Just one episode in, and we already have a murder on Mars! For All Mankind season 5 episode 2 revolves around the murder mystery: Lee Jung-Gil didn’t approve of his wife’s friendship with the deceased, Yoon Tae-Min, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he killed the guy. There wasn’t any obvious evidence to prove his guilt, and Ed Baldwin was determined to help his friend. The fact that Jung-Gil was a North Korean who had sought asylum on Mars made his case all the more complicated. Now the question is, if we consider that Jung-Gil was innocent, then who killed Tae-Min? Did the Crater witness something he shouldn’t have, and was he murdered for the same? Well, let’s get into the details.
Spoiler Alert
Who murdered Yoon Tae-Min?
Lee was loved and trusted by his friend. Ed had spent years with him, and he was confident that Lee wouldn’t kill a man out of spite. He intentionally took off his ankle monitor at the police station so that they would temporarily put him in a ‘holding cell’ and he could finally speak to his friend. Ed was direct; he demanded to know the truth from Lee. His friend confirmed that while he had fought the crater, he didn’t kill him. Ed figured that was all he needed to know, and he trusted his friend completely. Yoon Lee had the motive, but considering he’d spent most of his life on Mars without causing any trouble, people refused to believe he could’ve committed a murder. It wasn’t just the civilians who were convinced that Lee was innocent, but MPK officer Celia Boyd couldn’t help but wonder if there was something odd about the quick arrest. She wasn’t sure if Lee’s wife had been interviewed properly, and she thought it was important to find out if anyone saw Yoon the day he was murdered. She didn’t give up on the possibility that someone else could’ve killed Yoon as well, and finding the motive was the key. Officer Boyd questioned Lee’s wife, Moon, and she told her that since Yoon was also Korean, she’d tried to help him as much as possible. She and her husband tried to find Yoon a job and even gave him money to start his life on Mars. Trouble began between Lee and Yoon after the latter started spending lots of money buying gifts for Moon. Lee thought that with all the gifts Yoon was trying to establish that he made a lot more money than him, and it didn’t sit well with him. Moon added that Yoon worked for the new company, Koragin, and he was paid quite well. Officer Boyd was surprised, because according to the rules, Helios and Koragin could only use union labor, and they weren’t permitted to hire Craters. Moon confirmed that wasn’t the reality; she added that he used to work at night, on the surface. Officer Boyd stated that Koragin wasn’t authorized to do nighttime surface work, but clearly they hadn’t been following the rules, and the officer decided to keep a watch to find out what the company was up to. She soon found out that Moon was right; Koragin had their team work at night on the surface, even though they didn’t have the permit. She decided to speak to someone from Koragin to find out what was going on.
The receptionist wasn’t keen on helping Officer Boyd, especially after she’d mentioned that it was related to Yoon’s murder investigation. She refused to entertain the officer, stating that such interrogations should be done by the investigator, and she casually stated that Koragin wasn’t involved in any nighttime surface work. Officer Boyd mentioned that she’d seen a hopper land the previous night near the space elevator, and she’d noticed that cargo had been unloaded, and they weren’t mentioned on any official base manifest. The receptionist simply denied the claim, and when the officer pressured her to reveal what they were shipping in, she asked their security to take Officer Boyd out of the office. The officer immediately realized that Koragin might have something to do with Yoon’s death. Maybe he had tried to blackmail the company for better pay, and that was why they got rid of him.
Did Ed succeed in saving his friend?
The M6 nations had decided to send Lee back to Earth, where he would stand trial. Ed knew for sure that Lee wouldn’t survive once he was locked in some North Korean prison. He’d betrayed his nation, and it was expected that they would kill him and make it look like a suicide. So, Ed figured if he had to help his friend, he needed to ensure that Lee stayed on Mars. He spoke to Dev, hoping he could be of some assistance, but the tech-visionary was invested in building his city on Mars and wasn’t ready to fight the authorities to save Lee. He promised to hire the best legal team for Lee on Earth, but that was all that he believed he could do. Ed figured he might as well talk to Leonid Polivanov, the governor, to convince him to let Lee face trial on Mars. He explained how it was unfair that someone who’d spent over twenty years on the red planet was now being sent to Earth. Polivanov reminded Ed that Lee wasn’t a legal resident, and that was why the rules were different for him. He admitted that he’d decided to send Lee back Earth-side, and he had no intention of changing his decision. Ed soon realized that he was wasting his time talking to Polivanov, because clearly he’d made up his mind that Lee was a criminal, and there was no way Ed could convince him otherwise.
Considering we now know that Koragin might have something to do with Yoon’s murder, I wonder if Polivanov was actively trying to protect the company and was ready to let someone like Lee take the fall. He was likely under pressure to close the case as soon as possible; he knew that Lee had supporters on Mars, and it wouldn’t be easy to fool them, but once Lee was taken away, they wouldn’t have a choice but to let go of the case. Well, he had no idea what Ed Baldwin was about to pull. He’d gathered a core team who didn’t mind risking their jobs and lives to ensure that Lee stayed on Mars. They decided to act during the window when the MPKs would take Lee out of the holding chamber. So, Ed figured they might as well hijack the rover and then the hopper assigned to Lee. They knew the risks, and they figured this was the only way. During the ending of “For All Mankind” season 5, episode 2, Ed and his team hijacked the rover and started to drop the pressure inside the vessel. Lee was the first one to notice it, and by the time the MPKs tried to figure out what was going on, they lost consciousness. Ed asked his teammate to handcuff Lee and immediately supplied him with oxygen to breathe. Lee finally regained consciousness, and he was glad to see Ed.
One of the MPKs shot Ed’s teammate, who was supposed to fly the hopper. While he was alive, he wasn’t in any condition to fly. Ed figured he would do it himself. He was prepared for something like this to happen, and although he was strictly asked not to fly for health reasons, Ed wanted to make an exception for his friend. Ed and Lee took off in the hopper; the first ones to make it to Mars were back at doing what they did the best. The governor was desperate to stop them, and he had his best team following the fugitive. Lee and Ed were heading north, and soon Polivanov figured out that they were trying to make it to the ISN compound. The ISN didn’t have an extradition treaty with the M6, which meant that if Lee managed to make it there, the governor wouldn’t be able to send him to Earth. Lee and Ed managed to fly the hopper near the ISN compound, and Ed asked his friend to suit up so that he could walk into the territory to avoid extradition. Lee ultimately managed to enter the ISN base, and Governor Polivanov couldn’t do anything about it.
Did Ed Baldwin die?
At the very end of For All Mankind season 5, episode 2, Officer Boyd entered the hopper Ed had been flying, and she soon realized that Ed wasn’t breathing anymore. She immediately called for medical assistance, but we don’t know if Ed will make it. Ed had been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, so he was aware that his time was limited, but he never really had the courage to discuss his condition with Kelly and her son. He didn’t want to be treated differently, and keeping his diagnosis a secret helped him navigate the world around him just as he always used to, without being constantly reminded of the things that he shouldn’t be doing. Ed wasn’t in any condition to fly or even take all the risks that he had to save his friend. So, it wasn’t surprising that he was wheezing and coughing up blood when he was flying the hopper. But for Ed the cause was important, and he was someone who wouldn’t mind dying if it meant protecting or helping someone who was being wrongly framed. If we assume that Ed passed away, then the only silver lining was that he died doing what he had always loved (flying), and if he could, he would likely risk it all again for the sake of his friendship. This is surely an honorable way for Ed Baldwin to go, something that he would’ve been so proud of.
