“Did you just make me feel bad about your planet of genocidal maniacs almost getting wiped out?”

This episode switches gears, taking place everywhere but Earth. It begins on a distant planet, Nolan’s homeworld, Viltrum. We see a young Viltrumite giving lessons to children about Viltrum’s leader, Argall. After the lesson ends, the young Viltrumite is attacked by his parents. It is his day of adulthood, and should he survive, he will join the Viltrumite army. Our young Viltrumite is revealed to be none other than Nolan himself.

As Nolan is supposed to begin his mission, the planet is hit with a virus they call the scourge virus, and it nearly wipes out Viltrum. Nolan tells the story of his upbringing and the scourge virus to Allen as they head back to Thadeus of the Coalition of Planets. As Nolan watches billions upon billions of his people die, you can’t help but feel a little bit bad for him, and maybe even for the other Viltrumites too. The rest of the episode follows Nolan and Allen as they travel to other planets to attain weapons and other means that can weaken the Viltrumites in the ever-imminent war.

This episode has more of a comedic approach, yet it never takes away from the drama and intensity this episode has. With Allen and Telia, and a spoof Star Trek-like crew, the comedy is still balanced within the episode, but it was definitely smart to sandwich this episode between the more serious episodes one and three.

Again, this episode is character-focused, this time on Nolan. Just as Mark is entering a dilemma of right and wrong, Nolan is entering a similar one. While Nolan wants to help Allen in his fight against the Viltrumites, he refuses to directly take part in it, and refuses to drag Mark and Oliver into it (though Mark is for sure already dragged into this fight). As he and Allen encounter people on other planets hurt by him and the Vilturmites, he apologizes. And though it’s a simple “I’m sorry,” it goes a long way for people when it comes from a person from a planet where parents attempt to murder their children on the day they become an adult.

And despite Nolan feeling sorry for his actions, and understanding the actions of Viltrum were/are horrible and loathsome, he still feels a kinship with his people and his planet. Which leads to the major reveal of the episode: Thaedus (who was revealed to be a Viltrumite in a previous season) was the one who unleashed the scourge virus that nearly wiped out the Viltrumites. And he has created an improved strain of the virus to unleash on the remaining Viltrumites. Nolan genuinely feels betrayed on behalf of his people, but ultimately lets Thaedus live after he agrees to use the virus as a last resort against the Viltrumites. With that, Nolan decides to head back to Earth. This episode’s post-credit scene shows Conquest’s return to Viltrum and introduces another new face, Grand Regent Thragg, played by Lee Pace.

Again, I enjoyed the episode’s focus on a character’s internal struggles, especially with Nolan mirroring Mark. While Mark is seemingly “going bad” and is in uncharted territory as a character, Nolan, “going good,” is also in uncharted territory. It will be interesting to see how meeting each other’s changed versions of themselves since they last met in season two will change them once again.