Director: Richard Laxton
Writer: Stephen Brady
Starring: Richard Dormer, Stanley Tucci, Sofie Grabol, Michael Gambon, Christopher Eccleston, Luke Treadaway, Jessica Raine, Nicholas Pinnock
**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Review: So, after Sheriff Dan lost his mind and attacked Frank in Elena’s shower, we dive headfirst into the aftermath of that attack and further unravelling of this collection of suspicious souls with an enormous episode.
We begin heading back to Ronnie, who is camping near the Prometheus (My Icelandic guess) waterfall with his daughter, trying to keep clear of passing Polar Bears but also literally and figuratively running away from his own mind now because I doubt they’re even after him now. After sawing off the tusk and dragging it off with them for an adventure, he leaves the door of his hidden treasure open for nosy Shirley (Jessica Gunning) to discover but I don’t think she knows what it is and why should she? It’s tusk-less!
Dan turns up in the flat of Henry, we now know his secret power is getting into anywhere he wants to, but I saw that one coming when Gambon’s drunk old photographer was left with a lingering shot on him. It’s interesting that Henry was displaced as a character early on, by that I mean we never saw him before the shooting, and yet his home is becoming a haven and the only escape in town. Next up, we’re back to Shirley who turns up to comfort Elena and continues her nosy-like nature but she is, of course, also a friend to everyone in town. This is something we’ll learn later on as Darren Boyd’s Markus gets creepier by the week and I start to wonder if everything wrong is just specifically him or if he’s a red herring. One thing that is true; he’s unnervingly peculiar.
The big moments in this week’s Fortitude are the Police interviews as we learn all about Frank’s true chequered and injured history with the real reason for leaving the military. But, more importantly, a whole lot about Elena and her dangerous past. What’s particularly interesting is the fact she’s discussing the fact that her past ‘self’ was someone else when she speaks of the 7-year cycle. This is a somewhat real but more a popular story because cells are continually repairing and changing but in Elena’s case, she believes she’s a different person which suggests altered perceptions about her mental state.
Before the ending, we also get another glimpse into Markus’ unerring world as he tells Shirley lovely things but there’s something uncomfortable about it all, those feelings are backed up when we learn he’s a ‘feeder’ and is forcing food on her but she’s eager to please and doesn’t stop him. It’s an unpleasant scene but feels purposeful. Things then change pace as we learn that Frank’s ‘story’ was true and he did pick up his son who was covered in blood. While we thought he was covered his own or Elena’s blood (after a rather feisty sexual encounter) truthfully we were played by intelligent editing. This raises a mammoth (!) question, what other moments have we looked at incorrectly? Did Frank’s son kill Charlie? Why the heck did Liam jump out the window?!
Before this vast episode is over, we learn that Ronnie has a nasty hand injury – Was this done when he was frantically cutting off the tusk in the previous episode or simply from touching the feasibly infected carcass? As I’m sure you’ll agree, there were questions answered but then bloody new ones (no pun intended) rolled into their vacant spaces. We still don’t know who killed Charlie and now we’re reminded about Billy Pettigrew and his shadowy death-by-Polar-Bear incident. Bring on the next!
[usr=5] Fortitude is showing now on Sky Atlantic. Check their website for screening times, catch-up by heading here and follow our dedicated blog here.
