Space Training
Episode 5 of A Girl and an Astronaut starts with Nadia greeting Niko, who awakens panicked and wondering where he is. It’s actually a wonder he’s even able to stand up and he doesn’t seem to be suffering from muscle atrophy at all, which is a bonus! Nadia reveals herself to him and and how he was only supposed to sleep for 24 hours… but it’s been 30 years instead. Surprise!
The bombardment of information is too much for Niko to bear, as he looks over all the news reports Homie broadcasts up on the wall. However, Niko’s memories of what happened are haunted by nightmares of drowning. Niko decides he’s going to leave and meet Marta, but he’s crushed when he learns that she’s actually married.
Marta heads over to Karolina’s, needing to speak to the Colonel and get some answers from Wictor. He’s hooked up to a machine and barely able to breathe, as we know, and Marta soon realizes she’s not going to get many answers from him. Instead, she heads to the hospital and meets Bogdan again. The pair reflect on the crazy circumstances that have brought them to this point.
Speaking of crazy circumstances, back in 2022 we see Bogdan and Niko both preparing for their space flight, experiencing 8Gs of force in the centrifuge and working tirelessly to try and outdo one another. It’s here where Niko and Nadia end up having their chat together, which we saw fragments of earlier on. Nadia shows off her drawing to him and dances but suddenly she collapses on the floor. Niko takes Nadia to her father, who points out sadly that she has ALS.
In 2052, Nadia decides to try and hide Niko while evading the authorities. JJ doesn’t think it’s a good idea, but with the drone security footage having been deleted and Sergey losing his temper, time is of the essence.
Niko is clever and disguises himself as one of the soldiers, managing to slip into the crowd and disappear just as quickly. He’s driven by his desire to find Marta no matter what, but when Sergey and the others catch wind of what’s happened, Sergey dives under water to escape the base. This brings back memories from 2022 (in a nicely edited segment I may add) as Bogdan decides to drop out the mission – and to do it for Marta. Only, Marta shows up and congratulates Niko for a job well done and encourages him not to get distracted.
Sticking with 2052 for now, Niko manages to make it out the facility and works to try and get back to Marta. He blends in with the crowd and works to slip through the cracks but it’s a rather perfunctory escape I must say, with Niko taking his sweet time before going. He first shows up to pay his respects to the fallen before laying low for the night.
In the morning, he shows up at a bridge where Marta happens to be. The pair hold hands before embracing.
The Episode Review
It’s taken a long time but finally Marta and Niko are back together again after 5 episodes. And the crowd goes… mild? Seeing the history of our three titular characters only reinforces how none of them should have ended up together. It would now appear that Marta only really got with Bogdan as a consolation prize, while he’s just happy to be with her, despite the fact she chose his friend and rival first and seems to have deeper feelings for Niko. And the real victim in all this is Oliwia, who has just been sidelined. I wonder how she feels about everything.
If that wasn’t enough, this entire episode pointlessly drags out the past with the space training completely redundant. Why are we seeing Bogdan and Niko compete for who goes into space when we know that it’s Niko? These sort of additions to the screenplay make it tough to work out whether it’s the editing or the script itself as fault. It’s been a long, laborious journey to this point, but can the finale improve things?
Previous Episode |
Next Episode |
You can read our full season review for A Girl and an Astronaut here! |
|
-
Episode Rating
(2)