Having identified the component which caused the Apollo 23 explosion, NASA is still unable to launch the mission to relieve Ed, Gordo and Danielle due to ongoing complications. Stranded on the moon, the three struggle, Gordo especially. Back on Earth, Shane is getting into more and more trouble.

It was becoming obvious to me in the last episode that Gordo was struggling with the predicament in which he and his crewmates found themselves, and that struggle continues here as delay after delay keeps preventing the relief mission to bring them home. With only six episodes of the same TV show to watch over and over as any form of entertainment, tensions are high, and then when the video machine breaks, things get really screwy.

As usual with the show, the tension isn’t created through big, dramatic, showy moments but by a slow burn, gradually and tortuously twisting the screws until it’s genuinely unbearable even as a viewer. Danielle is the first to pick up on the fact that Gordo is having problems beyond the general strain on all of them, but Ed believes – based on his own experiences – that he can keep it all under control. When he can’t, it’s to the credit of all involved that he can admit his mistake and that Danielle isn’t about to simply rub it in his face.

And it isn’t as if Danielle is without issues of her own. Back home, Clay is struggling to find work, his experiences in Vietnam clearly still haunting him though he refuses to admit it. It’s easy to see her concern for Gordo partly mirroring her concern for the man she loves, who she isn’t sure has quite wholly returned from the war.

On top of all this, there’s the issue of the Russians, hunkered over on their side of the crater, and the mysterious blinking red lights Gordo spotted at the end of the last episode, for which nobody has any explanation. That sort of paranoia alone would be bad enough, but piled on top of their extended isolation in a small lab on the moon, it leaves things at breaking point. When that flashpoint finally happens, it truly reveals the character of all three astronauts in a number of ways, and emphasises the bonds and loyalty which bind these people in these situations.

Back on Earth, Ellen and Larry find themselves under increasing scrutiny from the authorities who suspect their secret. There remains one way in which they could both ward off any further doubt, but is it a step too far? Shane is getting into increasing amounts of trouble, and Karen tries her best to put her foot down with authority, but is she really equipped to deal with all this alone?

Verdict: Tense, atmospheric and packing in quiet drama in spades. Unmissable stuff. 9/10

Greg D. Smith