2023’s most ambitious TV epic reinvents 21st century sci-fi

As of 2019, a bold science fiction series has branched out. For all mankind It’s not only one of the most complex and measured sci-fi concepts ever created, but it’s also a story that continues to defy expectations. In Season 1, the show asked the simple question: What if the USSR landed on the moon before the United States? Now, with Season 4, the alternate timeline created by this one event leads to a new way of thinking about sci-fi in the 21st century. With season 4, For all mankind Today has started to catch up with the day. That means the show has ditched the retro space nostalgia in favor of something completely original.

At New York City Comic-Con on Thursday, October 12, 2023, Apple screened its first episode. For all mankind Season 4, “Glossnast,” premiered on Nov. 10, about a month before the original season premiered. It was one of seven (of the season’s 10) episodes that were made available to critics, but it gave a glimpse into the show’s bold transition from one type of show to another.

The biggest change in Season 4 is that, at this point, there are much more of new characters. If it’s been a second since you watched the season 3 finale, now is a good time to remember that Molly is dead, Karen is dead, and Margo is dead. Presumed dead, but was secretly handed over to the USSR after being accused of spying against NASA. All of these plot threads are important, but not in the way you might expect.

At the beginning of season 4, we are no longer in the 90s, but now in 2003. For a show that started in an alternate 1969, rocked ’80s hits in Season 2, and rocked ’90s playlists in Season 3, it’s incredibly disturbing that one of the Strokes The song is now with Spacescapes of Mars. (While Franz Ferdinand’s 2004 hit “Take Me Out” dominates the new trailer.) A simple “What if?” What started as? The historical question in Season 1 has inspired the butterfly into one of the most believable sci-fi worlds ever seen on TV. In many ways, the 2003 For all mankind Here’s what our 2043 might look like (depending on what happens with NASA’s real-life Artemis mission). As of season 3, For all mankind Season 4 creates a few off-screen fictional innovations to illustrate how rapidly technology is advancing.

But just like our own timeline, milestones in spaceflight are only partly predicated on technological progress. The setbacks and conflicts on Mars and elsewhere are 100% driven by geopolitics, economics and yes, the egos of certain people. For all mankind Season 4 maintains its status as one of the best sci-fi shows ever. ever Because it’s still very much about people, and how, in microcosm, those people represent all of humanity.

We’ve now been following Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), Daniel Poole (Chris Marshall) and Margo Madison (Warren Schmidt) for four decades, and that creates several unique emotional payoffs in Season 4. When we hear Dani and Ed greet each other. By saying “Hi Bob”, it recalls the Season 1 episode of the same name, in which Danny, Ed, and Gordo (Michael Dorman) all try to stop themselves from going to the moon. The Bob Newhart Show. But the relationship between Ed and Dani isn’t just an Easter egg. They’ve said “Hi Bob” to each other every season since, and now, they’re both. Very old people Season 4 is filled with many such small moments, which feel emotionally massive as the show spans the entire lives of these characters.

Some shows can actually pull it off. Because of its multifaceted approach, For all mankind A type of alternate history is called the sci-fi version. One Hundred Years of Solitude. In earlier seasons, one could argue that the 70s and 80s were a gimmick, a way to get retro-futurism with the nostalgia we all feel for the 20th century. But with season 4, For all mankind Primarily emerged as historical sci-fi. Being retro is no longer a primary aesthetic feature. Instead, the show just started to feel very real. This is not to say. For all mankind It offers a better timeline than the one we live in. Other times, it looks like they’re setting up. Vastness. The depth of watching the show is thinking about how the choices people make always shape the future, in one way or another.

For all mankind There is an outline of seven seasons. At this point, they’re a little more than halfway there. But if the show makes it to that point — and ends sometime around the alternate 2030s — the science fiction world that will exist by then will never amount to anything in the genre. And the best part is, with each episode, we have no idea what will happen next.