Director: Hettie Macdonald
Writers: Ben Richards
Starring: Richard Dormer, Stanley Tucci, Sofie Grabol, Michael Gambon, Christopher Eccleston, Jessica Raine, Nicholas Pinnock
**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Review: The aftermath of Shirley cutting her Mum open is a firm affair with not so many twists but thankfully, and I say this with the greatest respect, someone has in all probability put Ronnie out of his insanity misery and although this doesn’t kick us off with tonight’s look back, it certainly is a response to my ‘What’s the point of his character?’ question from last week.
So, to follow up that – frankly – horrific finale from last week as we now join Shirley, walking through the snow, all blood soaked after cutting open her Mother. As episode 7 progresses, we’ll learn that she’s was just popping down to the supermarket to pick up some after-death snacks and it’s very likely that our original, genuinely friendly Shirley has long gone and whatever’s inside her was looking to feed its murderous hunger before her heart fails.
Back in the moment, they’ve already discovered Doctor Allardyce dead in their house and with no sign of Shirley, so the Police are about to discover a whole host of things. As we flick briefly to Ronnie with his face in the snow, his daughter makes a run for it back home and we quickly move to Henry, who continues to hate DCI Morton because Tucci’s character continues to bite at the legs of those who are obviously not revealing as much as they know, or he appears to think this anyway. His personality and temperament are by and large a constant calm reflection of the tempestuous people around him and it works really well.
Hilda’s away in the mainland trying to get help but they’re not having it and while she’s away, chaos starts to turn itself up to eleven but she, luckily, returns at the right moment to reassert herself and take back some control. She brings a different composure to Morton but it’s definitely a respectful one. We’ll also learn that she’s leaving Eric and (I’d assume) continuing to concentrate on her Glacier Hotel, which probably isn’t the best idea at the moment.
There’s might be something worth remembering during that raucous meeting, where the old guy shoots himself in the foot, because Vincent (Treadaway) mentions the animals are behaving weirdly but we haven’t seen many of those…maybe it’s Markus’ dog on the killing spree – Now that would be a twist.
Then it all starts to build up again, as we first get a gathering of vigilantes and then Frank who’s ostensibly pushed to extremes as he hunts down the, probably innocent, Markus and ties him up like something out of 50 Shades. Where did he learn to tie like that? But despite the aggressive expansion of the finale, there’s a lingering question once again which is: Who took Ronnie out and where is he? I’m betting they’ve not checked the cupboard, yet…
[usr=4] Fortitude is showing on Sky Atlantic. Check their website for screening times, catch-up by heading here and follow our dedicated blog.
