ViCAP investigates what appears to be the suicide of a medical student, and Krendler secretly collects a DNA sample from the man he suspects attacked Clarice at Woodhaven.

A transitional episode that serves as set-up for the rest of the season, it makes this instalment far less intriguing or thrilling than any of the first seven hours. Clarice is with her new therapist, who believes that Starling hasn’t got over the  trauma of Buffalo Bill and that she’s being re-traumatised every day on the job.

Mapp is still buzzing from cracking a decades-old cold case with Starling, but her boss Anthony Herman sees her as trying to over-achieve and does not share her enthusiasm. Inevitably, the disillusioned agent finds herself drawn towards the Black Coalition movement.

Clarice and Esquivel are investigating the apparent suicide of a girl who was involved with Heflin – they can’t reconcile why she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring and why she would kill herself. Krendler is also moving in on Heflin, who may have him in a vice, but this doesn’t stop a clandestine testing of his DNA.

Verdict: Everything tonight feels like it’s vital to the final act of this season, and hopefully with this groundwork laid, we can move on to the drama and tension that have been the strengths this year. 7/10

Nick Joy