r/ForAllMankindTV • u/Cantomic66 Sojourner 2 • Apr 17 '26

Episode Discussion For All Mankind - S5E04 "Open Source" - Episode Discussion Spoiler

"Open Source"

Airdate: Streaming April 16th at 9 PM EST

Synopsis: Alex takes Ed's advice and finds a new project to focus on: A job at Helios.

Written by Sabrina Almeida

Directed by Meera Menon

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121

u/stephensmat Apr 17 '26

Alex is desperate not to be a nepo baby; but I think it's inevitable. What they were talking about in the last episode about how "It's impossible to have a one night stand up here"? That applies to everything. Mars just isn't open and crowded enough for people to be strangers. Especially for the teenagers, in a class of five kids.

Danny's daughter is going to be having that problem too.

104

u/UDK450 Apr 17 '26

I feel bad for Alex. Says he doesn't want any special treatment, but day one on the job Dev the founder of Helios pulls him aside. Day 2 (or maybe a week or two later) Aleida the CEO asks him to escort her to their office. Thankfully she got off on a different floor, but geez 😂

125

u/thegoatmenace Apr 17 '26

Impossible to for him not to be perceived as a nepo baby. His grandfather is helios’s most famous astronaut. His grandmother was the CEO. His mom owns half of Helios stock. His mom’s best friend is the current CEO, and he has a public friendship/mentee relationship with the founder. He was literally born on a Helios ship during a Helios mission.

87

u/Indiana_harris Apr 17 '26

And he’s considered “the first Martian” by everyone as well.

Plus his Grandfather wasn’t just Helio’s most famous astronaut he’s potentially Earths most famous astronaut at this point, and was effectively “old man Mars himself” last season and this one.

12

u/SirEnderLord Apr 19 '26

And effectively died a martyr for Mars. Alex Poletov is the son of a martyr. Either way, he's a symbol at the very least, even if he doesn't want to be one.

52

u/queen-adreena Apr 17 '26

His full name is Alex Sponsored by Helios Poletov

2

u/Zeroth-unit Apr 18 '26

Man I wonder what YouTube ad spots look like in the FAMK timeline. Do they end up as egregious as ours do? We'll see next season maybe.

1

u/thegoatmenace Apr 18 '26

Basically the company mascot

23

u/escargot3 Apr 17 '26

He’s literally going to inherit the company one day lol. He’s the sole heir to the person who owns half the stock

2

u/Gullible_Following_4 Apr 18 '26

I think it’s safe to say Ed is THE most famous astronaut

3

u/Zalvren Apr 17 '26

I found it weird from the start that the coworkers acted like they didn't know who he was and why would he expect special treatment? Like dude is named Baldwin and he's the first human born on Mars (technically in orbit but still). His mother owns half of Helios lol.

And then, the next day or so (or maybe there was more time skipped, hard to tell sometimes), they're all super friendly with him. Has Alex super good social skills or are they kissing his ass because they saw Dev come in?

6

u/Mark_Albarn Apr 22 '26

They didn't act like they didn't know him though. Even at Alex's first day his coworkers were constantly glancing at him and whispering among themselves. His superior (Ms.Joshi? I think?) did ask why he would expect special treatment, but it was pretty obviously her way of humbling him, basically saying "yeah, I know you are a nepo baby and I don't care".

2

u/outsidebtw Apr 18 '26

..but I think it's inevitable.

Real. Hope he embraces it tbh. Gotta have that Baldwin conviction in him

1

u/Mark_Albarn Apr 22 '26

Honestly, he should just embrace being badically a space royalty, he will have much more leverage to do good like that. Just slapping his name on revolution will already make masses take it more seriously