Director: Sam Miller
Writer: Simon Donald
Starring: Richard Dormer, Stanley Tucci, Sofie Grabol, Michael Gambon, Christopher Eccleston, Jessica Raine, Nicholas Pinnock
**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Review: The quintessential finale is usually a combination of desires, disappointment and a different kind of connection and, having said that, Fortitude manages to loop a whole a host of things together to make it our collective while. The previous episode managed to answer a lot of questions and so I sense we were open to see if they tried to extend the series beyond this point. The conclusion? I think they managed to tie up loose ends while, all along, leaving us with opportunity floating out there within the glacier.
Opening with the aftermath of Vincent and his room of flies, he sits there being stung as Natalie and Dan try to formulate a plan. It comes together quickly, and reasonably logically, as they change the gas and consequentially blow up the hospital room. There are obvious consequences but it does the job in terms of killing the threat and getting Vincent out half-alive.
Jules is announcing to Liam that they’re leaving together but not taking Frank, he’ll only visit on special occasions. Frank has gone beyond rational thought now and agrees like a robot. It seems he’s re-focused in that sense and knows that what he did was bloody crazy. Meanwhile, out in the deep glacier, Yuri and his compatriot Max are trying to drill for Mammoth bones and the consequences of this are yet to come, so we flick back to Elena throwing up and generally acting like she’s got a horrific fever. We’re all assuming she’s unwell because she either picked up the key to the door where Ronnie is being kept, something escaped and specifically got inside her, or was it when she hugged Shirley?
This is one of two confusing elements of the finale because surely she would have shown a little bit of sickness in the previous episode? From here, we follow Elena through her memories as the rest of Fortitude try to find out where the hell Jason is and where he’s hidden his rage and the infected Mammoth. I’m also not too sure why Elena and Frank talk through a plastic wall but maybe it isn’t real and fever-fuelled Elena is hallucinating.
Back out in the white, Eric finally tracks down Yuri and Max and the latter makes a run for it when the guns are out, clever plan. What follows is an amazingly hilarious fight scene with literal low blows and a true rubbish scrap between angry Eric and drunken Yuri. The result is Yuri knocking Eric out and winching himself down to the bones but – because he’s actually a bit stupid – breaks the lift and ends up somewhere down the hole. Eric eventually wakes up and returns the drill to Odegard. Once back in town, those two finally make up, which is actually quite nice as they’re basically the only normal two in the town and it feels right, it works.
Also back in town, Jason reveals where the Mammoth carcass is and the gang burn it with fire. This, for me, is the most rational idea but you do ponder if a wasp or two might escape…when they open the bloody door. Back in the hospital, Markus and Natalie have a lovely chat about parasitic wasps and it’s a poignant moment for all involved. We’ll also learn that Vincent probably won’t have animals growing inside of him, which is nice.
So, now then, Elena’s fever takes full control and if you were wondering if Carrie is immune to all the diseases, as she’s been around a lot of it, she’s definitely not immune to a blow to the head from an intoxicated Elena. The big conclusion really does have a ‘full-circle’ feel to it because after our Sheriff Dan had to save Elena from certain imprisonment to begin with she’s on another killing spree and starting with Carrie, but he gets there in time and has to shoot her. It’s intense but it’s the right choice and outcome.
So that’s it for Fortitude, right? The major parts have been concluded to a definite degree but wait; we’ve hit the untied ends of possibility…
Yuri is stuck out in the glacier with a few parasitic wasps, I hate those things, and although it doesn’t really explain what happened to Jason, moving away from him shooting himself in the head and beating Ronnie half to death, they’re all out of the picture either through death or the fiery burning end. But, saying this, Elena is being kept alive, Ronnie’s actual death wasn’t shown, Yuri is on a (possibly) moving glacier with an army of angry ancient death wasps and god knows what’s still in the water. I’ll take a bit more, if they’re up for it.
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[usr=4] Fortitude is showing on Sky Atlantic. Check their website for screening times, catch-up by heading here and follow our dedicated blog.
