With the three First Team astronauts selected, tensions are rising as a new president remains sceptical of the whole space program.

Last episode, it seems fair to say that John Glenn’s actions could have been easily interpreted one way or the other. Did he have – even at the back of his mind – the thought that notifying Shorty of Alan’s indiscretions might work in his favour or was he genuinely just trying to save the program and not really thinking?

This time out, Glenn’s actions are far more black and white. Turns out that there’s an ugly side to all that boy scout, do-things-by-the-book, good Christian personality, and it’s fuelled partly by judgement and partly by sheer naked ambition.

Meanwhile the program itself is in further jeopardy because now Kennedy is in the White House and he’s sceptical of something so expensive and so risky. So it’s time for the astronauts to jump through more hoops, with demonstrations of the safety measures built into the capsule and a battery of physical tests which obviously are a cause for concern for at least one of the top three.

This all leads to a further delay as the government insists on a test flight with a chimpanzee – the infamous ‘Ham’ – and that of course leaves everyone that little bit more on edge for their various reasons.

While the spotlight is on those top three though, there’s quiet little moments with the others as well. Gordo is struggling with being away from his family (and they him) as well as having recurring flashbacks about the wingman we saw him lose in an earlier episode. The others are mainly just struggling with the idea of being ‘second fiddle’ to the top three, trying to keep their spirits up even as they become increasingly aware of the risk that there may not be a space program for them to get their turn in at the rate things are going.

There’s some excellent character scenes, including a genuinely heartbreaking one which comes out of nowhere, and it’s fascinating to see this darker side of Glenn after the show put so much effort into setting him up as the good guy. The ending of the episode shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone paying attention, given its title, and it’s really genuinely satisfying how much decent drama the writers are getting out of very little actually being ‘achieved’ to this point.

Verdict: Great character work and some surprisingly dark moments. Compelling viewing. 9/10

Greg D. Smith