A maverick tech developer attempts to geoengineer a climate fix.

At the end of my review for the first three parts of Extrapolations I predicted that I would doubtless be shouting at the telly during the remaining episodes. While I didn’t quite alarm the neighbours that much, they may well have heard my loud sighs of frustration this week.

The fourth instalment is predicated on a decent enough idea. Twelve years on from the last outing, Indira Varma plays a green tech developer called Gita Mishra whose estranged husband (Edward Norton) discovers is about to trigger a major geoengineering event in an attempt to cool the planet. Without doubt, there’s an important debate to be had about the pros and cons (largely cons) of geoengineering, but that’s really all this is – an extended debate, and that doesn’t make for good drama. What we’re left with instead, is an improbable set-up (reminiscent of Thunderbirds) for a clunky, melodramatic and extended face-off (reminiscent of an I’ve-been-waiting-for-you-Mr-Bond denouement).

There’s an attempt to add a family dynamic, but the meat of this episode is in the lecturing and counter-lecturing. For the avoidance of doubt, there is definitely a vital role for lecturing when it comes to climate change – but the whole point of taking the debate to drama is to carry an audience who might not otherwise want to listen, through the ideas because they have engaged with characters they care about.

Here’s where I struggle with the whole A-list casting schtick. I understand that by bringing in names such as Norton, Streep, Schwimmer, Sienna Miller and Kit Harrington, it gives the series kudos and hopefully attracts certain fanbases, but for me, it gets in the way. I have no idea who Edward Norton’s character is supposed to be because at the heart of the episode what we’re really seeing is Edward Norton, famous film star, giving us a lecture on the follies of geoengineering. I don’t like to be lectured by film stars, but more importantly neither do the Trump voters and climate deniers for whom drama ought to be a persuasive tool in changing public opinion.

If the series had a less dazzling cast, then it would allow the characters to breathe. They would have compelling lives of their own, and the scripts would have to tell proper stories rather than simply making wealthy A-listers the mouthpieces for earnest polemic.

Verdict: 2059: Face of God may not have been as good as last week’s brilliant instalment, but it was definitely an improvement on the first two, and I’m interested to see where the story goes. Meanwhile, if readers want a far better dramatization of the follies of climate engineering then, I commend them to Bill McGuire’s excellent novel, Skyseed, which really will have you quaking in your climate boots because of the power of its storytelling. Show not tell, and all that. 6/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com