For All Mankind (2019) : Svoboda - S05E05 - RECAP

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Svoboda is a decent episode but it makes season five feel stuck, the biggest fight right now is still who controls Mars and who gets to call it home, because for anyone that is not management it starting to feel like a false promise. The automation leak should blow things open, people learn about a plan that could replace almost every worker, remove families from Happy Valley and hand the planets future to companies and governments that do not live there, that didnt risk their lifes to build up a place and call it home, this is a big problem, which is reason enough for the protests to turn angry. Even thought it sounds exciting, I do have a problem with this entire argument, because still feels too close to something this show already did, again workers feel like temporary labor to Earth, leaders make the calls without them and a security force shows up once the anger gets inconvenient, doesnt sound like anything revolutionary and sounds more like recicle material. I get why the people of Mars are furious, but the episode puts everybody on the same side, losing some of the difficulty it could have had, this could be a way more complex problem than what the show is giving us. Palmer thinks humans do not belong on Mars and treats the planet like a temporary assignment, while the protesters say Mars is their home, that difference is the interesting part, but the episode does not spend enough time on it before the conflict becomes a riot. The Ed Baldwin shrine damage is another reminder the same fight is going on and the Titan trip gets one quick update, keeping the season stuck in Happy Valley when it should be opening up into new topics, although it starting to feel like this is getting closer to the end of the season and series as they closing in next year with Season 6. For me there still lot more to go as Im only half of this season, its been a slow griding but a satisfying one.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772588/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

The situation with Dev gives the episode a better argument since it finally makes him answer for the automation plan, though I wanted the show to push him further, at the same time Aleida finds out he knew about the plan and kept it from her because he knew she would fight it and thats not some small disagreement between the two people running Helios, it shows Dev makes huge choices alone and expects everyone else to protect the company once the truth comes out, this has been since Helios and Dev were introduce to the story, basically also why he got kicked out in the past and then bounce back. Alex calling him out works very well for the episode because he will not let the talk stay on speed or efficiency or the dream of Meru City, he asks what Dev keeps dodging, who is this city even for if the people already on Mars get removed to build it. Dev talks about automation as the fast way to get Meru built and make Mars self sufficient, but never says where these new people come from or why current residents should accept getting pushed aside. Alex quitting Helios is the right call, staying would make his anger look empty and it shows how much respect he has lost for Dev. The scene cuts off right when the disagreement gets good though, Dev is never shown wanting Mars to fail, he believes he is building its future, which should make this conflict harder than just a rich guy ignoring his workers, and this episode gets close to that harder conversation and moves on before Dev has to explain why his dream deserves more protection than the lives already there.

Irina is the strongest character stuff in this episode by far, her return is threatening without needing to overexplain what she can do. The Soviet prison stuff shows the punishment did not touch the part of her that understands fear and leverage, she gets through the abuse, uses a broken tooth to talk through the pipes, digs up something to use against the guy holding her, and comes out the other side without ever looking beat, but for me what matters the most is she did not come out of it softer or more careful, she came out ready to use those same skills again and Mars just happens to give her a new place to do it. Her conversation with Aleida works the same way, she only has to ask about Margo and it brings their entire history back, such a thick topic to touch on, and Aleida knows immediately it is not friendly. I also like how fast Irina reads Governor Polivanov, he tries to meet people and ask where they are from, but the answer is always just Mars, because he still does not get that Happy Valley stopped being a work site long ago. Instead of learning from that, he listens the second Irina tells him to shut the protests down, which makes him look weak, not scared, just without his own answer for what Mars should become. His wife leaves, Irina steps into that spot beside him and the order that follows makes everything worse almost instantly. This episode gives so much damn context to Star City (2026), specially about Irina story, on next Star City Season we will start to see how her character evolves into turning Star City into a prequel of the other side of the coin.

Then we got Celia who is still easy to root for but her investigation is the most predictable part of this episode. Fred has looked shady for too long, so finding out he was involved in Yoons death, helped cover it up, attacked Celia and had Palmer protecting the secret does not change the story much. That scene also lets him explain too much at once, admitting the death was not planned, admitting the cover up and dropping that the corruption goes all the way up to Palmer, answering a bunch of questions without any of it surprising you. What still works is Celia herself because she has spent the season trying to do her job right while everyone keeps telling her to stop asking questions and now she knows the people giving those orders are tied directly to the crime she was investigating, which should change everything about how she sees the peacekeepers. Instead she puts the riot gear on anyway and I am still not sure what other choice she thinks she has here, maybe she is trying to stop more people from getting hurt, or maybe she just has not had time to process what she learned yet, either way that uncertainty is what saves the moment for me because it gives her an actual problem instead of some clean heroic decision. I just wish the reveal was not so obvious though, because Celia deserves a discovery that actually changes where her investigation is heading instead of one that just confirms what the episode was already pointing at the whole time.

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Rating: 75/100

Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.