Mother discovers an impossible truth, Marcus fully embraces Sol, and the children try to escape.

There’s a lot happening in these penultimate episodes of Ridley Scott’s hard sci-fi epic, creating as many new questions as providing resolutions. It begins with Marcus peeling off his face, guided by voices in his dead, and this isn’t the only gore to endure, as Mother pokes round her own guts, trying to determine what’s inside her.

Mother revives android Doctor Karl so he can help repair her internal wounds, but the silicon tumour that’s wriggling around inside is not the parasite she expected… and it needs feeding. After she’s drained all the other AIs in the vicinity, Mother exsanguinates an indigenous creature, and then she has a taste for more.

There’s more trouble back at the base, with Marcus restraining Sue, who he correctly believes is planning to run away with Paul. Is he serving Sol’s will? As the church burns down around him, it’s clear that he has lost his sanity, providing the ideal distraction for Sue and the kids to make a break for it.

The title ‘Umbilical’ of episode 9 relates to both the blood connection between Mother and deviant Otho (who still has his eye on Tempest) and the connection between the matriarch and her new child. While a truce is brokered between Sue and Mother, Marcus is leading a search to recover them – and it feels like a religious crusade.

Verdict: Plot a-plenty and some great emotional performances from the leads sets up what should be a significant season 1 finale. 8/10

Nick Joy