For All Mankind 5.6: Earth vs. Mars

Episode 5.6 of For All Mankind, up on Apple TV since late last week, was a middling good episode depicting the rising tensions verging on war between Earth and the human settlement on Mars..

First, Earth vs. Mars is a well-trodden topic.  On TV, it was well explored in The Expanse.  In books, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy did an excellent job of it.  The best part of this episode, for me, was seeing the role of the Soviet Union, still in existence and thriving in this alternate history.  The kiss between Lily and Alex was also nice to see.

The ending of the episode promises an interesting stream with Dev now determined and on-track to doing something big to stop and/or surmount the escalating conflict between Mars and Earth.  Bringing Dev into For All Mankind in the first place was a good dramatical move -- he's a wildcard, like Musk and Bezos in our own reality.   All have billions of dollars, rankle under the yoke of governments, and have the power to march to some extent to their own drums.   In Dev's case, he may not only have this power, but the wherewithal to impose it on the US, the Soviet Union, and the countries on Planet Earth.  We'll see.

Actingwise,  Edi Gathegi as Dev is a good choice to deliver the goods.  And speaking of acting, Mireille Enos's Celia is by far the best of the military on Mars.   There's also a lot of potential in the Titan mission, and what it might discover there.  I don't know if we'll get a chance to see that this season, but I'm looking forward to more -- more profound developments, more eye-opening, brain-teasing wonders in our solar system, more than the ICE-like agents on Mars, which (as I've said in my review of episode 5.5) I've already seen more than enough of in our real world these days down here in the United States.

See also For All Mankind 5.1: On the Intersection of Alternate and Real Histories ... 5.2: Actor Reunions ... 5.3: The Newton, the First Amendment, and ... Last Breath ... 5.4: Robots Replacing Us In Space? ... 5.5: ICE on Mars

And see also For All Mankind 4.1: Back in Business and Alternate Reality ... 4.2: The Fate of Gorbachev ... 4.3-4.4: The Soviet Union in the 21st Century, On Earth and Mars ... 4.5: Al Gore as President and AI ... 4.6: Aleida and Margot ... 4.7: Dev on Mars ... 4.8: Sergei and Margot ... 4.9: Progress ... 4.10: Earth vs. Mars

And see also For All Mankind 3.1: The Alternate Reality Progresses ... 3.2: D-Mail ... 3.3-3.4: The Race

And see also For All Mankind, Season 1 and Episode 2.1: Alternate Space Race Reality ... For All Mankind 2.2: The Peanut Butter Sandwich ... For All Mankind 2.3: "Guns to the Moon" ... For All Mankind 2.4: Close to Reality ... For All Mankind 2.5: Johnny and the Wrath of Kahn ... For All Mankind 2.6: Couplings ... For All Mankind 2.7: Alternate History Surges ... For All Mankind 2.8: Really Lost in Translation ... For All Mankind 2.9: Relationships ... For All Mankind 2.10: Definitely Not the End

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