The Russians arrive on American soil to start ironing out the details for the Handshake in Space mission, but nobody is really willing to make the first step in a tense international stand off. Ellen and Gordo each make big decisions.

The main focus of this instalment is, inevitably, around the Russian cosmonauts arriving at NASA and the struggle to make the Handshake in Space work. NASA are already using an older ship to avoid the Russians getting a peek at their latest tech, but there are still radio frequencies, docking mechanisms and a myriad other small details to sort out, and neither country wants to be seen to blink first in a game of international (intergalactic?) brinkmanship.

That conflict of course splits across two layers. At the top end you have Margo and Thomas on one side of the table and their Russian counterparts the other – along with their political handlers and so on. This is the part where egos clash, where countries refuse to back down as each is trying to score points off the other, until a surprising breakthrough is made in an unexpected way.

At the grittier level, Danielle and her co-pilot have to try to forge some sort of working relationship with their own Russian counterparts – tricky given how guarded the pair of them are, also accompanied by a handler. Let it never be said that Danielle Poole is a quitter though, and her own special brand of determined optimism might just be the key to cracking the impenetrable shell of at least one of the cosmonauts.

In-between this main plot for the episode, various other things are occurring. Ellen is seriously considering making a serious go of things with Pam, but is she ready to give up all that she will have to in order to make that happen, and is Pam really the one? More importantly, can she sell the idea to Larry of them finally maybe both going public with who they really are?

On the Moon, Tracy seems to have found her groove and is enjoying showing off her flying skills to the newly arrived marines as they test their skills and make ready for the mission to re-take and occupy the facility taken over by the Russians.

Back on Earth, Gordo makes a bold decision and then follows it up with an even bolder one. It’s been coming from the start of the season, but I still look forward to seeing how it’ll play out. Meanwhile a sort of quiet détente seems to have settled over the Baldwin household, with no open rows but no sense that Karen has really let go of her fears yet. Kelly’s essay for joining Annapolis prompts some interesting revelations about how she came into their lives, and sets her wondering about her own heritage as well.

Verdict: Not as flashy as prior episodes but full of rich detail and giving some otherwise quieter characters their turn to shine. 8/10

Greg D. Smith