Seven Days: Tracker

Frank is captured, interrogated using a truth serum and reveals the secrets of Project Backstep. Implanted with a tracking device, he is returned to the base by three Chechnyans on a mission of vengeance.

I'm rather torn about this episode. At the start it looked like it was shaping up to be rather good, as Frank is captured and it seems Donovan will be making that long-awaited backstep. Sadly it wasn't to be, with Frank returning in the nick of time. On the one hand it's a shame that the producers of the show seem unwilling to take this kind of risk, but on the other it does lead to an impressive explosion just as Frank leaves. The biggest surprise for me, though, is that Frank had a disastrous mission last time he left drunk, so why are the team willing to send him off again, this time full of drugs?

The more personal tack taken here makes something of a change, but the plans of the Chechnyans aren't immensely well-considered: capture Frank, make him pay, er... that's it. Their vengeance ploy eventually subsides in favour of bringing someone back to life, but this leads to a rather poor and quick ending, in which Frank does the only thing he can with someone who knows of Backstep's existence: kills him.

The other main problem lies in the second backstep, though. Despite a depleted fuel source, two people in the sphere and Frank having trouble flying, somehow the sphere manages a flawless journey for the first time, landing where it started in, by all accounts, the correct timeframe. It's all rather odd and makes the ending seem far too simplistic. Also, while a motive of love for going back in time is admirable, it's not very well explored, and in the end, although there are some interesting ideas here, they don't really get used and they certainly don't stretch the format.

**

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