CONSTELLATION Recap: (S01E04) The Left Hand of God

Melody McCune

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Jo Ericsson embraces Magnus Taylor as the pair stand in their dimly lit living room in Constellation Season 1 Episode 4, "The Left Hand of God."

DISCLAIMER: This recap of Constellation Season 1 Episode 4, “The Left Hand of God,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril. 

Constellation is unraveling reality right before our eyes. “The Left Hand of God” is bonkers to the max, answering our questions while planting seeds for new narrative mysteries. Noomi Rapace is a damn revelation, and Jonathan Banks is a compelling onscreen force of nature.

This is unadulterated, genre-bending science fiction at its most trippy and immersive. When we think we have a better grasp on what’s happening, this series throws us for another loop. I’m just here for the ride. 

RELATED: Read our recap of the previous Constellation episode, “Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart”

Leaving Mommy Behind 

We open with Alice (Davina and Rosie Coleman), wandering through snow-covered woods in Sweden. The episode makes us believe this is an extension of the Jo/Alice scene near the cabin in Northern Sweden. However, we see it’s Magnus (James D’Arcy) who’s leading the charge. He tells her they could go anywhere in Europe or stay in Sweden. They could even go to the aforementioned cozy cabin. Sure enough, we see the pair unlocking said cabin. Alice admits she’s frightened. Magnus reassures her that Jo won’t be there. They’ll never have to see her again. Oh, sh*t.

Alice wears white pajamas with a floral pattern while standing at the bottom of the stairs in her home. She looks heartbroken in Constellation Season 1 Episode 4, "The Left Hand of God."
CONSTELLATION Season 1 Episode 4, “The Left Hand of God.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Now, we shift to right after Jo (Rapace) lands on Earth. Magnus and Alice present her with a surprise belated birthday/belated Christmas party, complete with gifts. After dinner, Jo asks Magnus if he has reorganized their kitchen cupboards. Magnus claims he’s not one to “change around cupboards.” He asks Jo if she loves him.

I Love You 

Magnus explains they didn’t leave things on good terms before her space trip. She didn’t even look him in the eyes when they said goodbye. Jo confirms she loves him, even though she doesn’t recall their relationship being on the rocks. She embraces him. That evening, she has a nightmare about the inside of the International Space Station. Jo hears a distorted voice before waking up the following morning. 

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While moving about her living room, Jo notices the piano against the wall. She sees a framed picture of her playing around on it with a baby Alice. She spots a book of Sergei Rachmaninoff compositions. Jo flips through it. She looks somewhat bewildered. Then, Jo returns to the European Space Agency, where everyone cheers and claps for her. Frederic (Julian Looman) is also present, while Henry (Banks) watches from above. 

Next, Jo and Alice sort through some of her toys and books, deciding what to keep and pitch. Jo asks Alice about a particular book in Swedish. However, this Alice doesn’t know Swedish. 

Truth Time 

Later, Jo sits with Magnus as he assembles furniture. She wants to talk about their supposedly rocky relationship. Magnus asks Jo if she’s having an affair with Frederic. Jo vehemently denies this. Magnus remarks that the rumors were so prevalent he assumed she would leave him. So, piggybacking off that … Magnus met someone. They went out for drinks and kissed. Dude, you did this without confirmation or proof that your wife was having an affair? Weird. Jo looks heartbroken.

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Then, we see Henry in a lab, writing “Space Trauma, Lithium VII and Death in Space” on a dry-erase board. He circles “Lithium VII.” He stops upon hearing a chiming sound. Meanwhile, Bud (Banks) wakes up on the SS Bernice after inadvertently killing Ian Rogers. Everyone scrambles on the ship as a search is underway for Ian. Bud knocks on Ian’s door, hoping he’s on the other side and he dreamt (or time-slipped) what transpired. A ship employee is on the other side, ordering Bud to go to the main hall for an emergency briefing. 

Next, Agent Lenora Bright (Clare-Hope Ashitey) makes her way toward the vessel to investigate Ian’s disappearance. Bud looks around the deck, noticing the various cameras. Uh-oh. Later, Henry chats with Michaela (Chipo Chung) about returning home. Michaela reminds him that he was never granted permission to take RPL equipment to another space agency. Henry asserts the CAL is his to work through.

Henry Caldera wears a white button-down shirt, a dark-colored tie, and black slacks while walking through the European Space Agency in Constellation Season 1 Episode 4, "The Left Hand of God."
CONSTELLATION Season 1 Episode 4, “The Left Hand of God.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Shutting It Down 

Unfortunately, Michaela declares NASA is shutting down the experiment. Henry refuses to accept this, closing his laptop on the call. Later, Jo has a session with the agency’s psychiatrist, Jenny (Bettina Hoppe). She describes the visions she’s been having since her return to Earth. Not to mention the seemingly random details she’s inexplicably forgotten about her home, such as her car being blue and not red. 

