The gang try to work out exactly what happened to Destiny, which involves delving deeper into their parents’ respective business. Meanwhile, all is not necessarily well in the ranks of the PRIDE group.

It’s quite fascinating that, three episodes in to a show based on a comic book, we have had very little sight of powers or fantastical events. This show is really determined to take its time, as this instalment sets about probing deeper into the various relationships and power dynamics at play between the various characters.

Opening with a flashback, we get to see the funeral of Molly’s parents, and the offer by Stacey and Dale to take her in as one of their own. It’s another brick in the complex wall of the story of the adult characters – we get hints that there is more than simple tragic accident to the fate of Molly’s mother and father, even suggestion of some suspicion among the ranks. Again, it appears that for all the talk of unity and teamwork, there are plenty of fractures in this alliance.

Those fractures become clearer as the show reverts to the present day. The Minorus clearly have marital issues of their own – after all, they lost a daughter, their remaining daughter is distant from them, and Tina appears to have essentially closed herself off from Robert following Amy’s loss. But here we go deeper into that – for all that Tina comes off as cold and aloof, it’s clear that she wants to try to make her marriage work again (though it is less clear for what end), and it’s equally clear that Robert is less interested in this. His reasoning at least, becomes a little clearer as the episode progresses.

In the Wilder household, domestic bliss may be slightly more achievable but Geoffrey still has his doubts, both about what the group has done, and what Catherine proposes to do after his discovery at the end of episode 2. It’s clear that Catherine is the driving force in their PRIDE activities, and that she is willing to go far further than him in achieving the group’s goals and protecting its secrecy. This leads to an almost unbearably tense set of scenes between Catherine and the object of her suspicions, during which it really starts to sink in just what the stakes are on both sides.

As for the Steins, Victor is still troubled by the apparent less-than-perfect functioning of his ‘box’, though we are no closer to divining its secrets. Meanwhile Janet has far less lofty concerns of her own. She isn’t the victim she might have appeared, though she still has the safety of her son as her primary concern. And the Yorkes – well this episode, of all the parents the Yorkes certainly seem both the least ‘evil’ and the most united. When Dale muses that, once the PRIDE project is over ‘maybe they can stop hurting people’, there’s a real duality there – on one hand, you are moved to sympathise that maybe they aren’t so bad, on the other, the casual way in which it’s acknowledged by him that they are hurting people is quite chilling. Add to that the fact that they developed a drug which is potentially very bad for people, and clearly we have more to come from this pair.

On the kids’ side, nothing too surprising happens. It’s been clear all along that Gert has a crush on Chase, although what’s perhaps surprising here is that not only does Chase seem aware, but he does nothing to dissuade her. There’s certainly clear chemistry between the two, though where it might lead is anyone’s guess. Nico and Alex practically scream ‘made for one another’ and have done since the first episode, what changes here is that both of them now seem open to this, rather than just Alex. Karolina seems the most naïve of the group, still clinging to the idea that maybe they are all mistaken and Destiny really is just on a foreign mission for the church – her eagerness to believe this is understandable, given the character and her background, and will doubtless provide an interesting dynamic to the group as time goes on. As will Molly, who even after three episodes and countless attempts to bring up the subject, hasn’t yet managed to tell Gert just how far the ‘changes’ she is experiencing go.

The ending of the episode gives us two short sharp shocks, one for our heroes and one for the parents. Neither is welcome, and both are bound to have deeper repercussions.

Verdict: In a market saturated with ‘me-too’ comic book TV heroes, this is quite the standout. Not as graphically violent as the Netflix content, not as over-the-top soap opera in tone as the Arrow-verse and feeling much more grounded than Agents of SHIELD ever has. This is quality stuff. 9/10

Greg D. Smith