I was going to title my review "Is this the best Sci-Fi episode ever?", but I knew I'd get downvotes just out of spite (and I could be wrong!). So, they capture the 'leader" of this cult, and what a shock to see who it is (Spoiler 1 below). This causes Thomas (Liam Cunningham - who we're not sure if he's a good or bad guy yet, though we find out at the end of the episode) to suspect Mike (Jonathan Pryce) has a record of conversations with the aliens. Mike has lived on a ship for many years, staying away from all other authorities attracting converts and raising them on the ship. Thomas convinces Auggie (Elza Gonzalez) to restart the nano-fiber project, and recruits Raj (Saamer Usmani). Raj develops a team and plan to use the fiber to recover the conversations (Spoiler 2). The plan works and the device reveals much, leading to learning the aliens plans, and a big surprise (Spoiler 3).
Spoiler: 1 - Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao)! Apparently to spite the Communists, she did indeed ignore the aliens plea to not respond, and resumed communications over many years.
2 - The fiber is strung between 2 poles across a section of the Panama Canal. Mikes ship passes between the poles and the fiber effortlessly cuts it horizontally (about) every three feet, severing everything/one. Might be a bit gruesome for some, but the cinematography is gripping 3 - The aliens fear that by the time they arrive in 400 years, the earth will be able to repel them, so they confound electronics (and is the reason for the experiments in recent episodes failure)
Spoiler: 1 - Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao)! Apparently to spite the Communists, she did indeed ignore the aliens plea to not respond, and resumed communications over many years.
2 - The fiber is strung between 2 poles across a section of the Panama Canal. Mikes ship passes between the poles and the fiber effortlessly cuts it horizontally (about) every three feet, severing everything/one. Might be a bit gruesome for some, but the cinematography is gripping 3 - The aliens fear that by the time they arrive in 400 years, the earth will be able to repel them, so they confound electronics (and is the reason for the experiments in recent episodes failure)