"Leningrad" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of For All Mankind. It was released on Apple TV+ on December 15, 2023.
Synopsis
Unlikely partnerships are formed at a high-stakes international conference.
Plot[]
In July 2003, the M-7 nations and Helios arrive in LeningradW for a summit to determine the best course of action for capturing and mining the Goldilocks asteroid. Margo Madison watches their arrival from a back room through security cameras, zooming in to see who is representing the United States and Helios, although she is unable to fully see the Helios representative before they walk into the building. Irina Morozova represents Roscosmos and the Soviet Union, although she has a hidden earpiece with Margo feeding her information.
On Happy Valley, Edward Baldwin is in his room, passing the time by reading, sleeping, cleaning, and smoking marijuana. He eventually travels to the lower levels, walking into Ilya Breshov's speakeasy to the stunned silence of Ilya and the other Helios workers inside. Eventually, he breaks the tension with Ilya by ordering a drink, and giving cheers to the workers.
At the summit, Eli Hobson declares that the United States believes that a capture mission can be initiated within eight weeks. The representative from Japan asks about the need for developing new equipment. Aleida Rosales, representing Helios, responds by making clear the need for a new fleet of vehicles and a major expansion to Happy Valley's facilities, which will cost a minimum of $2 trillion. Aleida tries to convince them that it is still a solid investment as the asteroid is worth $20 trillion or more, but many delegates remain discouraged by the enormity of the expenses.
Back on Happy Valley, Palmer James and Danielle Poole go over the plans for the asteroid capture. Palmer believes it cannot be done due to the amount of flights and outlay needed, while Dani declares that she will get it or die trying.
Ed and Ilya begin to talk about Ilya's operations, with Ed offering advice on improving Ilya's still. Meanwhile, Samantha Massey and her fellow co-workers begin to discuss unionization after receiving news of the increased tempo of operations and the prospects of more of their colleagues dying.
At the summit, Irina meets with Eli and Aleida. Aleida tries to argue that the return on investment will be huge, but Eli counters by saying that it won't be seen for at least 30 years. Irina estimates the return on investments to be 40 years for the Soviet Union and makes the claim that Helios will benefit immediately while the rest of the participating members will have to wait decades for a return on their investment. Margo estimates 35 years, but Irina ignores her. Aleida's arguments mistakenly begin to make a case to drop the entire capture mission, which causes Eli and Irina to remark about this. Aleida argues for them to continue, while Margo says similarly in Irina's ear. Eli begins to talk about potentially bringing Goldilocks to Earth instead of Mars orbit, leading Margo to tell Irina to let him finish. They then begin to discuss mining it in Earth's orbit instead, with Margo letting Irina know that the timeline could change to 5 years instead, which Aleida remarks that she was just about to say.
At Ilya's bar, Ed lets him know that he knows about the smuggling operation. When he postulates that Ilya must have someone working for him on Phoenix, Ilya cuts him off. Later, Miles Dale goes to the loading bay to give his Martian rock shipment for travel, but Faiza Khatib tells him that she cannot help him anymore as this area is off-limits to him from now on, and walks away. Petros Khorenatsi enters the loading bay and tells Miles that he is no longer welcome here, grabs him by the neck and holds him against the wall, and warns him to stay away from the loading bay.
In Leningrad, Aleida, Eli, and Irina begin to discuss calculations to bring Goldilocks to Earth. Margo continues to feed Irina information, discussing asteroid diversion methods that NASA looked at in the 1990s, although Irina gets key information wrong in the transfer, such as Bart instead of DARTW, and Aleida asks if that's another thing that they stole, like the NERVA engine design. Eli tries to cut Aleida off, but Aleida instead asks Irina to continue on how "our" techniques could be useful today. Margo lets Irina know that NASA openly published the information, but Irina instead says that their loyalties are misplaced and that they no longer work for NASA, and that their duty should be to their current employer. While openly speaking to Aleida, the message is intended for Margo as well. Margo apologizes before Irina continues, saying that the tests were published for all to see. Aleida talks about the different methods and Margo continues to feed Irina. She lets Irina know that there is a solution, but Irina says that they should take a break. Margo tells her no and that they should continue to work on it and Aleida in the room says the same thing, but Irina and Eli leave for dinner.
At Happy Valley, Ed wakes up hungover in his room and lights a joint before Palmer knocks on his door with paperwork for him to sign. Ed is confused, and Palmer reminds him that even though he is no longer XO, he is still the Senior Project Manager for Helios and he will need to sign. Palmer tries to get Ed to do this quickly, but Ed takes it and says he will take it under review, angering Palmer, but Ed has already shut the door in his face.
Irina meets Margo in her back room. Due to the difficulty of playing Chinese whispers with Irina and Aleida, Margo suggests working directly with Aleida. Irina refuses initially, reminding her of the scandal it would create if she revealed herself to be alive, before Margo tries to convince her that it is necessary. Irina states that Aleida thinks she's dead, and why would she want to work with her. Margo tells her that Aleida is similar to her and she would be working on the problem as they speak. Irina then says that this will unmask Margo to the world, and that she will be known as a spy and traitor and the most hated woman in America. Margo doesn't relish the prospect, but she knows it's the only way to find the solution and that she no longer wants to hide. She tells Irina that she wants to be an open part of the project and that she wishes to be Roscosmos's head of the asteroid capture program. Irina says that she wants power, and that power is a drug. Margo tries to say that her drug is the work, but Irina says that if she follows through, no one here or there will trust her. Margo says she does not care and that she knows what she is doing and why she is doing it.
