It’s been 81 years since young Bobby Smallwood went missing in the woods around Patience, never to be found. So why does his now elderly sister insist the dishevelled lad wandering around the park is her long-lost brother?

Bit of a spoiler there but it’s the crux of the episode, at least as far as plot goes. Clever Sahar works out what’s going on immediately, and Max is able to confirm her theory. Nice to see these two back in action after being missing last week.

Other than that this episode is much more a character piece, from series producer Christian Taylor (Six Feet Under / Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Asta has a new-found spring in her step, and it’s only after she’s confronted by her daughter for not showing up for her birthday that she realizes Harry’s been up to his mind-wipe tricks again. Harry’s intentions were mostly pure, he wanted his friend to be happy, plus he found sad Asta annoying and snot-encrusted, but he’s going to have to learn that humans need the bad emotions too. There’s a tender little scene near the end where he seems to begin to accept that, although it has to be said there have been no end of learning moments for Harry in this show that seem to have the reset button pressed the following week. Hopefully this might be an exception.

The previously lost-at-sea Darcy gives herself a long hard look as her relationship with her new beau develops. Settling down doesn’t seem to be her style but it looks like this rather serious-minded fellow could be a keeper; they seem like chalk and cheese but that can work. Meanwhile the Hawthornes, in the midst of a sticky patch in their marriage, have a conversation they really should have had by now, Ben finally admitting how scared he is of Kate. It’s quite cute if a little “rom-com”, but then Warren Zevon’s Don’t Let Us Get Sick gently starts playing and I’m flooded with emotions, the song continuing as we switch back to Darcy growing up a little. I’ve mentioned this before but I don’t think any TV show has ever raided my record collection as heavily as this one. Good work whoever picks ’em, keep it up.

Of course there’s still a murder-mystery going on and progress is made this week. Much to Deputy Liv’s frustration, Mike and Jessup detective Lena seem to be hitting it off splendidly, and there may even be a hint of sexy times ahead for these two. It took forever for Liv to start being treated as Mike’s more-or-less equal but it looks like she’s back to square one.

Notably absent are Linda Hamilton’s General McCallister and Alex Barima’s Lt Logan, who last week we discovered survived the sniper shot intended to silence him. Quite what these two are up to now remains to be seen.

Verdict: Some meaningful character development for some of the residents this week, plus plenty of the show’s trademark humour as usual. While I’m not always keen on the less plot-driven episodes this one works well to re-establish their emotional spaces after the summer break.  7/10

Andy Smith