For All Mankind Season 4 Episode 2 Review: Have a Nice Sol

For All Mankind Season 4 Episode 2, “Have a Nice Sol,” sees NASA legend Danielle Poole and new recruit Miles Dale reach Mars, only to discover that life at Happy Valley treats them both very differently. 

The brewing class conflict between the base’s elites (astronauts, scientists) and its more blue-collar workers (miners, repair people, folks that generally keep Happy Valley functional) probably shouldn’t feel like as much of a surprise as it does. After all, that’s kind of how capitalism works a lot of the time, isn’t it?

Someone has to be on the bottom. But in previous seasons, our outer space outposts were much smaller and there was more collaboration and equality. Perhaps of sheer necessity, but still.

That enforced closeness, after all, built strong and meaningful bonds between all levels of the astronauts — it’s why Dani and Ed’s relationship is so complex and interesting, and why a simple exchange of “Hi, Bob” carries so much emotional weight.

These two don’t always agree on much, but their bond has been tested enough that they’re both willing to push against the other’s most entrenched habits.

It’s clear that Dani is (somehow??) much more well-adjusted than Ed, who is clearly stuck in a sort of stereotypical gruff old man rut, literally giving speeches about how much they had to walk to school uphill both ways back when they first arrived in space. Though, to be fair, his eternal love for the wonder of it all — they’re living on another planet for God’s sake, why is everyone whining remains his best character trait.

To her credit, it’s Dani who at least notices that all Happy Valley residents are not created equal.

Rather than build upward into the Mars atmosphere, Happy Valley’s complex has chosen to expand downward, drilling beneath the surface of the Red Planet to create a sprawling warren of quarters and hallways, where lower-level employees sleep six to a room, rarely see the Martian sky, eat awful, vaguely identifiable substances that are said to be food, and struggle to access enough bandwidth to access their vidmail from home. 

This is contrasted sharply with the lives of the officers’ corps, who all live on level one and above in  spacious quarters featuring massive windows and a mess hall staffed with what appears to be actual chefs. Their vidmail has been arriving seamlessly, and they can even gather in public spaces to watch sports broadcasts.

But, hey, at least the downstairs folks have a secret speakeasy with their own version of bathtub gin. (It’s vodka, somehow made in an airlock, and I have questions.)

Tyner Rushing in “For All Mankind” Season 4 Episode 2

Dani at least makes an effort to improve the morale issues, overriding Ed — and Helios — to send a team out to attempt to fix the broken satellite that’s hampering communications efforts. But what she doesn’t realize is how resentful the lower deckers are at their second class status, or how many ways they are segregated and ostracized. And, to be fair, they do make some valid points.

The officers upstairs are all wearing patches on their uniforms to honor Grigory Kuznetsov, who was killed in the Kronos asteroid accident last week, but there are no badges to honor Tom Parker, the worker who died alongside him, and his death was basically acknowledged as “another man” who was killed alongside his more famous colleague.

The below-deck workers company debit cards won’t work on the floors they don’t live on, meaning that they can’t buy the fancy fettuccine alfredo in the officer’s mess even if they wanted to. 

And, most importantly, Helios is busy nickel and diming its lower level employees in every way imaginable. Miles was originally hired because of his skills and experience gained from working on an oil rig, but the Kronos disaster has put the mining project on hold, basically turning him into a glorified HVAC repairman and drastically reducing his pay. (Which, let’s not forget, is the reason he was willing to sign up for a two year tour in the first place.)

And that’s before his paycheck is docked for various personal items and living expenses. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth, a beautiful new friendship is born out of the rubble of terrible circumstances. Given that Aleida was instrumental in coming up with the insane plan that saw a very pregnant Kelly strapped to a rocket and launched from the surface of Mars so that she could be treated for her pre-eclampsia aboard the Phoenix, it seems odd that the two women have never met before this episode.

But their accidental meeting at the Outpost — immediately leads the two women to recognize one another as kindred spirits.

As they drink tequila and bond over their terrible days — Aleida is still experiencing flashbacks about the JSC bombing and has officially quit her job at NASA, while Kelly has learned her scientific program hunting for life on Mars has had its funding cut until they can manage to fix the potentially more profitable asteroid program — they realize that each may be the solution to the other’s problems.

Kelly, after all, has a problem to solve, and Aleida lives to find out-of-the-box solutions to things. She says they’re going to find a way to get Kelly’s program privately funded, and you know what? I believe her. 

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• Honestly, I’m only surprised that it took Margot until the season’s second episode to get arrested by Soviet police. I still have no idea where the show is going with this subplot, but the idea that Gorbachev has somehow been vanished (maybe?) by his own government is fascinating! 
• The small moments involving the North Koreans feel as though they’re going to be important later in the season: Workers are forbidden from crossing into the section of Happy Valley where their crewmembers bunk and Lee Jung-Gil being told to “behave appropriately” when reunited with Dani. Ominous! 
• Still no details about Whatever Happened with Danny Stevens this week. 

What did you think of this episode of For All Mankind? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New episodes of For All Mankind stream Fridays on Apple TV+. 

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