‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘Pathfinder’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 204 of ‘For All Mankind’.

​From the start, the AppleTV+ series, For All Mankind, worked hard to establish itself to be an exploratory show. One that was going to holding nothing back in its presentation of an alternate timeline where America lost the space race in an embarrassing manner and how that would end up being a benefit for the United States when all is said and done. Since we’ve seen technological advancements and stunning drive come out of that defeat. And as an added bonus, this universe was assembled with colorful and dynamic characters, the kind that would experience realistic hardships and growth, in order to truly sell this magnificent alternate world, and season one of this series was incredibly successful at making all of this work in a seamless manner.
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But as we continue to dive into year two of this fascinating series, it is becoming inherently clear now that just plunging us into a rich world isn’t enough for the writers’ room. They want to push the envelope a little further and explore how the human condition in this alternate reality isn’t all that different from our own and it is accomplishing that particular goal, by having the characters deal with a lot of the same things we do and that’s allowing for some interesting thematic concepts to find their way into this series. Such as the importance of tackling unfinished business. Since a great deal of us know that sometimes we need to go back and finish something we walked away from in order to feel complete and that was explored in ‘Pathfinder’ by way of Admiral Ed Baldwin. 

Because now that he was free of the grief that grounded him on Earth, he was to starting thinking about his future, and how his career was going to come to an end. And thanks to a little prompting from Karen, he was able to realize, that now was the perfect time to step away from his role behind a desk and get back out into space in the boldest way imaginable, by commanding the first flight of the newly commissioned space shuttle… Pathfinder. An act that allowed for him to find his swagger once again, to the point where he was able to even help out Dani by granting her request to make her the first African American, female commander of a space mission. One that will have her overseeing a joint mission with cosmonauts from the Soviet Union. 

Plus, everything that Ed has gone through as of late, allowed for him to realize exactly how to help his old friend Gordo. Because Mister Stevens was still struggling with his past and his fears and that motivated Ed to give him the tough love he needed to finally snap out of his funk, since sometimes… that is exactly what you need to get back and track, and while this particular tale ends in a slightly tense manner, since Ed had to ditch his plane over the ocean… the message inherent hung heavy over this episode. In that, tackling unfinished business will do wonders for our souls and give us a confidence and a drive that we thought we lost, so we should absolutely do what we can to finish something we walked away from, if the opportunity is there to do so. 

If anything, all of this made for one uplifting tale, one that also demonstrated the sheer potential of this particular series. Since this kind of thoughtful storytelling, combined with the endless possibilities that come about from a reality unknown to us, could bring about some legendary tales. The kind that will make this series stand tall as a science fiction classic and well, all this does is leave one counting own the minutes until next week’s tale. So that we can see exactly what storytelling wonders await us, since season two is clearly going to dive deep into some powerful concepts for certain, the kind that will give us pause and move us to tears and joy, all while we watch the astronauts of NASA work to finally establish dominance in a world where space travel is a standard. Until next time.   

‘For All Mankind’ is streaming now on AppleTV+.

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