Lenny, aka The Mourner is back, and this time he's kidnapped Lt Avery and strapped her to a bomb. If John can't solve the clues and find her in time, she'll go up in smoke.

It seems a shame to use such an interesting villain two episodes in a row, as the result is the obvious problem: the Mourner's identity is no longer a surprise, and nor is his gameplan, so as a result this is a simpler set-up than first time out. He's back to leaving clues in order to be found, and he's determined to outthink John and get what he wants. Like the first effort, however, there's one literally fatal flaw in the story: John gets killed. Now, lead characters are rarely killed off, and certainly not 11 episodes in, without the point of the series – John's identity – being revealed. As such, his shooting is clearly part of a cunning ruse to trap Lenny and doesn't have the kind of power that maybe it could. Yes, it's a surprise to see him leaping in front of Avery to save her and taking a bullet, but the funeral isn't especially convincing, even if there is a nicely written eulogy.

Once you see Lenny digging up John's coffin, it all comes into focus. All the little items and tricks we've been introduced to throughout the story become vital in setting up a cunning sting operation that seem to finish the episode surprisingly suddenly, with the only real little twist being Lenny's actual connection to John.

It's certainly not a bad episode; the clue-solving and work to find Avery, not to mention John's cunning little escape ploy, keep things ticking over nicely, but the element most enjoyable from the last episode, the desire to make John jump through hoops and solve puzzles, is no longer present, and the episode loses something as a result. Doug Hutchison makes a good villain again, and his scenes with Avery are really pretty nasty, to the extent that he deserves to be brought back again. He just needs a new shtick.

***

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