Maxie is absolutely my favourite member of NuPROBE, and this story does a great job on showing why.

Once again we've got a more character focused piece here, Tasha and Maxie out on their own investigating a forest that makes people come back different. It's a classic setup, but the execution here just makes it work really well.

The idea of this place that knows what a forest is meant to be, but can't quite replicate it is great, the visuals of grass not moving when you step, or an old well not leaving any grime on your hands, are a brilliant way to lead you into the idea that something's wrong, before you're then thrown things that are increasingly out of place, the giant cliff, the ship, the burning house, everything being strange and out of place, and the way that it's slowly built up just adds a certain vibe to it.

I love the idea of the forest preying on people's worst days, and that we get to see what that means for Tasha, not only hearing some of her past, but seeing it. I love that the solution is acceptance, going back into the woods and facing what really happened. And I love the ending, the idea of something not being able to work on an alien is one that's been done a lot in the past, but cliche as it can be, it works for me really well here, it was set up previously to be fair, with Maxie quoting back exactly what was said to her about 'the human soul'.

Focusing on character in these sorts of shorts tends to work best for me, and here I think it's done really well.