This article contains spoilers for “For All Mankind” Season 5, Episode 9, “Sons and Daughters.”

The Martian revolution that everyone saw coming in “For All Mankind” has escalated into all-out war. Season 5’s penultimate episode, “Sons and Daughters,” begins with the Off-Planet Expeditionary Force (the multinational military force of the Mars-6 Alliance) landing on Mars. This comes after last week’s episode, in which the Martian forces decided to preemptively destroy the landing pads of the Kuznetsov Station on Goldilocks before OPEF forces could take control of the asteroid. That operation resulted in the death of an OPEF soldier, and it seems the OPEF has no intention of letting that go.

“Sons and Daughters” starts off with Alex (Sean Kaufman) and Lily (Ruby Cruz) in the Martian desert, at which point they stop in their tracks to look up in shock and awe — spaceships are landing. It’s a mass invasion, a declaration of war, and the first big battle of the Martian Revolution.

It also looks a lot like the Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen from Denis Villeneuve’s beloved sci-fi movie “Dune: Part One.”

Indeed, the way the shot of the spaceships landing on Mars is presented — the vessels are covered in mist and dark except for their glaring spotlights — very much recalls Villeneuve’s film. Like the OPEF’s invasion of Mars, the Harkonnen conducted a sneak attack on Arrakis in “Dune: Part One,” arriving in the middle of the night and quickly overwhelming its defenses. And just as the Harkonnen were after Arrakis’ spice, the OPEF is invading Mars for resources (namely, iridium). Obviously, it’s not a beat for beat recreation, but the Earth’s forces are nevertheless vicious, ruthless, and kill everyone on sight, which is just one more thing they have in common with the Harkonnen.

With the season finale coming up, the two biggest story threads of “For All Mankind” Season 5 reach their climax in “Sons and Daughters.” The search for extraterrestrial life and the incredibly cool yet dangerous trip to Titan continue with some amazing discoveries this week. Meanwhile, the Happy Valley residents’ struggle to gain independence explodes into violence in a twist that not only recalls “Dune: Part One” but further affirms that “For All Mankind” has gone full anime this season.

Not that it’s exciting to watch the Earth’s forces go on a Harkonnen-like killing spree upon reaching Mars. Quite the opposite, it’s extremely harrowing to see how quickly the conflict transforms into a massacre, with Earth’s forces shooting to kill everyone on sight, be they civilians or, for that matter, actually armed.

“For All Mankind” has spent much of Season 5 incorporating barely-subtextual allusions to the Iraq War, having even gone so far as to replicate an infamous George W. Bush meme. This episode then turns that subtext into full-blown text, with Earth’s forces (which are mostly U.S. marines, though there are some French soldiers, too) invading a foreign land (whether it’s recognized as such or not) that’s just defending itself. And while the show tries to create sympathy for both sides, it paints Earth in a much worse light.

Case in point: There’s a moment where OPEF soldiers open fire on their allies on Mars without even waiting for confirmation of their identity. It’s chaotic, tragic, and horrifying. Earth has crossed a line, and the Marsies (as the people of Mars call themselves) will surely fight back with everything they’ve got.

The “For All Mankind” Season 5 finale drops May 29, 2026, on Apple TV.