With one episode left, For All Mankind Season 5 finally stages the Baldwin-Stevens reunion in Episode 9, trapping Alex Baldwin and Avery Jarrett on opposing sides as M6 storms Happy Valley. Their meeting turns into a mission to save Marcus Haskell—after Alex s
Spoilers follow for For All Mankind Season 5 Episode 9.
One episode before the finale. For All Mankind finally delivers the reunion that’s been hanging over Season 5 for so long it almost feels like it should hurt more. In “Sons and Daughters. ” Alex Baldwin (Sean Kaufman) and Avery Jarrett (Ines Asserson) collide in the most unlikely circumstances—then discover they’ve been pulled into the same danger from different sides.
The setting is Happy Valley as the M6 forces storm through. Alex and Avery are on opposing paths, even while they share a single urgent goal: saving Marcus Haskell (Barrett Carnahan). And the show leans into the tension in a way that feels perfectly physical. As both characters push deeper into the station. dark. winding hallways throw them off-balance—turning the meeting into something more immediate than nostalgia.
Alex isn’t just running into trouble. He’s on a specific mission. He’s trying to get medical supplies from Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi) at the Helios headquarters. Avery, meanwhile, is with Haskell, searching for Marsies during the storming of Happy Valley. By the time their worlds overlap. it’s clear they don’t truly understand who the other person is in the moment. But the stakes don’t wait for recognition.
Because when the pressure peaks, Alex makes a devastating move. He shoots Haskell—his best friend and the one Marsie among the M6 forces. He does it unknowingly, but the consequence is still there, immediate and irreversible. Avery, on the other hand, doesn’t respond with retaliation. She keeps her focus on the person in front of her and prioritizes helping her fallen colleague instead.
That twist lands hard because it flips what the characters have been building toward all season. Alex has often been framed as the wunderkid of Happy Valley—reliable, responsible, and loved by all. Avery has been shaped as a loose cannon who struggles to fit in anywhere she goes. Within the larger moral map of the series. Alex has represented the “good guys” from Happy Valley. while Avery has fought for the “bad guys” from Earth who want to keep colonizing it.
Yet Episode 9 turns that setup on its head in the exact moment the reunion finally arrives. It’s Alex who can’t steady himself—while Avery stays collected. Her choice not to shoot back becomes the thread that makes the scene feel like more than a family reunion. It becomes a choice about who they are when it matters most.
For all the tension in the hallways and the storming in Happy Valley. the reunion is also the latest step in a story the series has been telling across generations. The relationship between Alex and Avery isn’t random. It begins with Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman). best friends back in the 1960s. whose families remain tangled for decades.
That connection breaks in the 1990s. Danny Stevens (Casey W. Johnson), Gordo’s son and Avery’s biological father, dies. Around the same time, Jimmy Stevens’ (David Chandler) role in the attack on NASA kills Karen Baldwin (Shantel VanSanten). The Baldwins continue their history as explorers and settlers on Mars, while the Stevens name falls from grace. Avery herself doesn’t use the Stevens name anymore, despite being Danny’s daughter through and through.
By 2012, there’s no longer camaraderie between the families. There are no forbidden romances waiting to be rescued from the past—just the damage each clan has inflicted on the other. now sharpened by what’s happening with M6 and the fallout of Alex shooting Haskell. Even the generational storyline takes a new angle. Alex’s mistake with Haskell reads like a major failure for the Baldwin family. especially after generations of Stevens making messy decisions.
Where the scene lands most powerfully now is in what it tees up for next week. For All Mankind Season 5 reaches its end next week, with expectations shifting afterward toward the new spin-off, Star City, and toward Season 6, which has already been confirmed as the show’s last.
How Alex and Avery’s dynamic unfolds in the final stretch will likely define what the audience remembers about the season’s ending. And it may not be an accident that Helios is part of the equation—because Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi) sits at the center of the convergence.
Dev has known the Baldwins since the 1990s and has become a sort of father figure to Alex. He’s provided counsel and insight whenever Alex needed it, and he gave Alex his first job at Helios. Their relationship has been strained in recent months. but that didn’t stop Alex from taking Haskell to Helios instead of the med bay when he needed help.
Dev’s own Season 5 arc has been controversial. The series has placed him siding with the M6. But his knowledge of both the Baldwin and Stevens families—built over decades—could end up being the difference between how Mars turns out.
In the middle of the Happy Valley-M6 controversy, Dev has his own interests under his watchful eye. The show also makes clear he has a personal stake in how Alex and Avery relate to each other. When the finale arrives. it won’t just be about who wins the crisis—it will be about what these two people choose to do with the reunion they finally couldn’t avoid. even when everything in the moment begged them to stay apart.
For All Mankind Season 5 Episode 9 Sons and Daughters Alex Baldwin Avery Jarrett Marcus Haskell M6 Happy Valley Helios Dev Ayesa Sean Kaufman Ines Asserson Barrett Carnahan Edi Gathegi Star City Season 6