The episode was written by series developers David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo, and directed by co-executive producer Derek Tsang.
The series follows Ye Wenjie, an astrophysicist who sees her father beaten to death during a struggle session in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, who is conscripted by the military.
At a particle accelerator in University of Oxford, Dr. Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo) talks with his boss, Vera Ye (Vedette Lim), over a new discovery that could prove the physics of the past 60 years were all incorrect.
Vera's funeral is attended by former physics students, Saul, Augustina "Auggie" Salazar (Eiza González), Jack Rooney (John Bradley), Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), and Will Downing (Alex Sharp).
At a bar, the former students (the "Oxford Five") talk about Vera's actions, all of them remarking how recent experiments have stopped making sense.
Clarence is pressured by his boss, Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham), into solving the recent cases of scientists committing suicides.
He eventually realizes that several of them possessed an advanced virtual reality gaming headset, and wonders if the "Oxford Five" are related to the cases.
The episode was written by series developers David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo, and directed by co-executive producer Derek Tsang.
But there's more than enough to enjoy here if you can swallow the physics babble and just roll with the trippy sci-fi horror grounded by an unusual historical angle.
"[5] Johnny Loftus of Decider wrote, "they will plunge us into mysterious virtual reality landscapes, and force us to face what a fair-minded reading of theoretical physics allows: that science acknowledges space for something like God to exist, or at least the space for something our puny brains can't conceive outside of a divine context.
"[7] Sean T. Collins of The New York Times wrote, "it pays to go into new shows with an open mind if getting maximum enjoyment out of the work is your ultimate goal.