Jones has a proposal for Liz. Rosa helps Isobel with a big discovery. Dallas and Max wrestle with their respective destinies. Michael must face up to his own power.

So your evil doppelganger superbeing has kidnapped your girl and secreted her away somewhere to help her ex-squeeze in fulfilling his evil plan to kill you and steal your body – what do you do?

Well, it’s Max we are talking about here so of course his first instinct is to go in all guns blazing with the rest of the gang and his second instinct is to get all self-sacrificial – so far so Max Evans. But fortunately Max has a family who loves him and a new friend who… well, who was actually told by his space dad to kill him if all else failed, but is Max Evans going to hold that against a guy?

Honestly, this is mostly quite a slow episode but manages not to be dull because by now we are invested enough in these characters. Nathan Dean is having a blast playing Jones as well as Max, because there couldn’t really be two more polar opposite characters. Jones’ sneering, self-interested coldness contrasts like night against day compared to Max’s desire to always do the right thing, no matter how much it might hurt and it’s credit to the actor that he pulls off both so well.

Meanwhile everyone else needs to get powered up ready for the big battle. Rosa helps Isobel find an asset that might be very useful in that, though she also has some words of warning for her alien bestie. Isobel’s confidence is growing all the time and it’s a joy to see Lily Cowles constantly find new ways to surprise with the character.

Rosa herself has a bit of a side worry – she has a secret that she’s not sure about sharing with anyone yet, and the person she ends up taking advice from is the last person you might have expected up until fairly recently. While we are talking about cast members enjoying themselves, Dylan McTee must be having the time of his life playing the mind-wiped ‘non-dickhead’ (the character’s words, not mine) version of Wyatt Long and to his credit he does earnest goodness every bit as well as hateful bigotry so fair play.

As for Michael, turns out he may have been holding himself back for a while now, and it’s not as if he doesn’t have an understandable reason. Thankfully he also has an ornery old mentor to point him in the right direction.

It’s that sort of episode basically – lots of talking, a fair amount of exposition and some big conversations including god, aliens, the parameters of good and evil. What makes it work is, as I say the investment we have in the characters and the fact that the show always manages to speak to relevant issues without feeling preachy. But as the credits roll, it’s clear that Jones may be more of a challenge than any of our heroes had appreciated yet.

Verdict: More talking than action, but carries itself well enough that you won’t mind. 9/10

Greg D. Smith