After a woman is promoted to hotel manager, the nature of her reality is called into question.

At 32 minutes this is the season’s shortest episode, and at this running time brings it in line with the original show’s half-hour span. This is a bonus, because many of these new stories feel bloated by having extra story added to fill the slot. This is the first episode solo written by the show’s host Jordan Peele, and it’s a reflective high concept piece rather than a twist-heavy yarn.

Morena Baccarin (Deadpool, Gotham) is Michelle Weaver, and we watch her being promoted to hotel manager. It’s a popular decision – the staff applaud her and she has great customer service skills – but things start going wrong when something appears in the sky outside and everyone is mesmerised by it. She’s told by her husband that she needs to ‘wake up’ and that’s when we find out via a useful infodump orientation video that she’s actually a tourist in the Sleepaway AR app.

Michelle’s real-life counterpart has suffered a heart attack, meaning that she can’t unsync. and rejoin the real world. The remainder of the story follows the characters coming to terms with the fact that she may never be able to leave, and what the consequences are. The resolution is not a killer twist, rather a logical and satisfying outcome in the circumstances.

Verdict: At times more Black Mirror than Twilight Zone, but the tech here is not malignant, and the story is ultimately about saying goodbye. 7/10

Nick Joy