaligned: when we rejoin Kelly and the crew on their mission, cautious excitement builds instantly.
It goes up a notch when they learn that Kosmos 1’s calculations were off, and it will cost them everything; that’s when it feels like For All Mankind.
We’ve been through this before, and the feeling never loses its potency. When lives and scientific development are at risk, everything feels important.
Sojourner’s mission to Titan is what saves the episode and this entire season, as it might be the key to breaking the deadlock between Mars and Earth.
It recaptures the tensions of everyone waiting with bated breath as the crew makes virgin maneuvers in foreign airspaces, relying solely on their calculations and the hope that all the practice they have done will make this feel like a walk in the park.
But even in all its glory, the Titan mission proves that For All Mankind Season 4 and 5 should have constructed the narrative around it; everything else — Mars riots, Meru, and Ed’s death — should have served this mission.
Because when we hear things go wrong with Kosmos’ crew, it’s sad, sure, but it’s not big enough to matter.
And how can it be big when it was treated as a one-off scene in early episodes as Sojourner tried to figure out what Kosmos had discovered that allowed them to launch earlier?
I can envision the tension as each team takes a leap of faith, relying on their own calculations to see which will emerge victorious.
The story, while exciting, was poorly executed because even when we get to the Ed moment of it all, it doesn’t feel like justified risk-taking; it feels like Kelly is being insubordinate and could have everyone killed.
Walt is right when he says that ignoring problems because they’ve worked so hard and feel so close to success that they can taste it in their mouths is not the right approach.
It’s similar to the sunk cost fallacy, where someone makes bad choices because they’ve gotten so far and abandoning the mission would feel worse, even if it’s the right decision.
There is a version of this where Kelly’s actions don’t appear irrational. The episode ultimately validates her recklessness because success smooths over the risk.
If we had spent more time with her, Walt, and the entire crew, it would have been easier to pick her side, which would have enhanced the viewing experience.
And this season could use an enhanced viewing experience because the Mars socio-political situation is just exhausting at this point.
The Episode’s Time Cannibals
We catch up with Happy Valley six months after the US president called them terrorists.
Predictably, tensions have boiled over even with that cliffhanger ending, and life is almost normal.
There is simply no way to follow through on political tensions with the same intrigue as trying to land a spaceship. Not on For All Mankind.
Because politics is painfully slow and boring, with sporadic moments of excitement.
So the entire storyline ruins what would otherwise be an exciting episode.
Entire scenes boil down to people sitting around acknowledging that things are deteriorating.
Of course they are, and it seems like you people never thought this through. I might even begin siding with Earth because this situation cannot sustain itself if a broken dome immediately introduces severe food insecurity.
And what was that Alex Baldwin storyline about teenage birthday sex? I’m sorry, I didn’t know this is The Summer I Turned Whatever Age in Mars.
It’s just so out of sync with the entire episode to have a teenager mistakenly excited about having birthday sex.
But that’s where we are now.
Gut Check
“The Sirens of Titan” is better than most, if not all, episodes of For All Mankind Season 5.
However, it is also undercut by a season that doesn’t know what it is exploring.
But we’ll take something over the nothing this season has fed us.
Intrusive Thoughts
- Dev has a peculiar interest in Alex. Did we miss them becoming so close that every question has to be about Alex?
- A few dozen push-ups won’t make your pecs grow, Alex. It takes years of hard, consistent work.
- Using Nicki Minaj’s music in 2026 is certainly a choice. Also, One Direction or The Wanted are more appropriate choices for the demographic.
- That dome break could have been better without all the cuts.
- Too many characters.
Over to you, For All Mankind fanatics. Did you feel similar excitement, or am I hyping up the bare minimum?
Do you see the factions abandoning their stances in light of Sojourner’s success?
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to do so, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.
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