Guy signs on and goes undercover, in London.

On paper this episode sounds great. We get Guy locking in to his new role with the Talamasca, making his peace (or starting to) with his past and starting in on the investigation. We also get the London police investigating Soledad’s death, spend some time with Jasper (William Fichtner) and get some idea of just how much trouble Guy’s in.

The reality is this episode asks a lot of you and even more of UK viewers. The London we see here is both convincingly London and weirdly empty and outdated. Guy’s cover is hawking for business on the door of a strip club and we spend a remarkable amount of time watching him fail to convince people to come in. Possibly because the club looks like it fell off the 1970s. I’m not saying those places don’t still exist, they do. But for a series which is part of a universe so remarkably sex forward and progressive in some ways, this is a dismal choice in every sense. London feels grubby, small, pokey. Like a sound stage.

That sense of artifice is further emphasized by how much of the episode is set up for something else. Amelia Clarkson’s Kevis is introduced in a whirlwind of magical pixie girl mania and then offhandedly killed. Along the way she heavily implies she knows who Guy is, introduces him to another woman who tells him he’s in trouble, sleeps with him then leaves. It feels less rushed as flat out speed run and it’s a waste of Clarkson’s easy charisma and presence. It also plays with so little urgency that it’s hard to really connect, despite how much Guy is understandably traumatised.

That’s this episode to a T. Solid to good performances, especially from Will Brown as Soledad’s friend Checkers, some fun ideas and no manner of pacing whatsoever.

Verdict: Hopefully it’ll improve because right now this isn’t so much an intoxicating dive into a new part of this universe as it is a leisurely stroll down some unconvincingly dark alleys. 6/10

Alasdair Stuart