Space Brothers - Episode 55

After all of his recent endeavours, Mutta has come down with a fever at the worst possible moment, with the final day of their survival training about to get underway.  I suppose that's the price you pay for all of those recap episodes...

With Mutta laid up and seriously in need of some rest, there's no sign of NASA going easy on them, instead giving them a simple choice - give up and drop out, or ensure that the entire group finishes the course.  Needless to say, there's really no choice to made there, and after being provided with some medication Mutta joins the rest of the group in heading off on their final day of walking, allowing them to complete the course but at a pace which means that they finish dead last.

Unfortunately for the team, this performance also has a knock-on effect on their next text - the so-called "Comeback Challenge" which involves launching a small rocket to deliver a rover created by the group before said rover automatically finds its way to its destination.  Each team is offered a choice of engineer to act as support to the group, and coming in last Team E are left with only a solitary choice - the unkempt, lazy and disinterested Pico.  Are there hidden depths to this man, however?

I'm sure most would admit that the whole "survival training" arc of Space Brothers hasn't been the best, so I'm excited to see the series move on to a seemingly more cerebral and fascinating challenge, complete with an equally fascinating character in Pico, who will hopefully come into his own as things progress.  If nothing else, it's nice to see normal operation resumed after that trio of recap episodes that have deprived us of new Space Brothers for a few weeks now.