For All Mankind (Season 4) Episode 9: Like most of the shorter episodes of “For All Mankind,” this episode, too is dependent on a rocketing pace. There is a time jump. The team is waiting for their inside man to make their move while they are at risk of being caught by the authorities within Happy Valley. It’s all leading to an inevitable long, important, and disaster-filled season finale to a mostly constrained and yet exciting season.
For All Mankind (Season 4) Episode 9 “Brazil’ Recap:
A month has passed since the last episode’s cliffhanger, and what Massey had elicited the frustrated reaction for was legitimate because she hadn’t been able to swap the discriminator. Thus, Dev’s heist team isn’t able to connect to Ranger, the asteroid capture ship from the ground, which would help them control the asteroid and get it hitched to the Mars orbit rather than the asteroid moving towards Earth. They have 48 hours left to control the Ranger before the burn starts, and that is when they need to start controlling that burn.
At Ranger, Sam had been trying to swap but had been unable to because the discriminator was present in a console that was out in the open, and if she tried anything unsavory, she would be caught. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and she pours liquid glue into the communication box of the Ranger to destroy the discriminator. Considering that the discriminator is damaged this close to the burn schedule, they would have to change the discriminator, and Sam volunteers to bring in the spare. It’s then that she swaps the discriminator with the modified one for heist purposes.
Meanwhile, Miles and Ed, another friendship you wouldn’t have expected to occur considering the different spaces the characters had occupied since their inception, have now partnered and are seeking partnership from Lee. They specifically needed the full camera access that the North Koreans had been secretly utilizing to spy on the entire Happy Valley Base. Lee gives them access by connecting another router, which would piggyback from their servers, giving access to Dev’s team. When the connection is done, they finally learn that the discriminator has been swapped because of the damage being done to the original. Upon testing, they find that they can connect to the discriminator. The final phase of Dev’s plan has come to fruition.
Until it threatens to break apart because one of Lee’s colleagues, Commander Cho, discovers the device that is causing interference in their security cameras. Seeing the NASA logo imprinted on the device, he and Lee immediately bring it to Danielle, accusing them of spying on North Korea, and Danielle points out the flaw: they are spying through the camera feeds the North Koreans are using to spy on them. Isn’t that ironic? However, Danielle promises to look into it, though that falls on moot ears because he is very sure that the Helios worker who had come to check on the environmental regulator in their camp, Miles Dale, is responsible. While Cho has no idea how perilously close he is to uncovering it, that name intrigues Dani enough to launch her investigation into the matter.
What is also doubly intriguing are Kelly’s interesting results from her experiment, which might prove the existence of methanogenic bacteria and, thus, life on Mars. It’s hard for her to expect that same sort of excitement from Dev, though, who is more interested in playing with Alex as well as hanging out with her father, a friendship she is still looking at with suspicion, and rightly so. But there is a hint of jealousy there as well, perhaps because she is losing time with her father, and Dev, to divert from answering questions about his burgeoning friendship with Ed, advises Kelly to make time with her father before that time runs out.
And time is running out, as Danielle knows very well. In her video message to her family, she remarks that she wants to return to Earthside as soon as possible because she doesn’t want to miss the feeling of being a grandmother and educating her grandchildren about being a Trekkie (side note: does this universe not have Star Trek: The Next Generation?) But she is also responsible for bringing the news of this mysterious device as well as the theft of a lot of electronic instruments from Eli. Hobson, with Will Tyler and Irina Morzovna via communications, realizes very quickly that while none of the devices have negligible value in the black market, they can be useful in disrupting communications with a nearby ship and taking control.
So logically, the Ranger and the Asteroid Capture Operation are at risk. This finally forces them to activate their sleeper agents in Happy Valley, both the KGB and CIA varieties. The revelations of the two secret agents shock Danielle at Happy Valley, not because they are known faces to the audience but because of the different strata of the workforce they belong to and how adept they are at maintaining their cover. However, now, in an ironic twist of fate, both of these secret services will work together to uncover the group that is a risk to the overall asteroid capture operation.
Unbeknownst to Danielle, Commander Cho had been following the comings and goings of Miles Dale through the North Korean security cameras and had finally deduced that Dale and his team are hiding in the sub-basement, where they don’t have camera access. Cho, armed with a flashlight, makes his way to the sub-basement where Ayesa’s team is working in stealth and almost manages to drag Gerardo out of hiding if Lee had not hit him from behind. The resulting scuffle between the two North Koreans led to Lee choking Cho out.
Back on Earth, Aleida’s machinations in helping Sergei and Margo reconnect have succeeded the two of them in coming closer. The primary motivation in this episode is to connect and have Sergei’s expert opinions, which works like a charm when they finally meet at Aleida’s home. Sergei utilizes a cloak and dagger to ensure he isn’t detected. Sergei’s adjustments and improvements could move up the operational timeline by nine months, which would please NASA immensely and, consequently, the politics of the higher-ups. More importantly for Margo and Sergei, this could be the chance for the two of them to finally live the life they have been robbed of, as they plan to escape to Brazil and join their space organization once this Goldilocks’ mission is complete.
For All Mankind (Season 4) Episode 9 “Brazil’ Recap Ending Explained:
The final moments of this episode are all about catharsis. On the one hand, Kelly finally confronts Ed, asking why he has been distant from her and her family and why he has been avoiding coming back home. Ed’s answer, though, reaffirms why Ayesa and Ed bonded. Both men are obsessed with leaving a legacy of their own, and Mars is the fertile playground they have targeted to leave a legacy on because going back to Earth and succumbing to the infirmities of old age is not the end he had envisioned.
It’s all very heartfelt, but it also rings alarm bells because, like all television traditions, any sort of heartfelt confession would mean that this character is finally about to bite the dust. Will Ed Baldwin finally bite the dust in the season finale? Joel Kinnaman’s old-age makeup is ironically a sign of the character living perhaps far too long, and thus there is a distinctive possibility.
On the other hand, the interrogation of Miles Dale by the KGB and the CIA sleeper agent starts with regular questioning. Miles is very good at deflecting regular questioning, both by his street smarts and the tutelage by Ilya. It annoys the two agents enough that they finally drop any pretense of “questioning” and move straight to aggressive interrogation techniques and torture. I’m pretty sure Danielle wouldn’t have ordered this investigation if she had known this would be the fallout.
Finally, back on Earth, the romantic moment between Sergei and Margo extends to when they are alone. Margo orders an American burger and listens to the record that Sergei had gifted her. Sergei, meanwhile, had ordered a Big Mac, entered his nondescript motel room, and began to take a bite out of the Big Mac before he was shot in the head. The killer immediately places the gun in his right hand and wipes the fingerprints before walking away. This was an assassination, and considering Morzovna was Sergei’s handler, it isn’t surprising, but it is still shocking and a fantastic cliffhanger to end the episode.
