After the spectacularly grim events of last week's episode, this week sees a bit of a comedown, in an episode that's less intense, but no less interesting.
We pick up directly in the aftermath of the horror-show that concluded last week, with Shirley stumbling out into the snow after the savage and aggressively disgusting attack on her mother Doctor Margaret. It's not long before Markus has alerted the local police, and Shirley is found dead in the supermarket she works in.
Despite the grisly nature of her actions, it appears that she's died of something as simple as a heart attack, although we know, given Markus' proclivities, that it's not quite so innocent as all that.
With news of the attack on Dr. Margaret and Shirley's death spreading through the town, the locals are – understandably – beginning to fear for their own safety, and one group, led by Ciaran Donnelly, are particularly riled up. If they're not quite an angry mob, they're not far off, and either way, they're definitely angry.
Blaming outsiders seems to be a theme for the episode, with the town's discontentment manifesting in aggression towards anybody new to the island, including the nearby Russian contingent. It takes the combined efforts of Sheriff Anderson and Governor Odegard to calm things down at a town meeting – even if it takes a lie to do it.
Hildur has had her own reason for animosity towards the outside world, as she's denied any assistance in dealing with the spate of crimes by the mainland. "Two attacks may seem like a lot on Fortitude…" he tells her, coldly, but it's not enough to justify sending valuable resources to the island – especially not when Fortitude is a low-income town, and thus, in the way of the world, an unimportant one.
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This is perhaps the first time Fortitude has gotten political, and it gives much greater emphasis to the importance of the proposed ice hotel.
It's a bad week for Hildy in general, albeit a strong one for Sofie Gråbøl, as she deals with the emotional fallout of discovering that her husband has been unfaithful. "I'm not scared, now. Of anything. So at least you've achieved that," she tells him, having made up her mind to leave him. Strong words, but she sure looks plenty scared to us…
And why shouldn't she look scared? This is an episode that, while featuring nothing as overt as last week's hellish nightmare, continues to ramp up the horror aesthetic. The opening shots feature bloody handprints left upon the walls; the music continues to do its best to unsettle at every opportunity, while every scene set in Ronnie Morgan's home is a little horror/slasher movie of its own.
The sequence with Morgan returning home to find his projector mysteriously on, while a figure flits menacingly through the shadows, is almost Hitchcockian in presentation. It's all great work by Hettie Macdonald, who is directing this middle block of episodes.
Elsewhere, the fantastic war between Morten and Anderson continues to simmer brilliantly, as it switches from open antagonism to something more understated, but no less entertaining. Having to work with each other, they've perhaps come to a grudging respect for one another's detective skills, even as their suspicions remain.
They will work together, but they sure as hell won't ever like each other, and watching them continue to dance around each other with crocodile-smiles is a joy to behold.
Richard Dormer and Stanley Tucci work excellently together, and they run rings around creepy Markus when interviewing him about the attack.
Markus continues to be immensely uncomfortable to watch, even when he's merely sitting in a police cell - Darren Boyd conveys so much about this monster through mere body language alone.
And in the midst of the interrogation, just when you think that perhaps Markus is going to break, show some emotion – maybe even gain some semblance of sympathy from us, so good is Darren Boyd – he brings us back to reality and admits that "all I feel like doing is laughing". Truly, Markus Huseklepp might be one of television's greatest monsters.
"Whatever's happening to us, Shirley was a victim. There's something else happening. Something worse," says Elena, and she doesn't know the half of it. This episode drops further hints about something being amiss with the local wildlife, and we witness the dogs going ballistic when Morgan comes near.
Are we to take that to mean that he was infected with whatever's causing these terrible atrocities? For that matter – did we ever clear up what that huge bloodstain was outside his tent a few weeks back? So many mysteries…
The episode ends on a more obvious cliff-hanger than Fortitude usually bothers with, as Frank – never the most rational of men – takes Markus hostage, being convinced that he's responsible for what happened to Margaret, and by extension, to Liam and Stoddart. Really, he's just looking for an excuse to dodge responsibility for his own part in the chaos, but whatever his reasons, taking Markus hostage is surely a mistake.
Often with a mystery series like this, the set-up will be intriguing, as the different strands are teased and people speculate on what might happen next.
Then there's the climax, in which the curtain is pulled back, answers are given and everything comes to a head. Often it's the middle section where shows sag under the weight of expectation and having to tease their mysteries out until the inevitable end.
It's to Simon Donald's credit that his show has managed to avoid this mid-series slump entirely. Fortitude has solved many of the mysteries of the early going, and replaced them with new and horrifyingly unexpected ones.
Relationships have deepened, some have fallen apart, and through it all, the series has changed irrevocably whilst still remaining absolutely true to itself. Five episodes left after this, and who knows what else we might have in store?
