‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘The Sands of Ares’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 308 of ‘For All Mankind’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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When we last settled in to discuss the wondrous Apple TV+ series, For All Mankind, we were left with quite the grim situation. For Danny Stevens’ monstrous addiction, brought forth disaster on Gagarin Ridge. For his inability to pay attention or monitor his station, led to an explosion on the drilling rig and that in turn brought down a massive landslide. One that left all of us wondering what would become of the Helios and Roscosmos crews since there was nothing but Martian dust and rock barreling down upon them in the closing moments of last week’s tale, and thankfully… the next episode of this dynamic series, wasted little time in showing us what had become of this disastrous joint mission.
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For ‘The Sands of Ares’ immediately revealed that most of the Helios equipment was buried beneath a new Martian surface. In fact, only Hab 1 survived the onslaught and the handful of survivors that managed to not have their suits damaged in the landslide, made it there, post haste and they were quickly joined by the NASA team. For this was an all hands, on deck situation, one where everyone had to work together to uncover who else had survived this madness and how best to rescue them and well, after some heavy sweeps, it turned out that the only people still left alive beyond the crew that assembled at Hab 1, were Astronaut Stevens and Admiral Baldwin.
 
Who as it turned out, managed to sneak into a heavily buried Hab 2, and well… while they waited for rescue from above… they were able to hash out some of the ugly that had grown between them. Whether or not they did that in a healthy manner, is up for debate. Because there were nasty and hurtful words thrown about and blows eventually. The kind that almost cost Ed his life since they forced him to bleed badly from his injuries further. But eventually, they found a common ground and almost shared in another big moment. Courtesy of the fact that Danny was ready to tell Ed about what happened between he and Karen long ago. But alas, what happened outside of those walls, kept that truth from getting out.
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Because while they were bickering and attempting to heal in every way imaginable, back on Earth… NASA, Helios and Roscosmos were busy at NASA HQ… hammering out how to save lives. Because Danny and Ed had a limited air supply, and conventional digging wouldn’t save them. But after Dev finally got over himself and another ‘failure’, thanks to an assist from Margo, a plan came into play. One that allowed for Ed and Danny to be saved after all, mere moments before Danny spilled the beans. Putting the mission back on track at last, but at a great cost of course. For not only were multiple astronauts dead in the landslide, but Kelly’s new beau and father of her child, died of unseen injuries after the rescue was complete.

If anything, this was just… an intense episode. One that offered a touch of levity and breakaway via Ellen’s reckoning with Pam, and Karen’s attempts to keep Danny’s wife and Jimmy in a calm mental space. But let’s be honest… those moments were overshadowed by the intensity of the rescue mission. One that is quite inspiring in retrospect. Because it did in fact, bring two nations and a for-profit corporation together to save human lives, and that has to count for something. And well, it will be interesting to see where this sense of unity leads these crews next, as life on Mars resumes in a somber and slightly empty manner… courtesy of the empty bunks now present. Until next time.

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