Nathan and Kenzie investigate some odd events at a very odd lunar prison…

The second phase of this arc kicks off with everyone’s favourite former (ish) cop hot on the trail of his daughter. Trevor Cooper is a delight here and thrives with the extra attention given to Devis. He’s still the slightly ethically challenged big lad we’ve come to know and love but he’s also a dad now, and there’s a purity and focus to him that’s really good fun to listen to. He is also, in fairness, Colin Devis and therefore the living embodiment of ‘make it up as we go’. Cooper and Philip Olivier are immense fun this episode, the ultimate mismatched cop and (sort of) ex-cop duo stumbling up towards justice.

The other officers are somewhat inevitably out of the spotlight this episode but they all still get some fun things to do. Nathan and Kenzie are a great double act in particular, the living embodiments of grumpy competency and absolutely no tolerance for nonsense whatsoever.

The supporting cast give them plenty to play with. Caroline Loncq is excellent pulling triple duty as businesswoman Susan Jensen, hacker Juno Berg and Juno’s digital sim. The two roles are poles apart, Juno a quietly driven Nordic hacker and Susan an increasingly ethically challenged major domo. Having the same performer on both sides of an ethical divide is a really smart play and Helen Goldwyn, always excellent, directs with particular intelligence and wit here. Meanwhile Alan McKenna positively oozes synthetic sincerity as Emerson Fleet, the namaste-throwing head of the ‘rehabilitation camp’ everyone’s investigations lead to.

That prison camp, all polite decor and human rights abuses, is the stage for the ISPF to work through their issues on. Cooper and David Calder get a searing final scene here which makes Devis’ deep ethics painfully clear and hands Nathan a chance to redeem a mistake that’s haunted him for years. It’s a lovely beat, sweet and kind and grumpy as only these hard-bitten, exhausted astronaut detectives can be. James Swallow’s script, exceptionally good as it is, really sings in these scenes and I’d love to see him write more in this world.

Verdict: Confident, character-facing, ambitious and often very funny. This is the best possible start Blood Moon 2 could have had. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart

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