As the town prepares for CrashCon, Liz and Max try to work out who might be targeting the festival and how. Michael continues to work for Helena and reaches an unexpected conclusion about her intent. Maria and Isobel strike up an unlikely alliance as they try desperate measures.

So, *deep breath* Helena is involved somehow in a conspiracy with the Manes men to create a weapon that requires the input of both Michael and Jenna’s brilliant biochemist sister. Jesse Manes is or is possibly not a changed man. Flint Manes may have been involved in the abductions of Max and Jenna and who knows who else. Mimi and Helena are apparently good friends. Diego is up to something, and Max and Liz may or may not be about to have another fight about her messing about with alien DNA for medical research. Oh, and there’s a ticking time clock on resolving all this as there seems to be something planned for CrashCon. Clear? Me neither.

The cunning details of the Manes plan are slowly revealed as the episode unfolds, but Helena’s part in things may not be as crystal clear as first appears. Then again, the details of the Manes’ plan itself aren’t exactly brimming with clarity. Jesse tricked Alex so he could get him to retrieve a bit of alien artefact (but how did he know he would?), Flint seems to both despise and still idolise his father whereas Alex… well Alex also seems pretty torn up between love for his father and contempt for what he is and what he does. Hell, the only Manes man who makes any kind of sense at this point is Gregory, and all we know about him is that he lives on a reservation.

Isobel’s continuing mission to make nice with everyone sees her and Maria agreeing that she should let herself into Mimi’s memories to find out exactly what she knows about everything. That’s tricky because Mimi seems a little conflicted herself, on top of not always being especially coherent. But her words to Maria after the extended telepathic session stick with her, which may or may not prove a good thing.

Max and Liz meanwhile seem to have reached a tenuous truce that always seems in danger of cracking wide open over the matter of Liz’s illicit alien experiments. On the one hand, it’s hard to fault Liz’s immediate concern for Kyle’s new girlfriend and the mysterious incurable blood disorder she could maybe cure with her research, as well as her wider desire to become something more than fate and genetics would deem she be. On the other, it’s difficult to fault Max wanting to keep the secret of himself and his siblings as quiet as possible, and being upset that Liz would have tried to keep all this from him.

No real time for that though, as the episode barrels along towards a set of confrontations and revelations and an explosive conclusion that could have all sorts of lasting repercussions as we head into the finale of the season. One thing seems certain – it’s going to get a lot harder to hide the existence of extraterrestrials when the dust settles.

Verdict: Packed and still a little too twisty, narrative-wise, this is still top-notch stuff. 8/10

Greg D. Smith