With his beloved satellite severely hobbled, General Naird must decide between a well-reasoned scientific solution and a chimp-led rescue operation.

Picking up immediately from the end of the series opener, Naird (Steve Carell) is shocked to see that the newly launched satellite has been attacked by a Chinese satellite, its ‘wings’ being nipped off by giant tweezers. He returns to the base and gathers the great and good, tasking with them with finding a solution. The clock is ticking (naturally) and Naird boldly states that ‘We’re going to Apollo 13 the shit out of this’ in the script written by co-creator Greg Daniels.

Naird’s solution involves detonating a bomb and expecting the shockwaves (there won’t be any in a vacuum) to push the panels back to the main satellite body. Among the other ideas, it’s revealed that a nearby ship is Mission X-12 with its payload of assault rifles (just to prove that they work in space), a dog and sign-language proficient chimp. All they need to do is teach the chimpstronaut how to pick the right tool, go out on a tethered spacewalk and reattach the panels. Simple.

I enjoyed this more than the show opener, mainly because it gets straight down to business. With little world building, it’s all about the repartee between the characters, with Carell still a little one-note and occasionally too Despicable Me’s Gru for my liking.

Verdict: A better episode, though it’s still not clear how the show will play out each week. 7/10

Nick Joy