Kory rescues Rachel. Dick realizes he doesn’t have to rescue Rachel from Kory. The world’s grumpiest team up ensues. Oh and Dove is horribly injured and in hospital.

This is the best episode of the show by a mile. It’s also ponderous, over long and endlessly grim but hey at least the only female character murdered this week is confirmation that Dick’s DPD partner was actually killed last week. Still, just in case anyone is disappointed the show flirts pretty heavily with the Nuclear Family’s female members getting offed so there’s that.

This is the first time the show’s drawn breath. It desperately needs to and the least well served cast members are helped immensely by it. Anna Diop is allowed to have more than one facial expression! Rachel gets some serious backstory! Dick gets a string of flashbacks that while telling us precisely nothing anyone even a little familiar with these characters doesn’t already know, at least gives him some welcome context. Oh he also sits by Dove’s bedside looking a bit sad for a few seconds. But hey, can’t have everything. Including whether Hawk is alive it seems.

I joke because by and large the show doesn’t. Until this week in fact when we get dialogue that isn’t snarled and doesn’t just service the story. It’s still ragged, but it’s there. And like I say, no lady murder! Cautious yay! Reset the clock to zero. That being said the gear change here is so drastic it does hurt the show. This episode trudges and what it lacks in needless brutality it adds in exposition.

Verdict: Still, after the, frankly, astoundingly terrible opening pair of episodes that’s as close to a good start as the show can hope for. Next week, Doom Patrol! Fingers crossed! 5/10

Alasdair Stuart