Editor's Note: The following contains major spoilers for the finale of Season 3 of For All Mankind.After two time-jumps, multiple explosions, and a few babies later, Season 3 of For All Mankind has come to a close. If the judge of a great sci-fi show is not just how many questions it answers but how many new ones it raises, this alternate history drama is a hydra.
With Season 4 already confirmed, we know that some of these mysteries will eventually be resolved (thankfully), but there are still some questions that may remain unsolved forever. If For All Mankind's consistently strong endings tell us anything, it's how to keep someone teetering on the edge, in some cases to the final minute of an episode.
Are Margo and Sergei Doomed Forever?
While starting the courtship in Season 2 between Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) and Sergei Nikulov (Piotr Adamczyk), the show spent less time on growing their closeness as their connection is exploited by the Soviets to control Margo. Over the time jump in between Season 2 and Season 3, Sergei has a rough go at it in a KGB prison, but Margo uses her knowledge and position as leverage to bring Sergei back to the States. Eventually, she negotiates for his defection to the United States, but just as he arrives, she disappears with the FBI closing in on her as a Soviet asset. The star-crossed lover trope isn't particularly unique to sci-fi or political dramas, but these two's inability to find the right place and the right time is genuinely gut-wrenching.
Where Is Dev?
A big unknown for the next season is what role Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi) will play in the coming years – is he Steve Jobs or a Tom from Myspace? Dev is last seen after he confronts his company after being replaced by Karen Baldwin (Shantel VanSanten) as CEO of Helios Aerospace. He doesn't go down without a fight, but he also loses that fight after Karen won over the employees with stability rather than Dev's offer of independence without any job security, which would include pay cuts and other potential concessions required by the workers. However, with Karen's death, it's impossible to tell where Dev will be – back as CEO at his company? Or burdened with guilt due to Karen's death? In fact, the entrepreneur isn't even seen after Karen solidifies her new role in the company. Dev is a wildcard.
Is North Korea Now a World Player?
A lot of the changes in For All Mankind seems for the best – space exploration to Mars, clean energy, and a gay president, and all by the 90s. However, perhaps the season's biggest twist, the introduction of Lee Jung-gil (C.S. Lee) as the first man on Mars, disrupts that trend, giving North Korea a more prominent position than they are considered to have today. Even if Jung-gil arrived at the Red Planet by luck and perseverance, the communist country could certainly play the situation to their benefit and stir up nationalism to an all-time high.
With the world in For All Mankind in a different geopolitical climate than our own, this could lead the fascist nation to secure more power and influence than they hold in our world today, perhaps even pushing past a Cold War or Space War. No matter what happens on Earth, North Korea was still the first to put a man on Mars. Even though we did see Jung-gil watch a video of his wife, and it appears he will stay with the other astronauts, there is still a lot up in the air about North Korea's future standing as a global power.
What Happened to the Buried Gun?
When Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall) and Grigory Kuznetsov (Lev Gorn) encounter Lee Jung-gil at his probe, Grigory knocks the North Korean astronaut out before getting a chance to discharge the pistol he was pointing at the pair of them. They decide to take him back with them, knowing he'd run out of supplies, but before they leave (with him tied up in the back of the vehicle), they bury his pistol in the Mars sand, marking it with a tire iron for retrieval. The next time they return to the probe, they're dropping off Danny Stevens (Casey W. Johnson) for his banishment, and he later goes through very similar motions as Jung-gil had. There's no reference to the pistol once buried at the site, so hopefully, Danielle recovered it, But given the show's penchant for drama, it's likely that the weapon is still out in those Martian sands, not too far from Danny, who is clearly mentally unwell and now suffering through solitary confinement.
Does Ellen Finish Her Presidential Term?
Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) is in the middle of her term when the events of the later half of Season 3 take place, including her coming out as gay at a press conference. This was, in part, to take the heat off of Larry (Nate Corddry) having to out himself after engaging in an affair with someone at the White House. With her unstable place now within her own party, there could be a very real attempt to impeach her, as it has already been implied. And it's not like there was any presidential drama in the 1990s, right?
Ellen also ends the season finally free to start a relationship with her longtime lover, Pam Horton (Meghan Leathers). The president could finally focus on her private life and affect space exploration differently which allows her to focus on her family, including both Pam and her son. Ellen has a lot of possible ways that she could change the future, and so far, there are no hints of the direction she will choose to take.
How Much Responsibility Will the Stevens Boys Take for Their Actions?
Interestingly enough, both Jimmy Stevens (David Chandler) and Danny have significant responsibility in the tragedies that play out in Season 3 of For All Mankind. Both of these men never dealt with the loss of their parents (along with other Karen-related events) in a healthy way. While Danny does drugs and has outbursts that lead to him ignoring the drill while on duty, Jimmy becomes mixed up with the conspiracy theory crowd, eventually giving them access to the Johnson Space Center. The audience last sees Danny banished and Jimmy holding a dying Karen, both of their actions causing the two largest tragedies of the season (and probably of the decade). The extent of the blame they face is still unknown but it could have an important part to play in NASA's reputation and credibility in Season 4. Not a great look for the legacy of Tracy and Gordo Stevens, not that they were a shining example of great parents.
What Will Happen to Kelly's Baby?
The final episode of the season includes Happy Valley's efforts to get Kelly Baldwin (Cynthy Wu) to the Phoenix so that she can give birth to her child. The season's end shows Kelly safely aboard the satellite, holding the child and looking down at Mars, so it's safe to say this won't be the end of her and her baby's importance. Not only are they the first human born in space, but the baby also could become symbolic, being of both Russian and American heritage. As the Apollo-Soyuz handshake showed the power of a symbol in Season 2, the Baldwins are now more important than ever. But will the two nations become more or less contentious if they must continue to share and work together? Especially with Margo now in the Soviet Union? Only Season 4 will tell!
Will Ed Ever Find Out About Danny and Karen?
How did an entire season pass without Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) finding out about his wife's affair with Danny, who used to be his son's best friend? How did Karen die without Ed finding out? It's perplexing how much drama this could have caused between these characters, and yet, Karen died without ever having to truly face the music for her liaison with Danny. It's not that For All Mankind didn't have the opportunity to drop this bombshell... it did. Perhaps the show is simply dragging out the truth for a later date, but for the love of god, someone, please tell Ed! Though if his reaction to Danny being responsible for the drill explosion is any indication of his reaction in the future, maybe it's better that Danny is out there alone in the Martian desert.