‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘New Eden’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 306 of ‘For All Mankind’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

Over the course of its three-year run, the Apple TV+ series, For All Mankind, has posed some fascinating questions about the human condition. Such as what it takes to truly motivate us to be more and be better and what it might take for humanity to make space travel a focus in our world. But above all, there is one particular question that the series has hotly debated during its time on the air. Specifically, would space travel actually manage to unify us as we believe and hope? Because we simply don’t know if interstellar travel would indeed provide us enough awe and epiphany to forge the peace and harmony we crave and well, that question is of note, because it once again made an appearance during this week’s fascinating episode.
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For ‘New Eden’ is a story that saw a dream come true for our modern world. In that, humanity had landed upon Mars and was working toward establishing Martian colonies at last. And that process allowed for old enemies to come together under one roof in the name of science and it motivated a for-profit company to do the right thing for a change, since Phoenix was officially open to house the American and Russian crews for the long ride home since the engines on Sojourner 1 were critically damaged. Which really made it seem as though unity was on its way, the kind that would inspire everyone back home. But a pair of important moments, changed that and informed us that perhaps it will take something greater to finally bring unity and harmony to all of mankind.

For Mister Tyler, was so touched by the awe he experienced by landing on Mars, that he opted to come out to the entire world. A moment that would be celebrated today, but since this was the conservative 1990s… it was met with disdain back home and brought forth a bevy of old and tired prejudices onto the airwaves. Which created so much rhetoric and distraction and pain for Tyler, that President Wilson had to create the alternate version of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to end all that. And to complicate matters further… Helios and the Russians assembled a joint mission to get their hands on a large water reserve discovered on the planet, giving rise to major divisions again since no one was genuinely working together anymore, which was unfortunate, and sadly… that wasn’t the end of this disappointing exploration into the human condition.

For a big problem began to brew aboard Phoenix. In that, Danny Stevens was furious to learn that the whole reason Helios didn’t land on Mars first, was because Ed was worried about Danny being hurt. For he saw himself as Danny’s surrogate dad, and that… was more than Danny could bear. For he genuinely thought he was ready for this and, through his resumé, had managed to stand out from under his father’s shadow, and he saw this as disrespectful and that… combined with his unresolved addiction and trauma over losing his father… put Danny down a dark and scary path. One where his seething anger might cause trouble on this two-year mission because the reality of the matter, is that he was rushed into service and wasn’t ready for the pressures of deep space travel in the slightest.

If anything, this was a shockingly bleak episode when all is said and done, but going this route was the right decision storytelling wise. Because it reminded us that we are indeed a flawed species, one that doesn’t know how to work together in the slightest, nor are we ready to do so. In fact, in order to get the unity, we want, there are fundamental changes we as a society have to agree upon and work on in order to get what we want. Which means that just the act of interstellar travel, might not be the answer we are hoping it will be. But that doesn’t mean that such an act is devoid of hope and the potential for great change. Because despite the petty nonsense happening on Mars, they only have each other on this barren rock, and if they can figure that out and truly rely upon one another, then perhaps they’ll figure out how to create the fundamental change needed to finally do the impossible and unify all of mankind. Until next time.

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