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Jenny states that Jo has PTSD. She prescribes Jo medication to lessen the severity of these symptoms. Jo insists she is sane and isn’t comfortable taking the pills. After her session, she reunites with Henry, who shows her the CAL in all its glory. He asks her if she’s heard much anecdotal evidence from astronauts regarding what they’ve seen in space. 

Jo notices the words on Henry’s dry-erase board, which takes her aback. Henry explains that he was a test pilot pre-Apollo. He reveals it was common for pilots to report on an unseen force pressing down on one of the aircraft wings at 90,000 feet — “the left hand of God.”

The Left Hand of God 

He compares going to space to climbing Everest. Your focus is on the summit, but you can become “unstuck” during the descent. That’s when people see or hear things. While Henry briefly steps aside to recheck the CAL, the same painful, stabbing ringing strikes Jo in her left eye. The CAL must be responsible for her ability to exist in two different states simultaneously, meaning Henry’s experiment worked. Perhaps the eye pain indicates Jo is in the wrong place. Or on the wrong plane.

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Then, Jo sees the same results from the CAL that Henry saw seconds before the ISS accident. Meanwhile, Bud talks to his daughter, Connie (Holly Horne), on the phone. Connie urges him not to think everything is outside of him. It’s an illness he can control. She pushes him to take his pills before hanging up. Instead, Bud tosses his pill bottle in the ocean. 

Later, Jo and Magnus meet with Sara (Emily Cox), Alice’s teacher. It’s Brida from The Last Kingdom! Sara informs them that Alice won’t stop talking about death and ghosts. She’s not adjusting well to Jo’s return. Jo takes offense to this, but Sara explains that Alice went from age nine to 10 while Jo was gone. That’s a liminal age. Jo is practically a stranger to her daughter.

Magnus Taylor wears winter gear while carrying a backpack in the snowy woods. His daughter, Alice, also in winter gear, walks behind him in Constellation Season 1 Episode 4, "The Left Hand of God."
CONSTELLATION Season 1 Episode 4, “The Left Hand of God.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Disappointed

Afterward, Jo accuses Magnus of agreeing with Alice’s teacher. Jo believes it’s all nonsense. Of course Alice can trust her. At home, Jo calls for Alice. She stumbles upon another cupboard with Alice’s necklace on the handle. Not again. She finds Alice inside it. Jo asks her daughter if she’s happy that mom’s home. Alice claims she’s unsure. She’s more or less “disappointed.” Jo suggests they have some mommy/daughter time. Maybe they can go to the cabin in Sweden. 

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Next, Henry has a virtual chat with MIT’s Professor Louis Freeman (Reiner Schöne). He shows the professor the image he received from the CAL on the ISS. It’s precisely what Jo saw in the lab earlier. Freeman examines the image, claiming there’s an interference effect. He asks to see the current data. Henry shows him the drawing he made at Roscosmos. 

Henry insists the data he collected from the CAL “doesn’t want to be seen.” It’s inside the halo, but he’s the only one who can see it (Not true!). Freeman states that Henry didn’t create a pathway to another universe. The ISS image is false. Henry asserts the CAL captured a particle in two different states simultaneously, even if Freeman and the others can’t see the proof. It’s in the pudding, pal. 

Questioning Bud 

Meanwhile, Jo sits at the piano at home. Earlier, she told Jenny that she didn’t know how to play. However, she closes her eyes, and her fingers tickle the keys like they’ve done so for years. On the SS Bernice, Agent Bright questions Bud while he works on his golf swing. Bright states that it must hurt not to be believed. Bud reminds her that he’s been on the Moon. Bright replies that nobody’s disputing that. The FBI simply wants to know what happened to Ian Rogers.  

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Bud explains he interrupted Ian during dinner to “make him see sense.” Bright continues the narrative, claiming that Bud threatened to throw Ian into the sea. Bud counters that he hasn’t been able to lift his shoulder past 45 degrees since crashing his plane in Korea. 

Elsewhere, Jo breaks open a capsule from her newly prescribed pills. She tastes the powder. This piques her curiosity, so she heads into the ESA. She overhears Henry saying, “What are you doing?” She stops in her tracks, thinking he’s addressing her. Then, she hears Henry reply, “I’m an autonomous human being. I don’t need anyone’s permission to be anywhere.” She sees him sitting in front of a laptop screen without his glasses.

Jo Ericsson wears her blue European Space Agency uniform with a matching blue cap. She stands in front of a classroom chalkboard with her hands behind her back.
CONSTELLATION Season 1 Episode 4, “The Left Hand of God.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Lithium-7

However, the scene changes in the blink of an eye. Now, Henry is wearing glasses and leaning forward at his desk. Did we see Jo slip between universes? Next, Jo tests her prescription from Jenny and the vitamin cocktail she received from Roscosmos. They’re the same thing — Lithium-7, which Henry wrote on his dry-erase board. They’re antipsychotics. 

