The two tribes continue to fight for their survival on the alien planet, the success of the children’s rescue seemingly hampered at every turn.

The Ridley Scott-produced sci-fi saga continues to plough its ‘epic but unhurried’ furrow in the fourth and fifth episodes, offering a pace that many shows would be scared to progress at. Unreeling like chapters in a chunky paperback, these two instalments would form a single episode in other shows, but I guess if you’re invested by now you’re in it for the long journey.

The android Mother continues to rule the children through fear, her transformation into the banshee-like necromancer akin to Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan and X-Men’s Mystique. She’s the core of the show, and we pick up more information about her past as she plugs into the mainframe. Her companion, Father, is determined to kill the captured indigenous creature for food, but the children resist what they see as murder.

Less interesting is the plight of the Ark’s survivors, trekking across the terrain in a half-hearted attempt to find their abducted children. Their leader, Ambrose, does not represent the majority, and there’s a shift in power to address this. Things get more interesting when they enter the dragon’s lair where Mother has planted the children’s trackers, the adult humans proving to be smarter than she credited them.

Verdict: We’re now at the mid-point of this show and I’m guessing that the ‘trekking across alien terrain’ quota has been fulfilled and we can now pit the opposing forces against one another. Classy, quality sci-fi, sitting in a dangerous place where it risks losing some of the goodwill it has earned. 7/10

Nick Joy