“Where’s my brother?”

This was the question Melody asked just before the mid-season break, and indeed where the action centres on the show’s return.

The episode conflict not only comes through finding missing family, it also comes through the tensions within these families – whether their ties are by blood or by life bonds. McCall’s fury over Melody training her daughter Delilah without her prior knowledge or permission has to be set aside as they attempt to find Mel’s brother Edison, who has gone dangerously missing.

Not for the first time in the show, Melody understandably takes much of the lead in the episode investigation, though naturally calls upon the full resources of her team, found family in evidence The hunt for Edison also brings another sibling, sister Ruby into our world for the first time, and with that baggage for Mel over the family responsibilities which Ruby appears to have mostly shouldered. Part of the challenge however, is that her limited involvement is not apparently by choice on Mel’s part, Ruby refusing any aid offered. Despite this, it is clear that Melody’s life in the Company damaged her relationship with the others by way of absence and secrets –McCall’s family is not the only one keeping cards close to their chests.

In her pursuit of Edison, Mel soon learns, with the continually reliable help of her genius hacker husband Harry, that Edison’s employers have involvement with a front for an extremely dangerous Colombian drug cartel. To add complications, Harry’s findings raise some suspicion as to whether Edison knowingly robbed them of a significant amount; the cartel also believe so.

Mel’s all-action presence additionally has the more subtle but equally important effect of showing us that she is perfectly placed for the purpose of teaching Delilah how to protect herself, had we not already come to this conclusion far sooner. The important matter is that McCall admits this herself to Dante, which is why even though it might have felt something of a cheap mechanic at first that they delay the resolution between McCall and Mel, the pause serves a shrewd purpose. It is soon revealed that there is another layer of reasoning to McCall’s anger – her continued fear and frustration that she has dragged her family into the more dangerous side of her life. This episode would seem to resolve that one final pressing secret between McCall’s family.

In addition, it offers space for some pleasant character progression for Aunt Vi (whose full name of Viola is used on an extremely rare occasion here) as she finds herself providing a similar mentorship to Robyn to allow a young, self-doubting artist to believe in herself and truly shine.

As viewers may now have come to expect, the opener from the mid-season finale offers plenty of action and both endings and beginnings of wider story strands for the rest of the season. The expansion of Melody’s family presents fresh story arc opportunities.

Verdict: An entertaining episode which evolves the show in some ways subtle and some more direct.   8/10

Russell A. Smith