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Then, Jo digs deeper into her pills. She looks up what her fellow astronauts were given upon landing. Yaz, Ilya and Audrey received Vitamin A. However, Jo was given Vitamin B. Jo researches other astronauts prescribed Vitamin B after going to space. One woman who claims she saw angels in space died in a house fire. Another woman assumed a false identity before attempting to murder her ex-husband and his new family. 

The next name on the list who was given Vitamin B is none other than Henry Caldera. But two cleaners burst into the office before Jo can review his files. She calls out to them, but they can’t see her. We view the office desk where Jo’s seated from their perspective … and nobody’s in the chair. So, Jo sees people and things from the other universe where she exists leaking into this one. She stands in front of one of the cleaners and scares him before she blinks. She’s back in an empty, dark office. 

Curiosity Killed the Cat 

Before departing the ESA, she stops by Henry’s office again. He appears to be talking to his reflection on a laptop screen. However, this reflection boasts glasses. Maybe Jo’s back in the other universe, and the reflection of Henry is the one we know. Almost as if this other Henry is trying to communicate with our Henry. Jo asks Henry if he’s okay. Henry, the one without glasses, turns to her and creepily says, “Curiosity killed the cat.” Great, now I’m gonna have nightmares. 

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The following day, Jo reunites with Frederic. He claims they’ve had a lot of time to think about things. He believes something has changed based on her demeanor. Then, he declares he still wants her. Uh-oh. They discussed serving out their contracts at the ESA before going private. He’s been talking to these private companies, who would love to have Jo and Frederic as a package deal. 

Jo looks startled. She states she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He tells her she “owes it” to him to say if she’s changed her mind. Before we get her answer, though, we transition to a new scene. Here, Jo talks to Alice’s class about the differences between Earth and Space. Upon seeing Magnus and Sara, Alice’s teacher, together, Jo hurls an accusation. She asks Magnus in front of the class if Sara is the woman he went out with for a drink (and a kiss). Jo storms out. 

Jo Ericsson embraces Magnus Taylor as the pair stand in their dimly lit living room.
CONSTELLATION Season 1 Episode 4, “The Left Hand of God.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Heading Home 

Then, she asks Magnus for the car keys. He reminds her that she’s not supposed to be driving yet. While on the road, Jo asks Alice to turn off her music so she can concentrate. However, Alice refuses to do so. Jo almost loses control of the vehicle. She also experiences the same stabbing pain in her left eye. 

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Frederic visits them at home. He believes Jo should attend a rehab clinic for “astronaut burnout.” Magnus confronts him, asking him if he had an affair with Jo. Frederic confirms this. Jo joins the conversation. She claims she doesn’t recall having an affair with Frederic. An incredulous Magnus asks how one could forget participating in such a thing. She and Magnus order Frederic to leave. 

Alice calls for Magnus. He heads upstairs after emphatically telling Jo that she’s different, not them. Not their home. Then, Jo finds a yellow envelope in her mail. It contains a cassette tape. She sees it’s from the Marine Observatory in Denmark. Jo reads a letter from said observatory, claiming they made a recording of her time on the ISS. They also sent a transcript.

Confirmation 

Additionally, they’ve made a second recording/transcript from November 23rd, 1967. “It appears to show an accident in space and the death of a female cosmonaut. A death which has never been acknowledged.” Oh, sh*t. What Jo saw was real. 

“We know your secrets.” (Not ominous at all.) The letter ends with, “If you wish to hear the tapes more clearly, you must come to us.” We see it’s from Walborg and Laurenz Bang. Meanwhile, Agent Bright looks at the CCTV footage from the SS Bernice. While watching Bud walk with Ian on the deck, Bright sees dual “blobs” ripple through the footage — the same image from the CAL data. 

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Jo inserts the tape from her ISS trip into Alice’s old Fisher-Price recorder. It’s the same one from the opening moments of the pilot. She hears herself saying, “TsUP, this is Station. Please respond.” She also listens to the recording from the cosmonaut, which is what we heard in the pilot. My guess is Jo grabbed Alice shortly after this happened and took her to the cabin. 

Alice and Magnus 

Speaking of Alice, she heads downstairs in her pajamas while calling for Jo. Suddenly, she sees folks dressed in black for a wake. It’s for Jo’s funeral. She screams. Jo and Magnus comfort her as she finds herself existing in two worlds. Magnus scoops her up and puts her in the cupboard with her blanket. Jo orders him to take her out. Magnus fires back that being in the cupboard provides Alice comfort. 

Magnus urges Jo to take the pills she received from Jenny. Jo states that they’re antipsychotics, just like the “vitamins” she got from Roscosmos. Oh, and she knows they could all hear her when she was on the ISS. Jo claims they all left her there to die. Magnus decides to call Frederic after all to get Jo into rehab. Jo orders him to put the phone down. They wrestle with said phone for a spell until Magnus trips. He hits his head on the piano before falling unconscious. We can hear Frederic on the other end of the call. 

The final shot of the episode shows that damn painting in the cabin in Sweden. Only this time, there’s a demon in the center…

RELATED: Read our Constellation recaps here!

Constellation drops new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV+

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Melody McCune
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