Eleina works with Popcorn Wizard to finally find Skinner. Abel works with the President to find the truth about INSCOM and the clock keeps ticking,

The Hundun Program, and Soryu, have felt like an odd addition since they first appeared and this episode they become an active hindrance. With one day before the end of the world and one episode before the end of the season the show makes the first of a string of mystifying choices here.

Axel spends the entire episode in hospital and we spend an inordinate amount of time with him. On the one hand you can see why; Axel was just almost killed after a full season of being indestructible. On the other, fixating on Axel feels like a choice to focus on character that just doesn’t pay off. Not only because the show’s been so weirdly perfunctory with characters up to now but because Axel’s got the lion’s share of what little development and screen time there’s been and he doesn’t actually do anything with it here.

In fact, almost no one does. He spends the episode in bed, Abel spends the episode in an oddly tranquil Mexican standoff, Leland’s barely on screen, as is Hirsch, and Chris is reduced to worrying about Axel and pretending that’s a character trait. Doug is revealed to be held hostage and rescued almost instantly. Eleina and Popcorn Wizard bonding is very sweet and fun but like the Leland spotlight a few episodes ago it feels less organic and more like their turn. Worse, it seems designed to do two things, neither of them good. The first is the offhand reveal that it turns out Skinner is in Bablyonia City all along, which after a season of running all over the world has understandably frustrated a lot of people. Secondly, Eleina’s mounting fever has suddenly broken and that’s explored a little here. It’s a great, weird idea but bringing it forward in the penultimate episode of the season with so much still to do feels like a hell of a gambit.

Verdict: There’s a lot to enjoy here still, almost all of it Popcorn Wizard who is an adorable figure who brings Eleina out of herself in some lovely ways. There’s some nice callbacks too (Doctor 909! The cat!). It’s fun but there’s one day left and I don’t know how they’re going to land the show. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart