The Quetzalcoatlus forces matters and puts the team on the back foot, forcing Brooklynn to make some difficult choices.

Essentially an episode-long action sequence, this is a masterpiece in sustained, balanced tension. The Quetzalcoatlus (fresh from giving Kayla and Owen their worst day) is even scarier near the ground, dwarfing the building and the people hiding inside it. This feels like a situation with actual danger, and it only builds as the episode goes on and luck pushed past breaking point by circumstances none of the characters have any control over

Wit in action is something that doesn’t get talked about enough, but this episode is a textbook example of how to do it right. Darius makes a great choice using the shelter of the building to slow the Quetzl down. It isn’t enough. Kenji’s free climbing experiences means that when their jeep is stuck in a tree after the Quetzl drops it, he’s the one who talks them down. It isn’t enough. As the episode accelerates, everything gets wrapped around the collapsing waveform of events. The characters’ previous experience, the situation they’re in, the deteriorating situation in the compound, their unresolved issues, even callbacks to the franchise’s past. The jeep gag from the first movie is revisited here and it’s funny and a tension release and then you realise it’s causing a stampede. One they can’t avoid.

And suddenly it all coalesces. Brooklynn’s frustration, anger, rage, unacknowledged trauma breaks down into a primal scream that’s both a rescue for her friends and a near suicide note for her. It’s an incredible moment, especially in what’s notionally a kid’s show.

And it’s not enough.

Ben rescues her and they finally break down in each other’s arms.

And it’s Not. Enough.

I’m walking you through this sequence because it’s a masterclass in tension and payoff in serialized storytelling. Constant tension, sudden, awful release and the promise of the stakes rising even higher.

Verdict: It’s an incredible moment, in an incredible episode and it sets the stakes impossibly high for the rest of the season. But if anyone can match those stakes, it’s this show. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart