In the wake of the attack, survivors across the UK and France struggle to understand their new status quo.

This is both a great second episode and a worrying precedent for the series. It works because it drills down on the individual terror everyone feels and the sudden, massive cost of personal decisions. This is epically true for Sarah, Tom and Emily. Their disastrous interaction with Kariem, and Kariem’s with a shopkeeper, both show that prejudice and fear aren’t dead and the show is at its best in these untidy human moments. Likewise, Helen and Bill who continue to circle untidily around one another, even as Bill becomes more desperate to keep the truth from his ex -wife. This is all smart, complex, human writing and the show works best when it does this.

But the precedent that it sets is also intensely worrying. Firstly, this isn’t a grim show, it’s a pitch black one. Sarah’s relentless determination to keep her family safe, and her kids’ often one note complaints, quickly get old and there’s another full episode of them doing this to get through. It doesn’t all fail to land, there’s a great sequence where Sarah watches someone get taken down by something awful that shows how the world is changing for example. But even that present the show’s biggest problem. A problem, arguably, that any version of War of the Worlds must address.

You have to see the aliens. The moment you see the aliens, the show is much less interesting.

This episode at least fights shy and that works, sort of, for now. Mokrani’s team is cut down by foes they can barely see, there’s that flash of motion out on the street and Jonathan glimpses one of the creatures. It’s exciting but at the same time, the show is already running out of ways to hide its cards. Whether it can reveal them successfully remains to be seen.

Verdict: Very smart, very well written and acted and intensely dour, this is good but it really makes you work for the enjoyment. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart