The team encounter a prophet telling God’s word, as evil comes too close to home for Kristen.

There are some very interesting choices made in this episode by Aurin Squire, and I’m interested to see how they will bed in. (My ambivalence over them is also why this review is later coming out than normal.) Dealing with the domestic first, Sheryl’s relationship with Leland goes to the next level, in various senses – bringing him to meet her daughter and grandchildren doesn’t in any way go how she had expected, and there’s a definite wedge driven between Kristen and her mother as a result; and sleeping with Leland gives rise to a rather poor CGI effect which, given how much of this episode is about dreams and dreaming you could dismiss as purely within Leland’s mind… but I have a feeling it may be more than that.

The lucid dreaming sequence feels a bit odd, given that Kristen dealt with George in the pilot by reacting with something that would feel different within the dream (in the pilot, it was that she couldn’t read the paper on the ceiling; here it’s the blue string) and there’s no recognition of that by her. I’m hoping this is significant, rather than an unfortunate oversight.

Then there’s the overarching plot which takes the show to a different place than it started – it’s gone a bit Dan Brown with mysterious codexes and prophecies of the end of the world. (Ben’s reaction to this is the route that I’m hoping the show will take, rather than ramping things up to 11 and Mike Colter’s David revealing his inner Luke Cage as a superhero saving us all.) Could all this element be a dream?

There’s strong acting throughout – the scene between Katja Herbers and Michael Emerson is chilling in how understated elements of it are, and Christine Lahti communicates so much through her body language – and director Kevin Rodney Sullivan keeps us questioning through his camera angle choices.

Verdict: Feeling like a slightly different show from the previous five episodes, this may be a gamechanger – or a misstep. 7/10

Paul Simpson