Five months have passed since the landslide on Mars, and the survivors at Happy Valley are keeping themselves busy salvaging and repairing the MSAM so they can all return to Phoenix. Kelly’s pregnancy just another factor in the ticking clock they’re up against. On Earth meanwhile, things are no less dramatic.

I defy anyone to watch this episode and not come away from it deeply affected. From moments of genuine, tear-jerking emotion to surprises that come out of nowhere, this one runs the full gamut, and left me drained in the best way as the credits rolled following another of the show’s signature gasp-inducing twists just before we fade to black. Life is certainly never dull for our heroes, whether they’re millions of miles away on the red planet or back here on old Terra Firma.

Five months have passed, and Kelly is very pregnant. I’m not sure why we had the little aside between Kuznetsov and Mayakovsky at the end of the previous episode on this, as nothing much seems to have come of it, but then I guess even sneaky Soviets can only do so much when trapped millions of miles from home. It’s actually refreshing to see how much everyone – Danny included – seems to have bonded and made sure to work together towards their common goal of getting off the planet and going home, but of course, there’s a minor problem in the way. The MSAM, almost fully repaired, is missing a key part, and it’s going to take a long time to get a replacement. Time that Kelly simply doesn’t have.

On Earth, Dev is faced with the hard reality of the costs of the mission to Mars. His company is tanking, his board have lost confidence in his vision, and all the charisma in the world can’t shift either circumstance. Karen has an idea which may help them out, but by voicing it she faces unexpected turns of events, gaining new allies while losing an old one along the way. She stands on the verge of tempting possibility, but does she have the stomach for any of it?

In the White House, Ellen finds herself backed into a corner over a bill designed to wrestle control of NASA into congressional hands. Stoic and determined as she may be, the recent events on Mars have merely displaced Larry’s unfortunate indiscretions from the news cycle, without burying them. Faced with threats of blackmail which could ruin both their lives and their careers, the two are faced with an impossible choice. The decisions each of them take speak to the strengths of their respective characters.

As to Aleida, in desperation she turns to an old friend for assurance that she isn’t going mad as she continues to obsess over the riddle of why Margo might have leaked information to the Soviets. Unfortunately for her, the response she gets isn’t at all what she wanted, and she’s forced suddenly to confront the full enormity of what she thinks she’s discovered, bringing up painful personal demons in the process.

Back on Mars, that clock continues to tick, and news of the report into what happened at the drill site provokes a variety of emotions, not least in Danny. Not much time to dwell on that though, as the quest for the parts the MSAM needs leads to a shocking discovery, at the same time as Kelly’s situation grows a little more pressing still.

Verdict: Just hitting every single ball out of the park. Easily the best episode of the show to date, and sets up a hugely exciting finale. 9/10

Greg D. Smith