Following the big improvement in the 3rd episode of this season, from the initial two, the standard falls slightly here but not to the point I feel negatively about this one.
Having realised that Nathan the Cannibal (Justin Edwards) is still on board the ship. Ryan (Hugh Laurie), Billie (Lenora Crichlow) and Rav (Nikki Amuka-Bird) instigate a ship wide lockdown, trapping all the passengers in the rooms that they were in. They then head to the security room to locate Nathan, before realising that they've never actually seen him. Herman (Josh Gad) and Iris (Suzy Nakamura) attempt to use their knowledge of the Lithium crisis on Earth as a blackmail point against Sato (Arsher Ali).
The blackmail aspect of the story didn't work for me. Herman, and Mads are characters that the show could do without now as, we're back to Herman being either arrogant or stupid depending on what the plot requires. There's also, and I know that perhaps suggesting this is missing the point of the show, but there are contradictions in the resolution of this strand to previously established science of the show.
The other storyline, the lockdown one, was much better. Maybe because it was in the hands of the shows three best defined characters and maybe just because it was more logical (despite it too having a science plotpoint that it ignores when the plot needs it, and then comes back when it doesn't). It does help that Captain Clark has increasingly taken on the role of put down king, and Laurie is as good at delivering them as Iannucci is at writing them.
Improvement just about maintained then. We'll see where we go from here.
Having realised that Nathan the Cannibal (Justin Edwards) is still on board the ship. Ryan (Hugh Laurie), Billie (Lenora Crichlow) and Rav (Nikki Amuka-Bird) instigate a ship wide lockdown, trapping all the passengers in the rooms that they were in. They then head to the security room to locate Nathan, before realising that they've never actually seen him. Herman (Josh Gad) and Iris (Suzy Nakamura) attempt to use their knowledge of the Lithium crisis on Earth as a blackmail point against Sato (Arsher Ali).
The blackmail aspect of the story didn't work for me. Herman, and Mads are characters that the show could do without now as, we're back to Herman being either arrogant or stupid depending on what the plot requires. There's also, and I know that perhaps suggesting this is missing the point of the show, but there are contradictions in the resolution of this strand to previously established science of the show.
The other storyline, the lockdown one, was much better. Maybe because it was in the hands of the shows three best defined characters and maybe just because it was more logical (despite it too having a science plotpoint that it ignores when the plot needs it, and then comes back when it doesn't). It does help that Captain Clark has increasingly taken on the role of put down king, and Laurie is as good at delivering them as Iannucci is at writing them.
Improvement just about maintained then. We'll see where we go from here.
