As Rey’s life hangs in the balance, she dreams of the events that led to this point, from her leaving Earth on the Origin to the disaster that overtook the ship and the truth behind what happened between her and Taylor.

Following the opening pair of episodes in which we established the backstory for both Shun and Lana as well as getting a broad idea of other characters and the situation in which they found themselves, episode 3 chooses to focus on Rey and where she came from as she lies recovering on a medical table having been operated on last time out.

This follows on well from the previous episode, in which Taylor turned out to be infected after all but still left a question mark over to what extent Rey should be trusted. It fleshes out her backstory as was done for Shun and Lana, starting with her decision to leave Earth on the Origin (and what that meant she left behind) as part of its crew, and following a part of the journey up to the initial jump to light speed, and the results thereof.

This then leads into the relationship between Rey and Taylor, but also more importantly gives the show its first proper dig into feeling more genre. The explanations of phenomena around light speed travel, how the ship is designed for it even if the humans aboard are not, are all welcome, as is the insight into exactly how the crew – there mainly to fly the ship and keep its cargo of human passengers safe – view their job and their charges. It’s a welcome bit of context for the ship and the situation in which it finds itself, even as it doesn’t give everything away so that some mystery remains.

What’s slightly less welcome is the choppiness of the show as it cuts back and forth between the present and the flashbacks, in ways that aren’t always immediately clear and can lead to a certain amount of disorientation to the viewer as we try to follow the plot. It’s a minor gripe, but worth mentioning.

It’s also not a show afraid to double down on its focus – this really is an establishing episode mainly dealing with Rey, and we see very little of most of the rest of the cast as it drills down into that. The mystery in the present, of who exactly is the person among the survivors who absolutely shouldn’t be trusted, runs as a nice counterpoint to the flashback which we already know from episodes 1 and 2 can only end one way.

It also continues to wow on the visual front, with FX work and scope that wouldn’t look out of place in a modern movie, let alone a streaming service TV show. It’s obvious that big bucks were spent on this, and I’m happy to report that on the strength of this episode, it looks like they were well worth it.

Verdict: I was quietly intrigued after the opening double feature and now I’m absolutely drawn in. There is still a whiff of the generic to certain narrative elements, but when it’s being done this well, it’s easy to forgive. 8/10

Greg D. Smith