Captain Freeman assigns the Lower Deckers an overly safe mission to try to keep a self-destructive Mariner out of danger.

This season’s penultimate episode is written by series creator Mike McMahan and it’s certainly one of the year’s most enjoyable instalments, setting up what should be an exciting finale.

Without revealing how or why, we start getting some payoff on the season-wide arc about the mysterious alien vessel that has been abducting various races. As you’d hope, Mariner is in the thick of it and there’s some lovely writing by McMahan that gets to the heart of the ensign’s self-destructive behaviour, addressing why she doesn’t want a command role.

Verdict: Sharp writing, a real deep cut of a legacy character and some genuine anticipation built up for the finale. 8/10

Nick Joy