John helps with the investigation of a woman who is murdered and her body cut in half, and meets a psychiatrist who may be able to help him unlock his memories of who he is.

There's something oddly haphazard about this story. After the terrific shock value of half a woman at the start of the episode, the story meanders horribly, with mention of twins leading to the discovery that one of a pair may be doing the murders. Characters aren't introduced very well, and the revelations of who has done what to whom and why become garbled towards the end, as if there's little time left to provide some proper structure.

Meanwhile, one sub-plot sees John being set up on dates with various women, where he is unable to connect the second any of them asks him about his background, his life, his family, all the personal information vital to properly interact in society. It's quite sweet and rather eye-opening to see just how integral a few simple facts are to our lives, but it sits oddly alongside a quite nasty murder case.

It also gives little thought to the ongoing storyline of the series, although this is saved somewhat towards the end of the episode. While the scenes where John goes through hypnosis don't get far (and I'm not sure whether the doctor recording Doe's memories was kidnapped or simply ran off), there is more promise at the end of the episode where we see the fate of poor Dr Jansen and meet a group of vaguely sinister-looking people who are presumably trying to cover up whatever has happened to John. It's good to know someone is still keeping an eye on the story arc, but I'm not quite sure if the show can survive with the odd format it seems to have. If John had an office at the police station where he could research his case, or if he simply chose cases to help on, it would work a little better. At the moment he keeps getting drawn into Detective Hayes' investigations, and there's not enough emotional connection to them to keep them interesting forever.

***

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