For All Mankind: Season 4, Episode 1 - Glasnost (2023)

The episode opens eight years after the events of the previous season. Ed Baldwin is serving as Executive Officer at Happy Valley, a space station, and has assigned himself to a critical mission despite showing signs of a tremor in his hand that he is actively hiding from others. His daughter Kelly, who gave birth in space years earlier, is now raising a three-year-old child on Earth and repeatedly urges her father to come home, but Ed continually postpones his return, unwilling to accept a quiet life of diminishment in his daughter's guest room.

The central mission of the episode involves an asteroid capture operation. Ed commands a spacecraft called Ranger 1, which is attempting to secure a resource-rich asteroid using grappling hooks and a crane system. Russian cosmonaut Grigory Kuznetsov, who was the first Soviet on Mars and the first human to step foot on an asteroid, is aboard the vessel. During the operation, the asteroid begins to slip out of the grappling hooks holding it in place. Grigory decides to venture outside the spacecraft to manually repair the crane system. Tom Parker, another crew member, volunteers to join him despite Samantha's protests from inside the vessel.

While working on the exterior repair, Grigory becomes trapped with his leg caught between two metal bars as the crane structure begins to fail. The crane collapses and kills Tom Parker instantly. Ed moves to put on his suit to attempt a rescue of Grigory, but Grigory urges him to remain inside the spacecraft. Peters, the commanding officer at Happy Valley monitoring the mission from Earth, orders all personnel aboard Ranger 1 to stay in place. Grigory informs Ed that his suit has a hole in it and his carbon dioxide levels are critically low. Due to the communication delay between Earth and space, Ed is forced to execute an emergency disconnect, severing Grigory from the spacecraft. Grigory dies in space, and the mission ends in catastrophic failure with two crew members dead.

News of the disaster reaches Earth. Danielle Poole, the first American on Mars, learns of Grigory's death when her husband Corey calls her into the living room to watch a breaking news segment about the tragedy. Danielle is deeply shocked by the loss. She had only recently agreed to meet with Eli Hobson, NASA's new administrator, to discuss returning to active duty, and she accepted this meeting specifically to honor Grigory, who had been her emotional anchor during the most difficult times on Mars, particularly after Karen's death.

Eli Hobson uses the Ranger 1 disaster as an opportunity to recruit Danielle back into service. He approaches her with an offer to head back to Happy Valley and take charge of operations there. Hobson argues that Danielle is still the best person NASA has and that her leadership would provide an important counterbalance to Ed Baldwin, who Hobson believes should have retired to Earth long ago.

In Moscow, Margo Madison wakes to an overcast, wintry day in her apartment. She has spent the last ten years in exile in the Soviet Union after defecting at the end of the previous season. She notices someone watching her from a parked car across the street. She leaves her apartment, purchases a pastry from a local bakery, and buys a newspaper from a newsstand vendor in a park. Her life in Moscow is sparse and aimless. She had previously offered her decades of space expertise to Roscosmos following a joint US-Soviet disaster called Kronos, but her offers have been rebuffed. She attempts to call Roscosmos to speak with Director Catiche, but she is firmly told that Catiche has been receiving her messages and is currently unavailable. Margo's extensive knowledge of NASA's older systems has become increasingly less useful to her Soviet contacts, as NASA has progressed significantly and developed new systems beyond her expertise.

Later in the park, a mysterious older woman who speaks English approaches Margo on a bench while feeding bullfinches. The woman hands Margo a business card and encourages her to bide her time, suggesting that she has Margo's best interests at heart. The woman's identity and intentions remain unclear, but her appearance marks a potential shift in Margo's isolated circumstances.

Aleida Rosales is at home with her husband Victor and their two children as they prepare for the day. Aleida tells Victor that she plans to work from home. Victor notices that NASA is calling her, but Aleida ignores the call.

Miles Dale, a Louisiana-based former oil rigger, applies for a job with Helios, a space company. He is among an avalanche of applicants seeking employment. Miles has lied about having a college education on his application. He learns that he cannot secure a job on the moon for at least two more years due to a long waiting list. However, a sympathetic Helios interviewer offers him an alternative: a position on Mars instead, but only if he is willing to leave in a few weeks following a minimum of astronaut training. Miles accepts this offer, motivated by his need to secure better employment to save his marriage and provide better for his two daughters.

At the episode's conclusion, Miles and Danielle are both heading to Mars, setting up the trajectory for the season's ongoing storylines.

In the final moments of "Glasnost," the Ranger One asteroid mission ends in tragedy with the deaths of cosmonaut Grigory Kuznetsov and Helios worker Parker, prompting NASA Administrator Eli Hobson to recruit retired astronaut Danielle Poole to return to Mars' Happy Valley base and take command, counterbalancing the aging Ed Baldwin; as night falls on Mars, rookie miner Miles boards a transport ship with Danielle heading to the red planet, while Ed remains behind in Happy Valley, smoking a joint alone.

Now, let me take you through the ending scene by scene, as the episode builds to its close in the cold void of space and the dusty expanse of Mars, drawing out every tense beat and quiet aftermath.

The crisis erupts aboard Ranger One, the mining ship tethered to the massive asteroid Kronos, which has begun to wobble violently as its anchoring pitons fail and cables slacken under the strain. Mission commander Ed Baldwin, his face etched with years of wear and a hidden tremor in his hands from his undisclosed health decline, stands in the command module barking orders into the comms. Alarms blare as the asteroid threatens to shear the ship apart. Cosmonaut Grigory Kuznetsov, the grizzled Russian veteran with a deep bond to Ed forged over decades of rivalry and respect, insists on suiting up for an EVA to restabilize the cables. Helios engineer Parker, a burly blue-collar worker driven by the promise of a fat bonus for mission success, volunteers to join him despite Ed's orders to stand down, overriding crewmate Massey's protests about protocol.

