Acid Tests moves Leslie Bohem’s Taken miniseries into the 1970s. Bohem guides the characters through another feature length episode that first aired on 5 December, 2002.

We’re entering the era of crop circles, and Crawford (Joel Gretsch) is joined by his grown son, Eric (Andy Powers) and Marty (John Hawkes) as he investigates them. One of them which he is convinced is a landing area for UFOs, is proven to be a man-made hoax.

In fact, it was done by Tom Clarke (Ryan Hurst) to discredit Crawford. And it does, and the Colonel is forced to resign.

Eric continues his father’s work, when he uncovers a newspaper report about an archeological find in Alaska. A find, which has iconography on it like the metal object that has been held by his family since Roswell. He and his brother Sam (Ryan Merriman) suffer some estrangement, but this piece of metal, and its connection to the find in Alaska could change everything. And Sam is determined to find out all about it, and heads to meet with the dig members.

Even before Sam arrives strange things seem to be happening, and the narrative brushes up against the mythology that some First Nations have about visitors, and the stories of the trickster. And when one of the dig members goes messing, the search for him is incredibly unnerving.

What will Sam learn, and what will it do to his relationship with his brother and father? And what will happen when Sam finds something truly… alien? and the truth about the dig? Can he survive and what will Eric do? Eric is his father’s son.

Jesse Keys (Desmond Harrington) is now an adult and much like his dad, a vet (how did he serve if Crawford and Marty were still looking for him? – he has a stolen identity, somehow), and now is traveling from town to town, keeping a low profile. He’s become a bit of an addict, and while he’s working on recovering at a local VA, he meets a nurse, Amelia Henderson (Julie Ann Emery) and falls for her.

And through it all, we are reminded of the fact that the characters, and the viewer are unsure of what the visitors are up to.

This one has some visitor activity, but it seems more interested in letting the character narratives grow, and set up things for what is to follow.

Of the episodes so far, this one is probably my least favourite to date. It’s not quite as good as it could have been, and tries a little too hard in some ways. It plays almost in homage to the horror films of the era.

I wanted just a touch more of the wonder and fear in this episode. We’ll see what happens in Maintenance.