Sophia’s story unfolds and we find out how she survived. Jonathan and Sacha butt heads. Catherine makes a breakthrough. Helen discovers the truth and everything changes.

This is a very hard episode to rate. So often in this show, a lot happens while nothing really seems to and this episode asks a lot of you in that regard. In a sense it’s pretty close to the pregnancy reveal in episode 5 for what it asks you to take on board. It isn’t as grim by any means but it is just as hard work.

That’s because this episode more than any other, emphasises the brutally simple algebra of the show. You were either sheltered when the signal hit or you were dead. There’s no middle ground, no surprise workarounds and that is a very bleak, very brave choice. It makes the Sophia material here all the more satisfying too. Her survival is on a split second. It feels earned and her entire plot is all about living right before disaster. The face-off at the ski lift is especially well handled and for a show that’s at times been annoyingly coy with its bad guys, they have never worked better than they do here. Relentless, invisible, loud, everywhere.

That’s true too of the Jonathan and Sacha material. The war between the two of them goes to some very dark places, not the least of which is the moment where Jonathan not only considers killing him, but Sacha sees that. It comes to a head this episode too, but there’s still the undeniable sense of unease that comes from Sacha’s origin and the show’s profoundly weird approach to disability. It still works, just, but we’re still very much walking the line between good and bad.

Which brings us to Helen, and the very much bad. She’s killed this week in a manner that’s completely predictable and all but impossible to get deeply annoyed by. One of the only characters to have actually killed one of the robots can’t when her life literally depends on it, and leaves the stage with a suspicious sense of neatness. The moment she finds out the truth about what Bill did you suspect she’s doomed and, unfortunately you’re right. It’s lazy, trite plotting and the fact the show has worked so hard to avoid just that only makes it more annoying.

Weirdly though, Helen’s death is not the biggest ask this week. That comes from Catherine’s plot. I had to watch the explanation for why the aliens are confused by the signal twice to get it and when I did, I was initially thoroughly disappointed. However, it turns out quantum entanglement is actually something being researched as a means of avian navigation. So while it plays a little wacky (and barely explains Sacha and Emily), it isn’t actively bad.

Verdict: All in all this is a complex, dense episode that unfortunately revolves around the worst choice the show has ever made. If you can get past that, and it is an ask believe me, there’s a lot to enjoy this week. I just wish there wasn’t deeply unnecessary lady murder also. 6/10

Alasdair Stuart