Spoilers

One quartet tries to work out where they are and how to get home; another looks for answers…

There’s a definite shift in tone as we hit the back half of the first season of Silverpoint, as a certain amount of answers start to be provided. Fisher shows his true loyalties, there’s mixed messaging coming from the other adults, we learn more about the pasts of many of our protagonists… and there’s the usual tips of the hat to prior tales (notably in Detour, Back to the Future).

What has impressed me throughout this series is the way in which it’s an ensemble show but the time is taken to focus on each of the core characters (even if we have to sort of forget some of what we learned in episodes 6 and 7 given that we now know that the version of the camp in that wasn’t real, but presumably mostly drawn from Bea’s subconscious), and we get some lovely moments with each in these episodes. Friendships ebb and flow and vulnerabilities are revealed, but it never feels as if the storytelling pace is lessened to cater for these scenes.

The effects work continues to impress as well – the “old faded colour print” nature of the area outside the circle in which the four are caught is a nifty visual – and I’m hoping that there’s a chance to listen to Jessica Dannheisser’s score separately.

Verdict: Things are ratcheting up – but huge questions remain… 8/10

Paul Simpson