Cal’s disappearance forces a bit of point blank honesty between Grace and Ben, as they and Michaela make every effort to find him. Michaela questions Autumn about her working with the General and just how much she knows about or is involved in Cal’s vanishing. Jared continues to be frustrated at Michaela’s inconsistent insistence on maintaining distance between them.

So, last week’s episode ended with Cal disappeared, his curtains billowing in the breeze of his open bedroom window, and Grace panicking more than a little bit. This week’s instalment picks up right where we left off, as Ben races home to find that Grace has (of course) called the police who are swarming everywhere, much to his concern because of his fears about how insidious the influence of the Major and her minions is within law-enforcement.

But how to explain to your wife that calling the police when your young son undergoing cancer treatment goes missing is a bad idea? Ben’s tried the honesty route before, and Grace thought he was crazy, to say nothing of his and Michaela’s fears of what happens to people with whom they share their secret. Ben only really has one option, and what’s perhaps most surprising (and a little inconsistent) is Grace’s reaction. How much of that inconsistency you’re prepared to write off as simple human nature in a crisis is probably a fair indicator of how on board you are with the show to this point, and if you’re reading this then, like me, you’re probably going to give the show a pass.

Michaela also worked out last time around that Autumn wasn’t necessarily being level with everyone, and, using the excuse of the many outstanding warrants on the woman and the assistance of Jared, pulls her in for some serious questioning. I mentioned last time out that the Autumn character seemed to be a good person but there was always that doubt – this week we get some more clarity on that in ways that aren’t… entirely satisfying for me. The page she ripped out of Cal’s sketchbook is potentially key, and Michaela wants it, but Autumn has a powerfully compelling reason not to give it up, and the Major is always there in the background ready to pull whatever string she needs to in her spider’s web of contacts to frustrate our protagonists and their intentions.

And as for poor Jared – there he is one minute being dragged into the Stone family business to risk his career helping them out in the latest stage of an unfolding drama he still doesn’t fully understand, and the next being given the cold shoulder and told to sit on the bench. I worried that once he and Michaela (inevitably) fell into bed there’d be some sort of cliched reunion and Lourdes would fade into the background. Instead, it seems entirely possible that dalliance was cathartic in exactly the reverse way for Michaela, who seems more able to distance herself from her feelings for Jared (at least for the moment). Jared on the other hand seems to be struggling a little more, and with the treatment of the relationships between characters so far by the writers, I’m intrigued to see where this one ends up.

The spooky factor is definitely being ramped up here though. Last week’s abrupt disappearance of Daly and Fiona in that fireball (or was it?) was left open enough as to what might ultimately have happened to them. This week, there’s evidence that maybe Flight 828 (and Daly’s suicide flight) aren’t the only possible examples of time getting a little elastic.

Verdict: Starting to find its genre stride now, some of this is a little cliched in execution, but you’ll probably forgive it because of the heart and effort it puts into its characters and the performances of the cast. At this rate, I sense more than one season in this narrative. 8/10

Greg D. Smith