Rothman, an officer ousted from the Seattle PD after an Internal Affairs investigation holds the precinct hostage claiming that he will release vials of smallpox if he isn't reinstated. Only John, escaping capture, can save his friends.

It's getting very difficult to dislike most John Doe episodes; while it may be a little too police procedural, albeit with a twist, for some people, there's no denying the style and high acting standard on the show. This episode is a perfect example: a taut hour directed with a frenetic pace using lots of camera movement that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat right the way through.

While it has, sadly, missed the chance to call an episode 'Doe Hard', that's pretty much what this is, as John crawls through ducts fighting off his claustrophobia, taking out Rothman's men one by one until a fantastic climax when he tricks the terrorist using a mirror. It's not exactly the same; John only takes out a couple of men before Rothman decides to go after him himself, and for some reason at no point does Rothman threaten to kill a hostage if John doesn't come out of hiding, which seems to be missing a favourite terrorist trick. If anything, this is one of the problems with the story; there are enough expendable cops around the place, yet after taking a load of hostages, Rothman never once decides to show he means business by killing one of them. Okay, so it's liable to do his case some favours when his trial comes round, but it does seem a little strange. Indeed, he doesn't even question the way the cops outside the building believe his smallpox threat; it should occur to him here that they've somehow acquired a visual of the station and can see him.

Still, little things aside, this is really good stuff. Peter Wingfield has a slightly odd US accent as Rothman, but for once his cultured Brit tones aren't going to do him any favours; it's certainly good to see a Brit hired to play an American rather than the other way round for once, though. Doe's knowledge of everything has some handy little applications here, and his impressive use of household cleaning agents to knock up bombs, sprays and general weapons is splendidly MacGyver-y, and it's good to see that he's still not using a gun, preferring to use non-lethal but no less effective force. As one of the few TV heroes to do such a thing these days, it's good to see. His growing relationship with Avery is also simmering along nicely, with some fun little moments and a rather unusual friendship being forged between the pair.

Of course, there's a certain element of topicality to the whole thing as well, as biological weapons figure prominently in the news. This threat is nicely drawn out, along with its devastating potential, and it leads to a clever finish when we discover what Rothman's true plan was. It's just a shame he wasn't paying attention to all the newspaper reports about John, or he'd have been a bit more careful about what he said…

****

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