“When I first came to Earth I thought I would be watching the death… THE COLORS ARE EXPLODING EVERYWHERE! …the death of all these humans after I dropped my device. Things have changed.”

We pick up here where we left off, with Harry tripping out on acid in the streets of New York City. Shortly after this there’s a major revelation which really should have been last week’s cliffhanger. In fact Harry taking a trip just serves to separate him from Asta temporarily and felt a bit unnecessary (plus I’m a bit of a stick in the mud and don’t think such things should be played entirely for weak laughs as they are here). Once we get past this it really picks up, with a certain psychopathic someone glimpsed last week back on the trail. There’s some genuine threat here, and we get to see Harry displaying his real nature again towards the end – it’s good to be reminded he’s potentially lethal to anyone who gets in his way. We’re left with what I’m guessing will be the setup for Season 3, should it get renewed, but it’s anyone’s guess how this will play out.

All of this is of course regularly punctuated and, I have to say it, interrupted by events back home. Ben finally gives a certain someone their marching orders, while his wife confides to D’Arcy about the possibility of a life-changing event. All well and good but if you were in the room with someone watching this episode and popped to the bathroom or somesuch, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d changed the channel upon your return. That’s not to say those distinctly down-to-earth elements shouldn’t have been there this week, but they did often feel awkwardly edited, the passage of time back home not seeming to match that in New York and the constant change in tone is a little disorientating. As always I did enjoy the scenes with Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv. There’s a welcome nod to the source material, as Mike takes possession of a series of crime novels adored by the murdered town doctor. These Rex Monday pulp thrillers are a key part of one of the original comics, with the art department accurately recreating some of the covers for the screen.

With just one more episode to go I’m going to reserve most of my judgement until next week. I will say that as with last season most of the main plot seems to have been left for the last few episodes so there’s plenty going on here.

Verdict: Story-wise this is much more like it, despite my gripes at the pacing. There’s a hint that for the conclusion more of the residents might finally become involved with Harry and Asta’s story arc, which would be welcome. 7/10

Andy Smith