Spoilers

The teams face the first challenge – as well as other perils…

We get a much clearer picture of what’s going on for the four teams – and the dangers that they face – in these two episodes, the first by co-creator Lee Walters, the other by Doctor Who scribe James Moran. That said, the mystery continues to deepen initially, as some of the teams are seen sleepwalking at night, but have absolutely zero memory of it the next day. However, once all four groups are within the fairground alternate, thought of that is forgotten, as they have to work out how to get to the artefact… and thanks to Meg, they’re all aware of what’s at stake in terms of their memories if they lose.

There are some lovely moments in here at the fairground – notably for Glen, who’s not purely the butt of/creator of the jokey lines. His earlier humiliation is key to his team’s success, and it’s only when he realises that he has to share that they manage to survive… But one of the other teams is just too slow, and we see that Maeve and her friends really do have their memories wiped by whatever it is in the artefact. Things are getting real…

…and that is emphasised in episode 4, as Jay, Kaz and Louis end up on the spaceship together (and the scene of the three of them when Louis makes his presence felt is beautifully played by the trio and directed by Amy Coop). The peril is even more immediate, and the sequence at the airlock is still a heart in mouth moment on a repeat viewing – and a tip of the hat here to both the editing and scoring.

There’s plenty more development for the remaining teams as Isobel and Monika demonstrate their prowess with machines (and manipulation!) and what they discover plays into the reveal at the end of episode 3. Episode 4 also has its own big conclusion as Louis uses knowledge he gained on the spaceship to take the Contact theme forward…

There’s never a feel in these episodes that there are too many characters – although at times there are more than 16 in a scene – and the danger of the other teams simply being cannon fodder for Dragonfly seems to be receding: each has their own strengths and weaknesses, and alliances are being formed that have the potential to cause a lot of trouble.

Verdict: More discoveries keep things taut. 9/10

Paul Simpson