The ‘someone’ Sacha killed was, unforgivably, the War of the Worlds character with the most natural warmth (and not just because of the insulating properties of that beanie hat). Ever since we met Aaron Heffernan’s Ash, grieving his fiancée and trying to Octomom all those those orphaned babies, he’s been this show’s on-radiator, taking the chill off the aloof characters around him. Even this week, his comedic “Is it because he’s French? Because that would be wrong,” shone a rare shaft of light in a dark and serious hour.
Murdering Ash in such a callous, disinterested way was a fast ramp to villainy for Sacha. Only by killing a litter of golden retriever puppies could the audience now hate him more. Add that to his playground bully taunting of Bill and Kariem, and the ease with which he lied about Ash’s murder, and he’s quite definitely stepped out of the shadows and into the role of baddie. Torloting handled his scenes well, imbuing Sacha with believably creepy detachment.
All of which made Emily’s decision to jump his bones uncomfortable to watch, but then, when your entire family thinks you’re a murderer, perhaps it’s any port in a storm. It almost wasn’t Emily’s decision, anyway, but pre-destined as she’d already seen their projection room hook-up happen in that vision.
(On the subject of the projection room, the multiplex cinema location was made good use of this episode. The space, stars and alien theme seemed to carry over into the empty popcorn boxes, galactic carpet design and, presumably, fictional film poster for alien abduction sci-fi ‘Passenger’ – perhaps a hint of what’s to come for Emily and Sacha on board the alien ship?)
Was that the moment of conception for Emily and Sacha? Is she now pregnant with a child that will inherit each of their genetic weaknesses, and who’ll go on to found the psychopathic Invader race? If so, Emily won’t be the only new mother around.
Sophia’s story this episode was another example of this show’s best trick – using the end of the world to talk about… the world. You don’t need to have witnessed an adorable blonde poppet’s brain being skewered by an alien cyborg that morning to wonder whether or not it’s wise to bring new life into this world. Apocalypse or not, people ask that question all the time. The same goes for Catherine and Victor’s moving exchanges about regrets. Parallel universes and time travel might have prompted their confessions, but at any of life’s big junctions, we all say the same, aliens or no.