As Reagan catches public ire for his militarised stance during the solar storm, Margo is handed an impossible PR job that nobody expects to work. Danielle’s desire to return to the moon stirs feelings already troubling Gordo as he sees everyone moving on. Mollie has struggles of her own.

Let’s face it, we all knew that Mollie was going to head out and rescue a fellow astronaut in distress, and we all knew that she was going to be exposing herself massively to do so. We also could likely have predicted that she’d lie about exactly what happened afterward (she left her monitor in the lava tube for a reason) but what the show manages to do here is have the audience question the line between bravado and selfishness when so many other factors are on the line, including the safety of others, without getting preachy about it. There’s no single line of dialogue or narrative angle that demands the viewer take a side, but I know what I was thinking, much as love the character and admire her courage.

Back on Earth, Danielle’s husband has now passed away and on a regular meetup with Ed and Gordo to chew the fat and remember the good old days (‘Hi Bob!’, they brightly greet one another), she reveals that she’s ready to go back. She wants to stop living in the past and start making new memories, and that can’t help but set off a chime with what we saw of Gordo last time out and here. Going from place to place giving out his same old talk about his past adventures, his ex-wife having moved on and his boys all grown up, it’s clear that Gordo is also unable to let go of the past. But his experiences on Jamestown were a lot darker, and it perhaps isn’t so much being out of the game as being constantly reminded that he is that’s bugging the man.

And speaking of the former Mrs Gordo Stevens, Tracy is having perhaps a little too much fun in her new life. Engaged she may be, as well as in demand to sell whatever product needs her name and face put to it, but that may be coming at the cost of her professionalism. It’s interesting to see a character who was so very driven purely by the work seem to have become so utterly seduced by the trappings that go with it, and I look forward to seeing how they explore this contrasted with Gordo going forwards,

As to Margo, if trying to organise resupply and repairs for the Jamestown complex wasn’t enough, Reagan’s PR team have decided that what they need to do is organise a photo opportunity to repair the president’s damaged reputation – one that they cheerfully admit probably won’t actually happen, but hell, Margo can sort the logistics anyway, right?

The only ones from the original gang who seem happy with their new station in life are Ed and Karen. Ed’s own particular rut of circularity is emphasised in a scene involving Mollie, but he doesn’t honestly seem to mind, and Karen is clearly a lot happier and more content than she ever was back at the height of things. It’s nice to see that her friendship with Mollie’s husband has persisted and grown, even as Ed and Mollie themselves enjoy one another’s company on the golf course, but given how very deep Ed’s waters have always run, it’s impossible not to wonder if there’s a little part of him buried deep down that misses what he left behind.

As with last week, the episode feels familiar while also serving up nice surprises. Gordo manages to be far more cordial in one instance than you might otherwise expect, and the episode ends on a real humdinger of a surprise that should really set the cat among the pigeons in more ways than one, going forward.

Verdict: There are a lot of different subplots and character arcs all being addressed all at once, but it manages to feel broad without being disjointed. 8/10

Greg D. Smith