For All Mankind 308 is the eighth instalment of the third season of a historical fantasy TV drama series streaming on Apple TV+. Created by Ronald D. Moore (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Outlander), For All Mankind reimagines the space race of the 60s/70s as an alternate reality where the Soviet Union put a man on the moon before the USA. Season 3 picks up a decade after the events of season 2.
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “The Sands of Ares”, For All Mankind 308 essentially revolves around the disaster movie trope. After the events of the previous episode, a landslide has buried the joint USSR-Helios mission, killing some and trapping others, including Ed Baldwin and Danny Stevens. Thus, most of this episode is dedicated to the teams on Mars as well as back on Earth figuring out how to rescue Ed and Danny.
READ OUR ANALYSES OF FOR ALL MANKIND.
In addition, For All Mankind 308 also gets into the sub-plot of Ellen Wilson’s complicated situation as being not only a woman president but a closeted lesbian as well. Now, suffice to say that it has been difficult to engage with this sub-plot for a variety of reasons, chief of which is that it seems implausible for the USA to elect a woman president in the mid-nineties, considering that it still has not happened in their entire history.
Ellen Wilson simply does not sell the idea of first woman president, it’s not convincing at all and thus, this story arc fails completely. Also, the way things are shaping up, it does appear that Ellen Wilson might decide to come out of the closet and that should realistically end her presidency. We shall see.
For All Mankind is now streaming on AppleTV+.
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