Spoilers

The hard pressed members of the ISPF find themselves pulling on threads in different places that all lead back to the same place; the Collective.

Alison Winter’s ‘Old Flame, New Fire’ sets things rolling at a sprint and gives Phillip Olivier a very welcome turn in the spotlight. Paul’s a deeply likable and intensely private character and both those qualities are tested to the limit by the story here. Reunited with an old suspect/friend/informant Anton (Martin Mednikarov), a lot of the episode is a Before Sunrise-style rolling meet cute that’s one part rom-com and one part two intensely careful men forced to be anything but careful. Mednikarov and Olivier are so good you spend a good chunk of time subconsciously remembering Anton’s previous appearance on the show.

One that never happened.

This is impressive, tightly plotted stuff and Winter does a great job of flashing between the intense A plot, Nathan and Kenzy’s complex investigation on the moon and Devis having a really lovely time at the spa on his not-quite forced downtime. It feels like what it is: a story that spreads across multiple worlds and never loses sight of the human cost at the centre of it all even as the ending goes gloriously full-on action movie. Even then, Winter hides the final blow and the episode ends with Paul suffering a terrible loss as a result of the job. Winter is so good at all of this, balancing witty sparkling dialogue with some very dark moments.

‘Grandma’s Footsteps’ by Katharine Armitage picks up with Paul on compassionate leave and Nathan’s team overworked as a result. The Collective, hinted at back in the previous set, have blood on their hands and that leads Kenzy to work every angle. Armitage puts Linda Newton front and centre and it pays off just as much as the previous script’s focus on Olivier. Kenzy’s gradual journey from burnout to being one of the most principled and compassionate officers on the force has unfolded over the entire run of the series and Newton shows us every step of that and how hard Kenzy constantly has to fight to not turn back to the darker elements of her previous jobs.

Here she’s paired with old friend Anya Selby, and Newton and Laura Rollins as the newcomer have instant chemistry. Kenzy’s a very good detective and her discovery of Alice Okoro (Lynsey Murrell), introduced last time around, and her connection to the Collective leads Kenzy to use her past to help her future. Anya’s a great character, Alice is a great character and with Kenzy the three of them give Armitage an opportunity to explore three different female perspectives on some institutionally male worlds. The ending is especially great with Alice and Kenzy going toe to toe and being surprised at just how much they have in common. There’s also a great cliff-hanger.

Wilf Scolding as Russell Wolfe also does great work here as a vicious, driven and relentlessly plausible criminal whose key to the whole investigation and to the price that Kenzy too pays. A B plot here also gives Devis some surprising and really well handled stuff to do, as one of his various low impact addictions becomes vital to the case. Trevor Cooper and David Calder, like the rest of the cast, are always great but this beat between two detectives, and two friends, is a real highlight.

‘Escape and Evasion’ by Andrew Smith draws every thread together and subtly reinforces just how tough this case is. Alice is under arrest for murder despite Kenzy’s protests and she and Wolfe are about to be transported to Earth for trial. Or at least that’s the plan…

Smith closes the arc out with a straight up action movie and it’s glorious. No one feels safe as the trap closes and Smith gives every character a component of both problem and solution. Devis is in the right place at the right time for the wrong reasons, Nathan’s intransigence both makes matters worse and saves the day, and Kenzy, Paul and Alice all do vital work too. This one’s a team effort and it needs to be because the stakes and scale are both very high. It also closes with a lovely moment that caps the season off and also sets up future stories.

Verdict: Directed with Helen Goldwyn’s usual wit and subtlety this is a great addition to the show and one of the biggest cases yet which sets up a fascinating change for the future even as it closes (at least for now) the door on the Collective. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

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