For All Mankind Season 3 Episode 3 Review: All In
Given the fact that For All Mankind Season 3 Episode 3, “All In,” is only the third installment of the season, the fact that the hour ends with the NASA, Helios, and Soviet crews all launching for Mars feels like a really big deal.
(Rather, I know I can’t be the only person who generally assumed that we’d only get to the Red Planet toward the season’s end—if not outright in the finale—not before we’ve even technically reached the halfway point. That’s usually not how this show rolls.)
But wow, that final sequence of all three ships launching set to Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” was something else. I don’t know that we give For All Mankind enough props for the strength of their visuals and how easily they make outer space look as real as the world we know, but it’s ticking all the boxes this week.
Most of “All In” is table setting, as various pieces are moved around the board from NASA to Helios and flight crews for the Mars missions are finalized at both organizations.
Dani picks and then fires Danny Stevens after he’s caught sneaking into the pool of his childhood home while drunk. Though she insists he needs another trip to rehab and time to get his mind right, Ed decides that what he really needs is a trip to space and something to focus, and scoops him for the Helios team.
On the other side of the equation, Kelly Baldwin decides she’d rather go to Mars without wondering whether she only got her spot thanks to her father’s influence and petitions Dani to join the NASA team. Bill switches jobs and goes to work for Helios. Almeida stays loyal to both NASA and Margo and ultimately becomes Flight Director herself. (Literally following in her mentor’s footsteps.
Elsewhere, Margo commits some definite treason this week, sharing the plans for the US’s nuclear engine with the Russians, in order to save Sergei’s life.
There’s a sweet sequence towards the beginning of the episode that shows us the positively glacial pace of Margo and Sergei’s relationship at an international conference, from lingering post panel conversation to late-night drinks and finally a kiss. But their long-awaited hotel hookup is ruined when Sergei has to beg for some state secrets about NASA’s nuclear tech and it’s all very awkward and horrible.
I guess the idea that Margo has squared her whole treason thing by telling herself that at least she’s not sharing weapons great secrets with the Soviets follows a certain logic, but it’s also so obvious that it’s just something she tells herself to avoid losing sleep over doing something she clearly knows is wildly shady if not thrown in whatever the For All Mankind version of Guantanamo Bay wrong.
And truly, for a minute or so I fully believed Margo was stone cold enough to let Sergei die in the name of keeping NASA’s secret. And I guess I’m glad she didn’t (I feel bad for him and his impossible position, tbh) but that would have been a move. The sort of soul-crushing choice this show eventually forces everyone to make at some point.
The two-year time jump at the very end of the episode is….well, it’s a choice. I guess the show simply assumes that no one wants to watch the team alternately train and fail at science until they find a right answer for however many months it would take to really prepare for the Mars mission.
But its abrupt switch, which takes place over the course of a single night that Almeida is working late is oddly placed, and feels weirdly rushed as a result. I have to assume a similar time jump will cover most of the crew’s months in transit to the Red Planet if only because there’s only so much that can happen to them onboard this ship that could ever be as interesting as what will happen when they get there.
Who will win the race to get there, though? I truly don’t know what group to put my money on. I think the fact that the Soviets landed on the moon first means its unlikely this show is going to give them this one as well, so I think it has to be either NASA or Helios, I just can’t figure which one would be more dramatic.
Given all the billionaires in our world itching to get into space these days maybe it’s time for this show to poke a little more directly at those parallels. What does it mean if a private company colonizes Mars?
Stray Thoughts and Observations:
- For narrative purposes, I had sort of slowly come to assume that Ellen was going to win the presidency—her character literally has no place on this canvas right now if she doesn’t—but seeing a woman in the Oval Office in 1994 on this show when we have yet to achieve this in our reality in 2022 still makes me feel some kind of way.
- The real question about Ellen as President is probably whether For All Mankind will have the historical Clinton sex scandal morph into the Wright sex scandal when someone inevitably finds out she’s a lesbian?
- Now that Molly’s been fired, does that mean her story in the world of the show is over?
- I wish like one child of the main For All Mankind original cast was, like, well adjusted and happy and had chosen to become, like, a banner or something incredibly boring like that.
What did you think of this episode of For All Mankind? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.
One thought on “For All Mankind Season 3 Episode 3 Review: All In”
imdb shows Molly in episodes 6-10 so I doubt she’s gone.
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