“Let’s settle this like real men”
© 2015 Sky/Tiger Aspect Productions
With all the grim goings-on in previous weeks, it would be foolhardy to expect even a glimmer of hope in the finale, and doom and gloom was certainly the order of the episode for the tragic residents of Fortitude.
We open where we left off last week with Vincent trapped with the killer wasps. When Dan arrives on the scene there’s only one solution: they must be blown to smithereens using gas and hydrogen. Unfortunately that also means Vincent… well you would think. If anyone gets that silver lining it’s Vincent, who miraculously comes out of the explosion alive – burned and badly stung but reassured by Natalie that the parasitic wasps need a 48 hour incubation period, so there’s hope he doesn’t have any larvae eggs in him. She explains to Vincent and Markus, that the wasps are the prehistoric variant of the Ichneumonidae, that Darwin claimed was proof that a benevolent god doesn’t exist. Always one with a dour expression Markus uses the news as a way to vent his bitterness about Shirley’s autopsy and his beating from Frank “We always seek excuses for our baser selves. There are always victims of circumstance,” he laments.
There’s a few confusing elements I may have missed, mainly to do with Elena and Carrie. Elena has been infected and is experiencing hallucinations (I don’t remember the others exhibiting this symptom?), but is lucid enough to handcuff herself to the bed to try and protect Carrie. I’m assuming her infection has come from Ronnie’s body still undiscovered but as far as I’m aware she was never in contact with him since he returned. And what’s with smearing her mouth with jam? Also, is Carrie immune to the parasites? Carrie was present when Liam got infected, was also in the house with Elena and her dad’s body as well as with her father previously when he was trying to escape with the mammoth tusk. Sadly, for Dan, Elena and Carrie her luck ran out when she freed Elena from her cuffs who then hit her over the head and stabbed her in the stomach forcing Dan to make the agonising decision to shoot the person he cares the most about before she could infect Carrie.
There were some light relief moments too with Eric and Yuri fighting it out on the ice, in a scene befitting a slapstick movie, with Yuri eventually falling into the depths of the ice. Eric meanwhile returns the ice drill to win over Hildur as they attempt their very own version of Gone With The Wind – the arctic version. Hildur’s obviously not one for flowers and chocolates, but an ice drill… that’s another matter.
As one relationship gets back on track, Frank and Jules are going their separate ways, with Jules telling Liam they will return to England and Frank can stay in Fortitude and visit like he used to when he was a soldier. We’re never really told what’s going to happen to Liam as the only conscious survivor of the infection. He’s still not talking or himself and did the tupilaq work? Who knows…
Fortitude has thrown up a lot of questions and mostly they are answered in the finale. The cause of the deaths along with its host, the mammoth was discovered after Jason told Hildur where to find it and then shot himself. Anything that could be infected was burned, including the house with Ronnie. However, there is a level of ambiguity remaining as we never fully discover the outcome of Natalie’s estimations. We’re left not knowing if Vincent, and an unconscious Elena make a full recovery. We don’t even get to know if Carrie survived or how she is; poor girl never did get an answer about her dad. Yuri, is left with his ‘treasures’ stranded under the ice. I think Yuri is thinking he’s been left on the wrong side of a ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ scenario. The one thing we can definitely rely on is Fortitude will be returning for a second series. What cast involved and story is yet to be revealed, but I have no doubts it will be just as bonkers as the first.
Other questions and observations...
- What was the pig in the hyperbolic chamber all about?
- The injury & fatality rate has risen but who’s treating them now Dr Allerdyce has died? Natalie is a scientist not a doctor.
- After all the talk about “more will come” last week, no-one came to replace DCI Morton.
- The tusk is still out there on the way to the mainland, is it too late to contain it?
- Plus there’s a gaping hole now where Yuri drilled, we could see wasps were flying around down there so surely they can fly up?
