Captain Crozier is drowning in booze, Fitzsimons thinks his crew’s standards are slipping, and the mysterious beast makes a very visible appearance.

Crozier (Jared Harris) is an awful captain, though admittedly he never actually set out to be a leader. The desperate situation that the crews of the Terror and Erebus find themselves in are good enough reason to drive  anyone to booze, and Crozier is so alcohol-dependent that he’s sending others to seek out Fitzsimon’s hidden whiskey stash.

Fitzsimon has had enough of Lady Silence on his ship and sent her back to the Terror, the place where she was recently attacked. An interview with Crozier leads to the Inuit’s description of the beast as a Tuunbaq – spirit dressed like an animal – but she refuses to offer any assistance on how to kill it. In many ways this is Blanky’s (Ian Hart) episode, playing a pivotal role in protecting Silence, but also in luring the beast up the main mast.

The Tuunbaq, when we see it, is an anthropomorphised polar were-bear, a well-realised creature that conveys the scale and ferocity that we’ve witnessed so far. This is the time for a full reveal, and one wonders whether the creature will continue to be front of screen or be allowed to retreat to the shadows in subsequent episodes.

This is a visceral episode, with Blanky’s leg shredding (leading to amputation with a creaky saw) and frostbitten toes dropping off. By the end of the hour, Crozier has undergone a significant transformation, now realising he must face his responsibilities and warning his senior officers that he needs to go cold turkey.

Verdict: We’re now at the halfway point, and with the monster revealed, it’s time to take this atmospheric drama’s narrative forward, lest it becomes ‘misery of the week in ice’. 7/10

Nick Joy