Review: For All Mankind Season 5 Episode 7: “The Sirens of Titan”

Written by Jovan Robinson Directed by Dan Liu

I’ve been waiting all season for the writers to give the mission to Titan the appropriate attention and priority, and we finally get closer to that in this episode. There is still a significant amount of time spent on the situation on Mars, of course, but at least we get some space exploration again.

As I expected, there is a significant time jump between episodes. We leap forward a few months to when Sojourner I has to start making adjustments to properly enter Titan’s atmosphere and land. Kosmos I, a private Russian mission attempting the same thing, miscalculates the approach. They are consigned to a swift death as they plummet towards Saturn.

Things progress a bit predictably from there. Walt, being cautious, wants to scrub the mission and return to Mars. Kelly, invoking the memory of her father and his regrets, argues to continue the mission. And when push comes to shove and the critical moment arrives, Kelly sabotages the return trip, giving them no choice but to attempt a landing on Titan.

What’s shocking here is not Kelly’s choice, or that it pays off. Both of these things were telegraphed enough that they are, as I said, fairly predictable. What’s surprising is that Walt doesn’t immediately recognize that Kelly was behind the whole gambit. It’s literally the only logical conclusion to make, yet everyone acts like it’s possibly just a glitch. I suppose that this might come up later, when they are on their eventual way home, but it just seems ridiculous that no one accuses her in the moment.

In my mind, more time and attention should have been given to this subplot. At the very least, there should have been some involvement between Aleida and Dev. There had been a fairly important conversation between them about how the crucial calculations would be done. And yet, in the end, Aleida doesn't seem to have much to do with those calculations at all. It undercuts the whole reason she was supposed to be on Mars in the first place.

The need for cooperation between Aleida and Dev to ensure the success of the Sojourner mission could have factored into the Mars political situation. Instead, Dev’s only involvement is essentially pushing Palmer and his men (who have been doing little more than raiding supplies for six months, improbably) to conduct a deadly terrorist attack on Happy Valley’s food domes and reserves. Yes, I’m calling it a terrorist attack, because Dev’s plan, no matter how effective, is horrific.

In terms of the attack, it happens when Alex, Lily, and his friends are in one of the domes for a surprise birthday bash. There’s at least one death and several injuries. Supposedly, Dev is upset that this happened, even though his plan means everyone will starve. Did he forget how long it takes for supplies to arrive from Earth, if Mars can’t feed itself? Or did the writers forget that space is big and things should take time?

Considering that ISN has withdrawn further support to Happy Valley to avoid starting a war back on Earth, and Earth doesn’t exactly seem to be willing to budge, where exactly is this supposed to leave Mars? With plenty of people on Mars wanting to return to Earth anyway, it’s a reasonable question. The whole point of the rebellion was to prevent workers on Mars to be shipped back to Earth against their will. If more and more of them volunteer to do so, doesn’t that undercut the entire rebellion?

The Sons and Daughters of Mars (now called SDM, for short) certainly seem to recognize the problem. But with food supplies down to a minimum, it’s perhaps a pressing question. And from what I understood, freeing up a transport for people to return to Earth was tied to Sojourner’s planned return. Since Sojourner landed on Titan, wouldn’t that possibility now be null and void?

It does make the situation on Mars rather pressing, so I expect that will dominate much of the next episode. And that’s unfortunate, because now that there are humans on Titan, a show that’s supposed to be about pushing the envelope of the space frontier should be more about that! Hopefully the mission on Titan will amount to more than a few minutes of screen time.