Alfie and Daveboy search for a secret prison which may or may not be there in the Hebrides. Martha receives some troubling intelligence from an anonymous source.

It really is starting to feel with the third series as if the show is making a concerted push to feel more like a comic book adaptation, and this episode is no exception. Alfie and Daveboy are stuck in the wilderness of the Hebrides plodding around looking for a prison which doesn’t officially exist. When they eventually find it, it’s of a nature which stretches even the credulity one has to give to a show like this.

That nature poses a particular problem for Alfie. Who is forced to confront a very painful demon from his past. This is where my other issue starts to arise with the current direction of travel of the show. In past seasons we have examined various elements of Alfie’s internalised torments, the loss of past comrades, the ghosts he has seen (now completely absent). Now, we get a whole new thing which feels important enough it would have come up before now amidst everything else, while at the same time being as painfully generic as it feels could be possible.

Back in London, Martha gets a mysterious phone call and package detailing exactly what John Salt was up to in his secret lair and how the government has sequestered all of it. Understandably confused as to why she wouldn’t have had this information shared with her, she confronts Aziz who remains as infuriatingly enigmatic as ever. I’ve always liked the character of Aziz, as he’s always been difficult to truly pin down but you always used to have a sense he was at least generally a decent man hoping to do the right thing overall. But again, in this season that sense seems to have disappeared somewhat. One could argue it’s the responsibilities of his new office, but it still feels a little jarring.

Back in the Hebrides, and once Alfie has found his target the trouble is just beginning. What feels like a setup for a long and in-depth character piece instead quickly devolves into a horribly straightforward comic book style plot which gets resolved in a deeply unsatisfying way that basically equates to ‘The good guys are just that good’.

Overall, it’s a frustrating episode, offering much promise and failing to deliver on much of it. More than ever, it feels like the show is having its core premises diluted in order to shove it more forcefully in the direction of a Batman origin story. A shame, because I very much enjoyed what it was before.

Verdict: A strong cast and excellent performances can’t quite overcome generic plotting and weird writing choices. 6/10

Greg D. Smith