Out in the vacuum, Parker and Grigory float toward the fraying tethers, their suits bulky against the starry black, tools glinting as they work frantically. The drill rig malfunctions catastrophically--a jagged piece breaks free and spears straight through Parker's suit, impaling him in a spray of frozen blood crystals that sparkle briefly before vanishing. He thrashes silently, his body going limp as his oxygen vents into space. Grigory presses on alone, hammering at the pitons, but his own suit punctures from debris, oxygen levels plummeting. Ed, now suited up himself and ready to launch the airlock, pleads over the radio for Grigory to return. In a raw, voice-cracking exchange heavy with their shared history--Grigory's eyes visible through his visor, calm yet resolute--he refuses, saying his time has come and ordering Ed to cut the tether and save the crew. Ed hesitates, tears streaking his face inside his helmet, then severs the line; Grigory drifts away into the void, saluting faintly as his vitals flatline. Parker and Grigory are both dead, their bodies lost to space, leaving the surviving crew--including Ed--shaken in the module's red emergency lighting.

Word of the Ranger-Kronos disaster ripples back to Earth instantly. In NASA's Mission Control, new administrator Eli Hobson, a pragmatic bureaucrat in a sharp suit, watches the feeds with grim determination. He picks up the phone to retired first-American-on-Mars Danielle Poole, who's living a quiet life on Earth, tending to her relationship with Amber Stevens and her daughter while haunted by guilt over leaving Danny Stevens behind on Mars years ago. Hobson appeals to her loyalty, citing Grigory's death as a call to action and her unmatched experience as the counterweight needed to rein in Ed, whose increasingly erratic judgment--fueled by age, isolation, and secret substance use--has become a liability. Danielle, after a long pause staring at family photos, agrees out of duty to Grigory and concern for Ed, packing her bags with quiet resolve.

Cut to Moscow, where disgraced ex-NASA flight director Margo Madison, living in exile under the alias Margaret Reynolds after her defection, has just been rebuffed by Roscosmos head Lenara Catiche after offering her expertise on the disaster. Margo sits defeated on a snowy park bench, feeding bullfinches crusts of bread, her American accent thick in muttered Russian curses. A cryptic older woman approaches, speaking flawless English, claiming to watch out for Margo's best interests--her identity and intentions left hanging as a shadow of intrigue.

On Earth, rookie Helios miner Miles, a wide-eyed newcomer motivated by debts and the allure of Martian riches, boards a transport shuttle at the launchpad, his duffel slung over his shoulder amid the hum of pre-flight checks. Danielle arrives moments later, her posture straight and authoritative despite inner reluctance, strapping in beside him as engines roar to life. The shuttle lifts off, arcing toward Mars.

The episode closes on Mars' Happy Valley base at dusk, the rusty horizon swallowing the weak sun. Ed Baldwin stands alone outside the habitat dome, the weight of the failed mission and Grigory's sacrifice pressing on him like the thin atmosphere. He pulls a hand-rolled joint from his pocket--marijuana, smuggled or grown in secret--and lights it, inhaling deeply as purple twilight deepens to night, stars pricking the sky above the distant craters. Smoke curls from his lips; his eyes distant, weary.

Here is the fate of each main character at the episode's end: Ed Baldwin survives the disaster as Ranger One's commander but remains stranded in Happy Valley on Mars, isolated and self-medicating amid questions about his fitness to lead. Grigory Kuznetsov dies heroically in space, sacrificing himself to save his crew. Parker dies gruesomely during the EVA, killed by debris. Danielle Poole leaves Earth on a transport to Mars, recruited to assume command at Happy Valley and oversee Ed. Miles departs Earth on the same transport with Danielle, en route to Mars as a new Helios miner. Margo Madison lingers in uncertain exile in Moscow, approached by a mysterious ally after her Roscosmos rejection.

No, there is no post-credits scene in For All Mankind season 4 episode 1 "Glasnost."

The episode concludes with its final narrative moments showing outer space-newbie Miles and longtime veteran/ex-retiree Danielle boarding the same transport bound for Mars, while melancholy commander Ed remains in the ironically-named Happy Valley, awaiting Danielle's arrival and puffing on what appears to be a marijuana cigarette as Martian night falls, casting long shadows over the dusty red landscape and amplifying his isolation and quiet defiance after the Ranger disaster. Reviews and recaps describe this as the closing image without mention of any additional post-credits content, consistent across detailed episode breakdowns focusing on the asteroid mission's tragedy, character returns, and season setup.

For All Mankind Season 4 Episode 1 "Glasnost" is not family friendly and carries a TV-MA rating. The episode contains the following potentially objectionable content:

Violence: The episode features a space disaster sequence involving death and injury. A character is fatally impaled during this sequence, and there are scenes of people in life-threatening situations in space. The disaster itself is described as personally devastating.

Offensive Language: The episode includes profanity and strong language.

Thematic Content: The episode deals with serious themes including death, sacrifice, and international tension during the Cold War era, which may be emotionally intense for sensitive viewers.

The episode is rated for offensive language and violence, making it unsuitable for young children or those sensitive to depictions of space-related accidents and fatalities.