For All Mankind episode 7 finds crisis across the picket line

For All Mankind, season 4, episode 7 — “Crossing the Line” — wastes no time getting into rancorous strike negotiations between Helios workers and NASA management at Happy Valley, Mars, as forecast by the previous episode.

That “line” in the episode title is a picket line, or maybe a reference to the disastrous result of management trying to bust a strike in space.

For All Mankind season 4, episode 7: ‘Crossing the Line’ sees disastrous results of failed labor negotiations

As For All Mankind‘s “Crossing the Line” episode opens, former Happy Valley base XO Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Samantha Massey (Tyner Rushing) lead negotiations on behalf of Helios workers in a tense exchange with base commander Danielle Poole (Khrys Marshall) and her new XO, Palmer (Myk Watford). Palmer insists Helios is a “non-union shop.” (This was set up well in the previous episode, “Leningrad.”)

Ed backs Samantha on how nothing gets done on Mars without the workers. Dani rips into Ed for previously whining about how the workers are mostly unqualified to even be there. The worsening situation constitutes a big public-private mess, as Dani represents NASA as base commander, while Ed, Sam and their colleagues work for private company Helios, which has rewritten their bonus schedules to totally screw them during the huge ramp-up to mining the Goldilocks asteroid.

While Samantha takes the strike lead, it’s clear Ed and Dani are locked in a very personal fight. She fired him as XO. That’s when he morphed into the workers’ hero. She confronts him from across the table.

“Just how far are you willing to take this, Ed?”

“The question is how much are you willing to lose?” he counters.

Dangerous workaround proves disastrous

Meanwhile, NASA director Eli Hobson (Daniel Stern) and Soviet space leader Irina Morozova (Svetlana Efremova) chat by videoconference about how crazy it is Helios workers want to force the Goldilocks asteroid mining operation back to Mars orbit rather than following through on the newer plan to bring it to Earth orbit.

Irina suggests NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts on Mars should work together to get fuel generators working again without the help of Helios workers.

And so we see plans unfolding on Mars in that direction. Soon enough, Helios workers take all the space suits and put them on the surface of the planet, where management can’t get them (not without a space suit).

So that’s when Palmer responds to Dani’s call for a new plan by proposing they go under the surface to reach the fuel generators. Turns out they have to go through a tunnel full of gray water from the compost tanks — yuck — but they’ll get there.

‘Moscow Margo’ becomes somebody in USSR’s Star City

Former NASA director Margo Madison seems steadily more exhausted and aged as she reports with a limp to Space City, the Soviet space agency — but people greet her now in the hallways, at least.

She heads to one of space boss Irina’s big management meetings with brass, where Margo laughs — laughs! — at a general’s idea that Helios can’t be trusted because it’s aligned with President Gore and the United States. Margo says Helios’ founder and CEO, Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi), is for himself above all. Irina says KGB intelligence backs that up.

Then, after Margo gives a short presentation in horribly American-accented Russian, everyone is dismissed but Irina commands Irina to stay. It seems Margo will be the agency’s main contact on future negotiations on the asteroid-mining project after all, complete with diplomatic immunity representing the USSR in the US. This is all per the communist hardliner Fyodor Korzhenko, now president after Gorbachev’s overthrow.

And Fox New — er, ‘Eagle News,’ that is — doesn’t like it

Aleida Rosales preps for an interview on the For All Mankind‘s Fox News stand-in, Eagle News, on the show “America Now with Zoey Chase.” But she realizes too late that Chase wants her to talk about “Moscow Margo,” not the asteroid project’s logistics. Chase introduces her as the close confidante of the “worst traitor in the United States,” as described by Senate Majority Leader Dianne Feinstein of California. Ouch.

Aleida walks out of the interview, offering her middle finger (as her kids gleefully observe when they later watch the interview on TV). But what Aleida can’t believe is that Margo isn’t dead as previously presumed. When Aleida confides she wishes Margo was dead, her husband suggests she push back harder against the seemingly inevitable partnership.

Kelly and Dev head to Mars

Then the show finally gives us a much-missed taste of space. In a gorgeous shot, a unit clears the space station and descends to the surface of Mars. Kelly Baldwin, her son and Dev have arrived.

Dani welcomes them. Ed arrives late. Kelly’s son is too shy to hug Ed, whom he barely knows because Ed has always insisted on remaining in space despite Kelly’s protests. Palmer makes an appearance to welcome Dev, but Dani commandeers the Helios chieftain to let him know who’s boss on Mars. In response, he’s as patronizing as you might imagine Dev would be.

Meanwhile, Ed hosts his daughter and grandson for a spaghetti dinner in his quarters, just like the Baldwins used to enjoy at their bar back on Earth. Except the food isn’t as good. And when Kelly reveals she has a can of Ed’s beloved parmesan cheese, he tries to force it on the boy. Wrong move. The kid leaves the table and Kelly rips into Ed, reminding him yet again that he has a home on Earth if he would just deign to go there. And then he might actually know his grandson.

Later, base doctor Dimitri Mayakovsky (Goran Ivanovski), confirms Mars’ low gravity seems to help the kid’s respiratory condition. This will probably come up again.

Without the workers, stuff blows up

As the episode proceeds, Palmer and others keep using the tunnel to keep operations going without the Helios workers. But a Helios worker reveals to colleagues she removed a crucial regulator from the fuel plant to derail management’s plans.

Nevertheless, Palmer and Co. find a workaround. When it redlines, they try to hit the emergency cutoff breaker, but they’re too late. In a long shot of the whole base, we see a building explode with a puff of smoke in the distance. The next thing we know, the Russian doctor is overwhelmed with casualties.

As the situation on Mars has grown dire, NASA director Hobson meets with a CIA operative, who reveals the agency has an armed operative at Happy Valley. This alarms Hobson. His liaison then proposes they deputize a force on the base to restore order.

So soon enough, Dani does just that. And a whole crew of newly deputized goons go searching through workers’ quarters (which seems like another escalation, not a solution).

Deal with the Dev-il

As Ed and Sam lead a riotous crew of workers, Dev makes a dramatic entrance. He pours sugar across the floor as a line for them to cross. They scoff at him, but he’s devilishly persuasive, offering minor concessions if the workers will just cross his sugar line. And it works. They begin to trickle over the line. And as Sam calls Dev a liar and Ed berates crew members as cowards and quitters, almost all of them cross. Only two or three are left.

“Well done, Dev,” Ed hisses. “You just killed Mars.”

Meanwhile, Margo arrives in Houston to protests calling for her arrest. But she has immunity. Aleida watches on TV. Eli coldly welcomes Margo to the Molly Cobb Space Center.

But back on Mars, Dev makes one more move. He confronts Ed in his exercise room. Dev contends his vision will make Mars the colony it should be if people would only make the sacrifices they’ve shown they’re capable of making, which resonates with veteran astronaut Ed.

“Do you want to help me steal an astroid,” Dev asks him. The soundtrack swells as Ed slowly grins, like this will be quite the heist.

Watch For All Mankind on Apple TV+

You can catch up with the first three seasons of the alternative-history series, plus the new season, on Apple TV+. It’s available by subscription for $9.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.

★★★☆☆