When people think of this place, they think of the ice, the bears, the mountains. That's what we want them to see. But you've spent your lives working under the surface, in the darkness. You did it the hard way.
When people think of Fortitude based on the promotional campaign, ice, bears and mountains are probably what they think of too. That's what Sky Atlantic wanted them to see. But, halfway through the series, we're also beneath the surface of Fortitude, and oh, what darkness there lies. Sky Atlantic might not have wanted you to see where this series was going, but the unpredictability is one of its greatest assets.
And where to begin with an episode like this? A flashback where we meet Mr Pettigrew on the night of his death? How about the intense punch-up between Frank Sutter and Sheriff Anderssen? Maybe with hopeless Morgan losing the mammoth's tusks?
Or - OR - we could begin with the bit where Shirley OPENS HER MOTHER'S BELLY WITH A KITCHEN FORK AND VOMITS PLAGUE-ADDLED HELL INTO HER GAPING ABDOMINAL CAVITY.
Yeah, let's begin there, shall we?
This week's Fortitude closed with one of the most startlingly grim sequences seen on British television in quite some time - possibly ever. It was not for the faint-hearted, depicting as it did the graphic matricide that Shirley enacted on Dr Margaret. The camera, which shies away from the action so often during this series, hid nothing during that grisly sequence, and that shocking change of tack was devastatingly effective.
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Had it just been a murder, that would be one thing, but then there's the unspeakable horror of Shirley vomiting up some vile, viscous fluid, specked with ominous black material, into the gaping wound she'd torn into her mother's abdomen. By the time she gently placed her mother's hands upon the wound, to resemble the way a mother might cradle a baby-bump, you could be forgiven for looking away.
But, given the inherently supernatural vibe given off by that sequence, one can't help but wonder if some might look away and not look back.
Up to this point Fortitude has been a distinctly odd and unsettling crime drama, but it's been a crime drama. With this, it's taken a turn towards body-horror and, potentially, the supernatural. We're firmly in X-Files territory now, and people who tuned in expecting a prestige detective story a la Broadchurch may baulk at that weird turn and head for a safer show. If that is the case, it's their loss. Why can't a show be both? Why can't we have a detective/crime story and a supernatural/horror all at once, playing equally well to both genres? It's a brave move, no doubt, but courage is to be respected, and it's made Fortitude a refreshingly, unmistakably different sort of series.
The rest of the episode presented horrors enough, even before the climactic sequence. Markus genially threatening to force-feed his ailing wife with some plastic tubing and a funnel would rank as the most disturbing scene in almost any other episode - of any TV show - and the camera-angle obscuring Shirley and focusing entirely on this milquetoast monster Markus only heightened the horror. These quiet scenes of Markus's abuse are every bit as difficult to watch as the overt and bloody attack that ended the episode, and a lot of that is down to Darren Boyd's career-redefining performance. He is skin-crawlingly good.
Also high on the dark and disturbing scale is Henry's discovery of an undeveloped photograph from the day Pettigrew died, which depicts a severed arm handcuffed to a structure out on the ice. Presumably belonging to Pettigrew, are we to take it that he was left out there as a tasty treat for the local polar bear population? And who would do such a thing, and why?
In the opening flashback we meet Pettigrew for the first time, and his fight with recently outed philanderer Eric places the officer firmly as the prime suspect. But, as with everything bad that has happened, Sheriff Anderssen wasn't far away from the scene of that crime either…
Eric's extra-marital affairs are a real sucker-punch for Hildy, who is stunned by the bombshell that Trish vindictively - if understandably - drops on her. It's perhaps the first time we've seen real vulnerability from Fortitude's erstwhile Governer, and her dismay is nicely contrasted with the jubilation of the party in the local bar.
Elsewhere, Morten spends much of the episode walking across the ice in his fetching red jacket, seeking out Yuri, who withholds plenty, but does concede a potentially vital piece of ballistics evidence. Morgan, meanwhile, continues to be the most hapless man on the island, as he loses the mammoth's tusks and has to face the prospect of returning to Fortitude to face whatever music he must.
So, speculation corner: Liam first stumbles across the mammoth, and is exposed to some long-dormant pathogen that's unearthed along with it, which puts him in some sort of trance and causes him to attack Stoddart, who just happened to be there. The pathogen spreads itself by transferring itself to the warm body of another - it needs to incubate itself within the torso of a living human. This would explain Shirley's vomiting, and why both victims were torn open. But where Stoddart clearly didn't survive his encounter, Dr Margaret was - awfully - still alive as these horrors were enacted on her. What happens next if she lives? If it wants to spread, an infirm host isn't much use. There are plenty of terrifying possibilities - we'll have to wait and see.
At the party at the bar, Anderssen continues his heartfelt speech about the difficult days they've all had, and - amusingly, for a Game of Thrones performer - states that "summer is coming", and that things are on the up. "We're a few hundred people gripping to a rock in the Arctic Ocean. We're alone. We need each other," he says. Based on what we see of Shirley at the episode's end, and the potential quarantine ramifications of a deadly disease breaking out, he has no idea just how alone they may be about to become…
