Things are escalating on Kaldor and the Chenka sisters are caught in the middle…

Sarah Grochala’s episode returns us to Liv and Tula and the heart of Kaldor as things are starting to get really nasty. A wave of bombings is hitting the city, and a Super Voc is taking responsibility, saying it’s a robot rising, not the Sons of Kaldor – and when the sisters investigate, they’re separated and discover sides to their world that they’d not realised.

The tension is ratcheted up throughout the episode, and Grochala and director Ken Bentley demonstrate how to throw shade at various characters – even ones we’ve come to know well – in such a way that you do begin to believe the accusations that are being made. The final scenes, in particular, throws everything we thought we knew up in the air and I’m glad that the series is now extending for a further two box sets to allow the ramifications to be dealt with properly, rather than wrapped up in one more story.

Joe Kraemer and Kristin Simpson’s sound design is on point throughout, with a lot of different locales and storytelling that’s being done through the effects, and there’s strong central performances from Nicola Walker, Claire Rushbrook, Robert Whitelock and Jon Culshaw.

Verdict: The pieces are starting to come together – and the picture they’re forming does not bode well for Kaldor. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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