John finds himself the prime suspect in a murder investigation. The thing is, the investigation took place in the Sixties yet the man the police are looking for is identical to John. Is there a link to his past buried here?

This is much better, as there's a very definite reason why John should be involved in the investigation that is underway. There's a certain falseness and desire to find a reason for new viewers to spot the show and take it up each week that comes from forcing John to help the police. Here you get the impression that things are connected, and the episode's all the better for it. My only real concern with this is that different writers will reveal different things about John and these will either be conveniently forgotten or will prove to be irrelevant.

You get the impression that it's the smaller rather than larger things that are important here, as John's visions and blackouts are very much what the viewer should be focusing on, yet what I found far more fascinating was Hayes telling John a fact he wasn't aware of. Okay, so it could just be a little joke, but it could be a demonstration of these abilities not stretching on forever or incredibly vital that this one thing is missing from John's mind.

What's so good about this episode is that it runs through a bunch of possible explanations for John's situation and makes you realize how little we know and that he literally could be anyone. While he himself is convinced he's not an alien or a time traveller, there's no proof that he isn't until all avenues have been exhausted. This episode doesn't entirely disprove either, but instead adds in some new mysteries. Why does an MRI scan affect him so badly? Why does he have slivers of metal in his chest? Was his image picked at random as a scapegoat to be framed, or is there more to it?

All these are interesting thoughts, and the way they blend together with his assistance in the investigation, spotting clues and using his abilities to assist, make a more coherent story than in the past. The facts he has at his disposal are also used very well, especially when he uses knowledge to beat the baddies in a car chase which gives it that extra twist. While in the end you're still not really any the wiser about who John is, the fact that suggestions have been planted makes it feel as though things are going somewhere with the show. This is a blueprint for how this should work, instead of police investigations and the occasional hint of something odd about John that he investigates himself. And more to the point, shouldn't he be doing some actual private eye work? He's not asked Karen, his assistant, to do anything as yet, and as he clearly doesn't need money, why would he take on other's cases? But if that's the case, why keep Karen around?

****

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