Dr 909, the hacker behind the Skinner ‘disguise’ program is working with an investor called Sam Stephenson. A man who just so happened to sell all his Hapna stock before Skinner’s announcement…

With the exception of one deeply weird beat, this is the episode where the show finds its feet and starts sprinting. The investigation lights up, every team member is on deck and the entire second half is a fantastic, fluid action sequence that gives everyone something to do and moves the plot along. It also cements the show’s most interesting format choice: the ‘Previously’ is narrated by a different character each week and frames the Hapna situation through their own experiences. Eleina is up this week and through her we find out that Hapna doesn’t just kill pain, it’s a mood stabilizer and prevents sadness altogether. It’s a conceit that’s as attractive as it is unsettling and like each previous episode, gives us a different view on the world. Interestingly, it seems to be leading us to the same conclusion that Skinner has come to: that this isn’t sustainable.

That ties into this episode’s atmosphere of increasingly frantic hedonism. The team infiltrate Stephenson’s night club, setting Chris and Leland up as honey traps to catch the attention of Stephenson. And yes, that means a major part of this episode is a teenage boy being dressed as a girl in the hopes of attracting the attention of one of their marks. Leland and the others are acutely aware of what they’re doing, and the dangers, but it’s still initially played for laughs. That being said, the comedy falls away as it’s revealed that Stephenson and his house guest are serial abusers. These are very, very bad people and this weirdly light-hearted approach throws that into stark, unblinking relief. Like I say, weird, but not unsuccessful.

The rest of the episode is uniformly excellent. The mechanics of getting into the club are nicely handled and play to Doug, Axel and Chris’ strengths. Chris and Axel especially are a really fun double act and there’s a great beat here where they get tangled up in each other, Axel points and Chris shoots. The overall sequence is great too, escalating into a helicopter chase with Axel on the skids, the bad guys in the chopper and Doug and Leland following in a car with a drone on standby. Everyone gets a moment, often more than one, and Axel’s daredevil antics only work because of Leland’s drone piloting. Teamwork saves the day!

The episode ends strongly too, and brings the team’s cohesion, the plot and the ticking time bomb of Hapna all into land at once. They get another lead, as, in a lab nearby, the first of a string of lab monkeys suddenly dies as Hapna begins to change. 24 days left…

Verdict: Weird beat aside this is the best episode so far. Massive, funny, action packed and crammed full of advancement for plot and character. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart