Summary
Another painfully slow episode that again relies heavily on the camaraderie between the rival missions as they work together to save the day. This repetitive formula continues to ruin any built-up tension, leading to predictable melodrama.
This recap of the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind season 3, episode 8 contains spoilers.
After last week’s catastrophic, cliff-hanger ending, NASA and Helios must team up to help formulate a rescue mission on Mars. This involves the rival teams working together both on earth and on the red planet for the greater good. Tensions are high and emotions may overtake logic in the eighth installment.
For All Mankind season 3, episode 8 recap
“The Sands of Ares” opens with the Sojourner-1 crew feeling the after effects of Danny’s saboteur work. Their base is shook by that perilous landslide, which was in turn caused by the malfunctioning drill. Danielle sees that the Helios base has been buried under meters of sand and she instantly plans a rescue mission.
Meanwhile, Poletov wakes in the aftermath of the destruction, digging himself out of the sand, before vomiting into his suit. The stranded astronaut is lost, with no word from his team and a thick dust cloud blinding him in all directions. He stumbles onwards and finds the corpse of Nick Corrado. Later, Poletov is reunited with Mueller and they head back to base, assuming they are the only survivors of this tragic event.
But that is not the case, Ed and Danny are trapped inside Hab1, starved of oxygen, with only around six hours of breathable air left. Danny cleans Ed’s wound and tightens the bandages around his leader’s abdomen. Ed tries to hide his discomfort, but he’s in agony. This suffocating situation leads to many arguments and a heartfelt discussion between the old friends, but Danny doesn’t talk about what actually caused this disaster or any of his other many sins. They do talk about his pill popping though, with Danny visibly in the midst of withdrawal. Danny appears almost suicidal in these moments, happy to go down with the sinking ship, fearing the worst.
Back on Earth, Ellen Wilson meets with her ex Pam. They chat about their prior relationship and why it ended so suddenly. Pam wanted Ellen to pursue her career and saved her from living a nondescript existence. She adds how disappointed she is that Ellen hasn’t made any real difference in the LGBTQ+ community, instead endlessly compromising again and again. The President is clearly shaken by this news and is then whisked away as the Mars disaster reaches them.
NASA and Helios join forces to brainstorm a rescue mission of sorts, pooling resources and putting their differences aside. They all agree that the survivors are stranded, time is running out and even with Danielle’s team on the way, there is still a lot of obstacles in their path. Karen Baldwin pays Amber and Jimmy a visit, hoping to support them the best she can through this traumatic event. Jimmy is skeptical as always and Amber an emotional wreck. They fear their family members are deceased and helplessly await the obvious outcome. They are later informed that Danny and Ed are buried twenty meters underground, covered by an avalanche of sand. They’re alive and NASA has a plan to save them both.
Dev is our hero for a change, concocting a plan that involves attacking the problem from below. It is well-established that it would take far too long to dig them out, so instead they decide to use a lava tube under the surface and detonate a bomb, which would clear the space of all this debris instantaneously. Will Tyler and Rolan Baranov are the lucky souls tasked with setting off this bomb and the squabbling duo head down into the unknown.
Danny looks set to confess something to Ed, but then the astronauts are saved and taken back to base after the detonation. The remaining crew members are reunited and Ed looks set for a slow recovery, but they have very little else to celebrate as Poletov is unresponsive. Kelly weeps atop her lover’s covered corpse and then the daughter hugs her father. Ed consoles her child, as she sobs uncontrollably. To make this doomed romance even more tragic, a Russian doctor tells his superior that Kelly is pregnant. Poor Kelly is totally unaware that she is pregnant with Poletov’s child.
You can stream For All Mankind season 3, episode 8, “The Sands of Ares”, exclusively on Apple TV+.
