- Network: Apple TV+
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 1, 2019
Critic Reviews
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The storytelling is smart and the worldbuilding world-beating, but it’s the characters’ deeply felt commitment to progress and each other that makes this come alive and soar to the stars.
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For All Mankind remains ever ambitious with its fifth season, where the series makes the reflection off its alternate history mirror even stronger as the lives of everyday people get squeezed between the politicians of Mars fighting with the politicians of Earth.
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For all the elegantly rendered visual effects and meticulous NASA-core production design of the show, what wows most is the incredibly relatable human drama that plays out in between.
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Themes include the use of government propaganda on Earth to frame events on Mars in a negative light, also relevant to real-world current events. Science fiction is often at its best when it reflects the here-and-now, which “For All Mankind” has done from the start, contributing to the strength of the show’s dramatic storytelling.
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Even when its narrative turns a tad staid, its profuse empathy carries the day.
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With each episode, Season 5 builds tension while giving us brief moments of relief, all culminating in another massive shift that promises to usher in a completely new and exciting age.
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Another great season of sci-fi as alternative history becomes alternative present, and reflects more of the reality we face, for better and for worse, in the world today.