For All Mankind: Season Two - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

For All Mankind: Season Two



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Apple TV is one of the most enigmatic and stingy streaming services when it comes to releasing their exclusive IPs to physicals media, with only two titles to their name out so far (well, 4 if you include Blu-ray and 4K releases and each season of this show). The first season of For All Mankind was famously the very first title to get a physical release back in 2023, followed up by last year’s release of Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way on Blu-ray (and of course the subsequent MOD release of the show in 4K a few months back). And now, some 3 years after the first season was release, Sony has decided to give us the 2nd season, some 5 years past its air date. Hey, maybe by 2030 we’ll get season 3, and by 2050 would could complete all 5 seasons! All jokes aside, it may have been a long time coming, and STILL no 4K UHD releases of the show, but I’ll take what we can get, as the first couple seasons have been off the charts good so far.

The first seasons of the show outlines the very basic premise of the series by thrusting us directly into an alternate timeline thanks to the USSR winning the space race. While this was naturally won by the U.S.A. in our reality, this watershed event changes history in some rather startling ways. Now, jumping forward a decade in time to the 1980s, the second season continues on with even more changes to the our history. Some of them quite trivial and fun filler, and others alter the way the world operates and which powers are the dominant ones.

Now in the 80s, the space race was morphed into something much bigger and more massive than we could have possibly imagined. The moon is no longer seen as just a one off accomplishment of mankind, but rather a staging ground for a cold war (wink wink) with both NASA and the USSR space programs having put bases of operations up there as they vie for superiority. The United States home base (named “Jamestown) has grown up to be a rather large conglomeration of scientists and astronauts, while the Russians are doing the same way. Neither side is ready to start a full on conflict, but both sides are eyeing each other rather dubiously as the cold war that we once knew takes place on the moon instead of Earth.

And just like our past, the characters from the first season have morphed and changed from their original trajectory as well. Our intrepid astronaut Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) is now the commander of the Jamestown base, tasked with both keeping and eye on the Russians and being scrutinized himself by the upper brass. Their location on the moon is critical to the success or failure of the United States, and all eyes are on the commander and all the pressure that entails. Engineer Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) works through her interpersonal relationship with a Soviet engineer by the name of Sergei (Piotr Adamczyk), and Ed Baldwin’s best frined, Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) is forced to confront his own demons and come back as a key player in the Jamestown base surviving up there.

And while I’d like to say more, this is a show that features heavily intertwined stories that just shift and wind around each other in a constantly moving fashion. So letting any more information out simply spoils a bit too much. Not to mention the fact that this is very much one continues story told from the perspective of multiple people, and really should be seen as one single arc for the whole season.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

My main gripe with the release is the same gripe I had in season one. It’s not that the disc looks bad. In fact it looks near perfect. This is an excellent looking encode that really sparkles. My gripe is the fact that the show as shot with Venice digital cameras and was given a 4K master, yet here we are in 2026 with no 4K UHD release! Which is even more frustrating when you realize just how good it looked on Netflix in 4K. That gripe aside, this is totally a killer encode. It’s a great looking show which utilizes the every more popular 2.00:1 scope image to create a very cinematic experience, especially up on the moon. Fine details are great, though some of the brown/green/yellow 70s and 80s wall covers sometimes look a bit gauzy. Black levels are excellent all the way around, and skin tones very natural (depending on the lighting). There’s a little compression going on, but I didn’t see any major artifacts that my eyes could deduce. Simply put, a killer video image.








Audio:

The Audio mix is solid, maybe not spectacular, but solid. The series is very dialog centric, with a strong front presence in the room and moderate surround activity to round things out. The show relies more on intimate dialog heavy encounters rather than massive sci-fi epic battles, so the dynamics are generally pretty mild except fora few stand out sequences. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track well balanced, with good vocals and and a nice sounding mix that doesn't really pus the boundaries of the format, but does everything well enough.











Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert

Final Score: ​

I know the 3rd and 4th seasons start to get a bit like a soap opera, but the first two seasons of For All Mankind are utterly fantastic. It’s a unique take on an alternate timeline, with an ever evolving story that becomes more and more sci-fi esque as time goes on. AT the end of season 2 we’re literally starting to shift in the direction of The Expanse (or at least a similar feel and trajectory) and move away from the grounded realism that made up the first season. Season 2 still doesn’t get a 4K UHD release, but the Blu-ray set is a solid looking disc, with great video and audio. And while it’s not exactly opening the floodgates, we at least get a SINGLE commentary as the extras this time around, vs. the nonexistent ones from the first set. Well worth checking out is my final recommendation.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Sarah Jones, Jodi Balfour
Created by: Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, Ronald D. Moore
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: NR
Runtime: 618 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 17th, 2026

Recommendation: Good Watch