Katie Young gets the cutlery drawer in order and reviews Fortitude episode 6…
The other week, I accused Fortitude of refusing to nail its generic colours to the mast. Well, if there were any doubt that something supernatural is occurring in the arctic town, I think Shirley’s evisceration of her unfortunate mother with a fork, and spewing of weird mammoth goo into her stomach cavity probably put paid to it. Oh, Shirley. A fork? That’s the least suitable slicing implement of all the cutlery!
But let’s rewind for a second. The sense of threat now seems to come from two very separate camps – the human and the monstrous. Many of Fortitude’s inhabitants seem to be scared of Yuri, the Russian, who believes Eric is responsible for Pettigrew’s death. Hildur is intimidated by Margaret Allerdyce’s intention to inform the mainland about Dan’s misconduct. Hildur, in turn, holds Henry Tyson’s fate in her fickle hand as his imminent death means banishment. Relationships are under attack from infidelity and jealousy. Ronnie is robbed by a boatman he pays to take him and his daughter to safety. And though it’s not shown, it’s a pretty good bet that sickly Shirley is being force fed like a foie gras goose by the despicable Markus.
Shirley’s apparent possession and murderous trance suggests that little Liam Sutter was single-handedly responsible for Charlie Stoddart’s death, and Henry and Tavrani’s blood magic may summon yet more trouble to the beleaguered town. Ronnie and Carrie have been carrying a mammoth tusk around which does not bode well for them, and Jason has been exposed to the carcass more than most. Natalie and Vincent have been testing the tooth so they too may find themselves with prehistoric fever in the near future.
It’s interesting that, while the deaths seem to be linked to the mammoth remains, the victims have so far been people who somehow put Governor Odegard’s precious ice hotel plan in jeopardy. Morton is still fervently pursuing the truth about Pettigrew, but he seems to be in over his head at this point. We got to see the living Pettrigrew this week, thanks to a Christmas party flashback, and he seemed a bit of tit. It’s not hard to see why the suspect pool is so large. Henry’s blood donation for the shamanic ritual triggered a memory, and he developed a photo from the scene of Pettigrew’s death – a rather macabre picture of the dead man’s severed arm, handcuffed to a metal rail. It seems Pettigrew was deliberately left as bear bait, but by whom? Dan? Yuri? Elena? Eric? Henry? Someone else entirely? The document stolen by Yuri suggests Pettigrew may have discovered the mammoth before Liam and Carrie stumbled upon it, so maybe he was patient zero, exiled for the safety of the other residents. Or maybe he was about to scupper the glacier hotel construction.
Trish seems set to escape the icy clutches of Fortitude, but she made sure to tell Hildur she’d been keeping her husband warm for her as a parting shot. Dan also confronted Henry with evidence that the photographer’s accusatory phone call brought Morton from London. And Vincent made a brief appearance this week (yay), whipping the ladies of Fortitude into a Soft Cell-fuelled frenzy down at the bar by sheer dint of being fresh meat. To be honest, nothing in this episode disturbed me as much as Petra’s jerky dancing. What the ever-loving fud was that?
While I’m still finding the stilted dialogue and some of the performances jarring, this episode certainly packed a lot in. It was pacy and gross and bizarre, and all the better for it. Now, I’m off to hide all the forks…
Katie Young 