Driven by the need to discover what happened to Pulse, and how many other ex-comrades they may be facing, the Underground plan a raid on a courthouse that might hold some answers. Lorna and Caitlin disagree over training the child refugees flooding into the base, and Agent Turner makes a deal he may come to regret.

Last week’s episode showed us what happens to the Underground after a raid has happened and the consequences need to be dealt with. This week, it doubles down, as we look at the next raid that might help the mutants stay half a step ahead of the entire apparatus bearing down on them. There’s a real sense of weight to the threat facing these people – you don’t ever feel that suddenly somehow a deed will be done, a feat achieved, and then all will be well and everyone will get to live happily ever after. What you get is the ever-present sense that at any moment, a wrong step will see the world come crashing down around them.

Adding to that is the ever-present series of intertwined conflicts that the characters must face. Clarice is a classic example of this – caught between genuine affection for and attraction to Johnny, and the sense of disgust and betrayal at his complicity in her manipulation by Dreamer, she’s a wild card the Underground cannot afford. Then there’s the Struckers: Reed, trying his best to navigate a path to redemption for himself and his family. Caitlin, helping out with the cause, personally affected by it but still wary of exactly what they have all found themselves in the middle of. Lauren, eager to help but wary of others, and Andy, still very much a loner and teetering on a hormonal edge that you feel could tip the wrong way at any moment. Just the dynamic of these four working through their new world in the wake of the revelations of the kids’ powers vs the parents’ jobs and experiences would make compelling viewing alone – that it takes place amidst so many other fascinating conflicts just makes it all the better, adding to the ‘pressure-cooker’ feel of the show.

It’s also a show that is constantly addressing the fact that there are no whiter-than-white heroes here. Johnny is sorry about what happened to Clarice when confronted, but he still justifies it to her and himself in that people were in danger and needed saving. Lorna wants to train the new intake of kids for combat, because ‘they’ll always be at war’, and although she isn’t insensitive to the concerns of Caitlin (and is carrying a child of her own) she’s able to override them fairly easily for the cause. There’s a sense that what needs to be done will be, and that’s where another fascinating edge to the narrative lies: as the journey continues, one is forced to ask exactly how thick the dividing line is between the Underground and Sentinel Services – both opposing sides of a war telling themselves that they are doing terrible things because they are ‘necessary’.

The action is parsed out nicely, as usual – it’s incredible what can be done with a TV budget if it’s applied correctly. The show doesn’t have a huge amount of action, but when it does it, it does it well. The man set piece in this episode is another classic example of something which sounds outlandish on paper, but fits perfectly with the tone of the show thanks to flawless execution and committed acting all round.

Verdict: It’s hugely pleasing that a show like this, which started out looking so teen soap-opera in appearance, deals with such challenging themes, and does so well and with great subtlety. It goes to show what can be done with the source material, and we can only hope that the makers of other comic book shows – and the people in charge of the X-Men movie-verse for that matter – are taking notes. 9/10

Greg D. Smith