Director: Sam Miller
Writer: Simon Donald
Starring: Richard Dormer, Stanley Tucci, Sofie Grabol, Michael Gambon, Christopher Eccleston, Jessica Raine, Nicholas Pinnock
**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Review: One down, one to go and what a stunningly intense, enlightening and revealing penultimate episode! We join Sheriff Dan, as he has flown out to see if he can save DCI Morton –Told You – but things aren’t what we expect because just as he’s offering to take him, Morton asks for ‘Truth’ and we start to see flashbacks of that night with Pettigrew, Yuri, Eric, the bar and…Elena.
With a recap of reality, long gone are the days of worrying whether Billy Pettigrew was maliciously murdered and whether we should feel sorry for what happened. We quickly learn he was an appalling, vicious drunk and attempted rapist. There’s no other way to sum up. It’s not to say that anyone deserves to be killed but Fortitude instantly flips the whole series on its head with that opener, Elena’s actions, followed by Dan’s reactions that all merge severe consequences from the whole sordid situation.
The only question that really remains is whether Dan ‘meant’ for him to get eaten by the Polar Bear or whether that was an accidental result of putting him there. Either way, it happened and as the episode wears on, we’ll learn that both him and Elena are murderers at different times but it brings them even closer together. It also makes you question whether Dan’s obsession has been fueled by what he’s done.
After those huge revelations, we’re back with Dan and Morton and the latter is asking to be left there and so…he is. This will sadly be last time we see Tucci’s wonderful character alive, so poignant but for the narrative side, it’s faithful to the situation he’s in. Upon returning to the town, Odegard tries to make sense of what happened with Henry and Morton but Dan can only tell her what happened, what he saw and she has to trust him.
In other summaries, Yuri and his mate decide to steal the drill by knocking out a worker, which is completely unnecessary. In the course of things, I’m assuming they’re off to drill for Mammoth bones which can only be a stupid thing. Oh, and Eric is on their trail but doesn’t know he’s chasing.
Jason’s also rampaging around and inebriated by whatever is in his system, he attacks Natalie but strangely doesn’t kill her – which is the first difference to everyone else so far encountering this toxin. Liam’s a gibbering lunatic and finally – FINALLY – Jules admits out loud that she knows he’s not right, in any way whatsoever and we all think about bloody time.
Then we hit the enormous final third as Natalie and Vincent find some kind of larva in the dead dog of Professor Stoddart and begin to study it. It’s something unidentified that’s for sure so they head off to get more samples from Shirley’s Mum, who’s some form of alive. But here’s where it gets visual again, as the lovely boils on her face are really pulsating and flies start to crawl out of her face – It’s a real treat. I’m being sarcastic; it’s gruesome. You remember that frogspawn that Shirley coughed up into her mother after she cut her open with a fork? They’ve hatched. Doctor Allerdyce is a fully-grown incubator and they explode out of her mouth and attack Vincent.
He immediately shuts the door of the hospital room and we await the finale. You ready?
[usr=5] Fortitude is showing on Sky Atlantic. Check their website for screening times, catch-up by heading here and follow our dedicated blog.
