Emma’s erratic behaviour causes concern both for her colleagues and her family back on Earth. Kwesi and Lu team up to try to solve a mystery. Lex’s increasing impulsivity leads her to take one risk too many.

We’re back to another Emma-centric episode this time out, as the writers decide the best time to revisit more of her past is a point at which she seems to be somewhat losing the plot. With the whole crew on strict water rations with only the backup water tank working, everyone is feeling the strain but Emma more than most. She’s erratic, snappy and looks a mess. The crew once again find themselves worried that their commander isn’t fit to lead, which goes nicely with the engineer who isn’t fit to do any engineering and the botanist who no longer has any plants, I guess.

On that front though, one of Kwesi’s plants is just refusing to die while all the others have long since wilted. Could it be a spontaneous evolutionary adaptation as Lu thinks, or a miracle from God as Kwesi (the world’s foremost botanist apparently) believes? (Or could it be obvious, staring-everyone-in-the-face option 3? Who can tell?) Seriously, if Misha’s deception with regards to his eye tests was obvious, this little ‘mystery’ is even worse, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to believe that this ship full of supposed ‘masterminds’ was ever allowed to drive a car, let alone a pioneering space ship.

Anyway, while they’re all busy avoiding the evidence sitting right in front of their faces up in space, back on Earth Matt and Lex are also worried. You can tell Matt is worried because he tells people, rather than by his expression, which remains as oddly unreadable as ever. Lex on the other hand chooses to express her worry by occasionally sharing her worries with her father several days after the strange message she’s received which discomfited her (oh so very worried) and taking increasingly greater risks riding the motorcycle she absolutely promises her father she’s definitely not going anywhere near. I’d say spoiler alert but at this point if you can’t work out where that little side-plot is headed then congratulations, there’s probably a place for you on the first Mars mission, according to this show.

There are bright points. Some of the flashbacks we see through Emma’s eyes explain little details such as why she always calls Matt by the adorable name ‘shithead’, and why exactly Lex is so very important to her and why she’s so driven to succeed. We find out some details about Melissa which explain a little more about her and Cassie. And Matt and Misha have struck up a little friendship as fellow engineers, even though Misha is still banned by the rest of the crew from doing anything because he can barely see, which to be honest doesn’t really seem as much of a lack as Kwesi’s never having been in space before, Ram’s having had typhoid fever as a child and having shipped out to the Moon with an infection in his system already and Emma’s tendency to constantly question herself and make… questionable decisions. Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t just send Lu and Misha on their own – would have been much less drama and they’d still have plenty of water even with only the backup.

Verdict: It’s just getting sillier as it goes along, making the necessary suspension of disbelief harder and harder with each episode. And that’s before you add in the glaring obviousness of the various plot twists episode after episode. All these people feel like they should be in a much better show than this. 5/10

Greg D. Smith