In their quest to reach Arcadia, the crew of the Hemlock realise that retrieving Emma Grieves from the hands of the Commonworld is their only real option, though space pirate Echo begs to differ.

Throughout the season, Intergalactic has explored mother /daughter relations as an underlying but vital theme. Here we reach the zenith. Tula and Genevieve clearly have a toxic  relationship. Genevieve has realised that her mother has denied her a normal life by installing a chastity chip and weaponised her to do her bidding Ash and her mother Rebecca seemingly enjoy a better relationship, but theirs is no less toxic. Rebecca is using Ash just as much as Tula does Genevieve, though in a less obvious and more insidious way. Both mothers are prepared to sacrifice their daughters to further their own lot in life. A stark contrast to the self-sacrifice of Candy’s mother on Skov.

During this episode, we also see a little more of Echo’s character emerge, though he remains a cut-price Han Solo. He believes in his own worth and rarely doubts his abilities, especially when it comes to poker and thus, we are transported to Kelp, a former holiday planet that is possibly more Cleethorpes than Vegas from what we see. Mention should also be made of Lisa Palfrey’s wonderfully camp, scene stealing Zeeda. She relishes the performance as the ruthless, self-serving gangster and is a villain we can love to hate in a world where not all criminals are bad.

There is an anti-colonial message also peppered throughout the series that is made explicit when Rebecca says to Ash, “Earth must come first no matter what sacrifices need to be made”. This clarifies the rift between Ash’s mother and father over this very issue. Sides were chosen and battle lines drawn. Ash must decide which path to follow and who she is as a result.

Splitting the action between the efforts to win the coordinates and the rescue of Emma Grieves, the action races towards the final episode.

Verdict: This episode shoehorned many of the key themes in and, not always successfully. It is difficult to understand fully, the resistance viewpoint as little of their struggle has been shown on screen other than some guerrilla tactics on Skov. There is a lot to wrap up in the single remaining episode and there is feeling that much of it will remain unresolved. 5/10

Andy Evans