Margo goes to Aleida's hotel room, finding the door unlocked. She walks in and finds paperwork and calculations around the room, but Aleida is not there. Eventually Aleida returns from a shower, Margo tries to defend her actions, after Aleida says that she's alive, before rushing over to embrace her, crying and not being able to believe that she survived.
On Happy Valley, Miles meets with Lee Jung-Gil at the North Korean sector of the base, explaining that Ilya has cut him out, and that he never intended to bring Lee's wife to Mars. Lee responds angrily and Miles feeds his anger, saying that he is a man of his word, and that he thinks he might have been able to get her up there, but Ilya had cut him out. Lee says that he will handle the situation. He then sends three North Koreans to Petros.
In Leningrad, Margo explains what happened during her defection, stating that she was flown out of the country after meeting her contact outside the Johnson Space Center. Aleida says that she had options, but Margo insists she had no choice and she was careful never to jeopardize national security. to which Aleida counters with the NERVA engine and that she had choices. Aleida then talks about her experience during the bombing of JSC and how 195 people had been killed and how Bill Strausser was lucky because he only had his pelvis shattered and spinal cord severed. She then tells Margo how she went looking for her, finding her office open to the world, and how she thought she must be in heaven, before realising that the side of the building was gone, as she was taken out she saw that Emma Jorgens had died at her post. Margo says that she wishes she had been at her post and had died during the bombing. Aleida then asks what Margo wants and that she doesn't want to work with her on the asteroid problem. Margo then says that when Aleida leaves, she will be tortured by the knowledge that a solution was within reach, and when she finally gets the solution it will be too late. Aleida silently accepts to work with Margo, before immediately moving into discussion of the problem.
At Happy Valley, Petros is in the medical bay, with Dimitri Mayakovsky looking after him, letting Ilya know that Petros has said it was an accident. Ilya then goes to his speakeasy, finding Miles and two North Koreans inside. Ilya asks what is happening and Miles says that he sent a man to put his hands on his throat and that's what's happening. Miles then lets Ilya know that he can come around the bar whenever he wishes, but it is Miles property now.
Samantha organises a meeting with some Helios workers, arguing to unionize, other workers say that it will only upset Helios. Ed then walks in and drops the paperwork he was asked to sign on the table, which shows that their bonuses will be dramatically cut, with 10 times the amount of points needed to get a bonus which itself has been cut from $20,000 to $5,000. The workers then begin to argue that they signed contracts, but Samantha says that the contracts are allowed to be changed at any time, which was also within the contracts themselves. After more discussion Gerardo Ortiz-Niño asks what they should do. Ed advises them to unionize. An Australian worker then asks what they should do if that doesn't work. Ed says to strike. A strike chant is then started in the room.
On a news report, Margo is announced to be alive. She reads a prepared statement stating she made the decision to defect in 1995, due to dissatisfaction with the United States and NASA, and that NASA was too preoccupied with propaganda. She is then announced as the leader of the Soviet team responsible for the asteroid capture. She takes responsibility for solving the asteroid problem, stating that it was her work with scientists and engineers at Star City. Aleida watches the report silently before turning it off as she packs her bags.
Cast[]
- Joel Kinnaman as Edward Baldwin
- Toby Kebbell as Miles Dale
- Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole
- Edi Gathegi as Dev Ayesa (credit only)
- Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin
- Coral Peña as Aleida Rosales
- Tyner Rushing as Samantha Massey
- Svetlana Efremova as Irina Morozova
- Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison
- Daniel Stern as Eli Hobson
- C.S. Lee as Lee Jung-Gil
- Goran Ivanovski as Dimitri Mayakovsky
- Dimiter D. Marinov as Ilya Breshov
- Myk Watford as Palmer James
- Jessica Tuck as Christine Francis
- Nick Gracer
as Petros Khorenatsi
as - Salvador Chacon as Gerardo Ortiz-Niño
- Jo Kelly as Maya Estime
- Sebastiano Pigazzi as Luka Gurino
- Steph Evison Williamson as Geraldine Middaugh
- Noor Razooky as Faiza Khatib
- Ezrah Lin as Alex Poletov
- Gene Silvers as Henry Keck
- Nikita Bogolyubov as Timur Avilov
- Yuji Hasegawa as Kenji Okumura
- Deepti Gupta as Kapalna Naran
- Yaron Shavit as Helios Worker
- John T. Hillman as Helios Worker (uncredited)
Appearances[]
Events & missions
M-7 summit 2003 (Leningrad)
Vehicles & vessels
Locations & stations
Behind the scenes[]
Leningrad is the former name of today's Russian city Saint PetersburgW. The city's name was Petrograd from 1914–1924, and changed to Leningrad until 1991 when the original name Saint Petersburg was restored. In For All Mankind, the city seems not to have changed its name back to Saint Petersburg. Despite taking place in 2003, the Lakhta Center, which opened in our reality's 2019, appears to have been completed, which would presumably make it the tallest skyscraper in the Soviet Union.
External links
Soundtrack
- Soundtrack of episode 4x06, "Leningrad" on Tunefind
Transcript
- Transcript of episode 4x06, "Leningrad" on TV Show Transcripts
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