Mara must save a woman who is suffering a health issue in the real world to detach from her spy fantasy Reverie before it’s too late. At the same time, she must try to overcome her own issues which seem to have sprung from using the program.

See that episode title? Bit on the nose? That’s basically why it perfectly reflects this second episode of a show that seems almost wilfully bent towards squandering the talent of its cast with writing that varies from mildly cliched to actively bad.

First up, let’s address the fact that the ‘issue’ holding this week’s patient in the Reverie is so painfully obviously signposted that it’s upsetting to see the talented Shahi, playing an intelligent character whose entire training and natural talents revolve around empathy and psychology, struggle for half the episode to work it out.

And that’s not even the most egregious thing about the victim of the week, because honestly by the end of the episode when things resolve, you may well sit there and wonder exactly why everyone is congratulating Mara on a job well done. Where in the pilot her presence was essential in forcing the imprisoned patient to recognise the issue he faced, and bringing him back into the world, this week she mostly seems to just stand there and watch stuff happen. Worst of all, an artificial time pressure is then added by the show which it then resolves in the weakest possible way without Mara having done anything. Were I of the teeth-grinding persuasion of anger, I’d be signing up for dentures after this one.

However, all that really serves to underline that the plot of the actual person being rescued this week isn’t as important as looking at Mara herself, explaining why she’s having the hallucinations of her niece that we saw last time out and what can be done about it. Or it would, if that wasn’t bungled as well. It’s frustrating because it plays as if the writers realise that the paper-thin premise of getting a hostage negotiator to go into someone’s artificial dream each week and talk them out needs more padding, but they seem utterly clueless as to how they might go about it.

Elsewhere, there’s the subplot of Dylan the AI, and why Alexis programmed him the way he is. This is an opportunity for the show to allow Mara to use her talents to gradually prise open those walls which Alexis has built around herself, to get some human interplay going with the reclusive, snappy tech genius. And then the show bungles it again, and honestly how I didn’t throw something at the screen at that point is beyond me.

What is nice is that this week the show takes a little more time to actually address the aftermath for the patient, following up on what her issue is and how it gets resolved – that’s positive, but it’s literally the only part of any of the characters that gets handled well in this instalment.

Verdict: You’ve got a talented lead and a great ensemble battling against some really poor writing here. It’s still watchable, if only out of morbid curiosity coupled with the talent assembled on the screen, but this needs to get much narratively better quick, or I predict a one and done run. 5/10

Greg D. Smith