1974 and the Jamestown base is established on the moon, but a tragic accident means its crew will be there a little longer than planned. Back on Earth, the ERA passes into law, and the FBI’s investigations into the accident start to close in around Ellen and Larry. Margo receives a request to make an unwanted visit.

It almost feels like something had to go wrong after how positively everything ended last episode, and it’s to the show’s credit that when the incident which hangs over the show and its characters like a pall for the rest of the run time occurs, it’s a visceral gut punch that comes out of nowhere, reminding us that what these people are dealing with is by no definition of the word ‘safe’.

Large scale accidents in the middle of a space race with their cold war enemies invites certain questions of course, with the FBI convinced that Russian agents may have been responsible, going into full investigation mode with all NASA personnel. This of course makes Larry and Ellen understandably nervous – should they be outed by the investigation, the assumption will be that they would be vulnerable to blackmail by the enemy and they will at best both lose their jobs. Against the backdrop of the Equal Rights Amendment being passed, granting equality of status to men and women by law, it feels even more unfair and awful that these talented people are forced to live in fear simply of who they are.

Margo meanwhile is asked to retrieve the final independent report on what happened from an expert who will only give it to her – a man she has been studiously avoiding seeing. Given her own struggles – seeing someone else get flight director instead of her – she doesn’t have much choice in the matter. When she and Von Braun speak, it is not only on the matter of the accident, but also about her own father, and revelations he himself was unable to make to her about his past. It’s a wonderfully shot, hugely tense set of scenes, and it stops at exactly the right moment it needs to, never giving Von Braun quite the redemption he might be seeking.

We also see Aleida again for the first time since she caught a bus to watch the Apollo 15 launch in episode 4, here discovered by Margo doing her maths homework in the observation lounge. One senses that perhaps we are nearing the turning point of the slow burn narrative which Aleida’s brief appearances so far have been seeding.

The surprising crux of the episode, revealed by Von Braun himself, proves just how nothing in this show is ever incidental. I also noted with some satisfaction that Wayne’s painting of Karen’s nightmare is now hanging proudly in the Baldwins’ house. As the episode ends with our intrepid heroes still stranded on the moon, a new revelation seems set to tip everything they thought they knew upside down all over again.

Verdict: Complex, superbly acted and no less compelling for having less action than last time out. Finely crafted drama at its best. 9/10

Greg D. Smith