Desperate to clear their names and without much in the way of physical evidence, Turner, Duela, Cullen and Harper head back to the one place they shouldn’t in search of answers, together with Carrie’s assistance.

Returning to the scene of a crime is seldom a good idea, especially when that crime has made you and your associates the most wanted criminals in a city not exactly short of miscreants. But when the hand behind events belongs to the most secretive, far-reaching criminal organisation in the city, desperate measures are in order. With a watch bearing the symbol of the Court of Owls being found on Bruce’s body, the gang determine to seek answers in the private journals of Batman. One problem – those journals are locked in Bruce Wayne’s private office at the top of Wayne Tower.

Though the scheme Turner and co hatch to get in there relies on a certain amount of narrative hand-waving (including the stealing of a Wayne Security car off-screen, which we are left to imagine), it’s a satisfying enough ride for two reasons. First, it’s just well-shot, action packed viewing. Second, the character work really pops. Duela’s immediate desire to ditch Turner and Carrie and breeze out of town may not be terribly surprising, but Cullen and Harper’s own responses are. What’s more, it’s clear as time goes on that Carrie has secrets of her own, and I look forward to seeing where that goes.

Meanwhile, Harvey Dent is becoming increasingly convinced of Turner’s guilt, not helped when Detective Ford and several of his team are theatrically and brutally revealed to have been murdered. The specific manner of their deaths and the only thing he and his officers are aware of Tyler and his associates having taken from Wayne Tower combine to see him reaching the wrong conclusions albeit for understandable reasons.

Stephanie, having assumed she had evaded attention, is rapidly disabused of this notion when called in for questioning by Dent. Having stonewalled, confident that she’s been careful enough that the GCPD have nothing concrete on her, she’s disappointed to see Brody turn up at the station, though she may well be surprised as to exactly why.

With the Talon running around and providing more than an occasional fright for our heroes, it’s all escalating very rapidly, and some scenes towards the end assure us of just how wide the reach of the Court is, and just how massive the task before Turner and his allies of clearing their names will be.

Verdict: Slightly hackneyed plotting is more than shored up by superb character work and writing. 8/10

Greg D. Smith