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Fortitude Season 2 comes two years after the first one with which I had a love/hate relationship – hardly anyone could act, hence why I dubbed it ‘Eldorado In The Arctic‘ as well as ‘Nordic Noir meets Acorn Antiques‘. However, being shot in Iceland, the scenery was gorgeous and hypnotic and in 1080p high definition, it was a treat to watch.
It also starred English uber-MILF Phoebe Nicholls… but sadly, she didn’t look too good after her body exploded in a mass of toxic wasps.
Following a 4-minute series one summary, we go back in time to 1942 without the aid of a TARDIS, and the location is the made-up town of Vukobejina, 60 miles north of Fortitude. Are they going to find Captain America’s plane, frozen in ice? No, just a bunch of dead guys who’ve seen better days. But that’s nothing compared to another guy who appears to be tucking into a dead baby and, once shot and felled, thinks nothing additionally of still being able to walk about… but hey, it’s Fortitude and, literally, anything can happen!
Then back to the present, and an altercation with an axe in the supermarket – wielded by an as-yet-unlinked-to-anyone man, with Governor Sofie getting a non-fatal bump on her noggin.
Also returning from Series 1 are Vincent and Natalie, who investigated the underground cesspit of monstrous junk that caused all the problems last time. Well, I say investigated, but merely it was a pop down until it was blown up to say good riddance to bad rubbish, including Yuri who fell down there by accident.
Enter Scot Ken Stott, not intending to do a Scottish accent… possibly attempting a Danish one, but he still sounds like a Scot. And thanks to the attempted foreign accent, he sounds like he’s had a stroke.
Meanwhile, there’s a crazy drink man who thinks he sees a messiah in the distance after stepping out of the bar, but turns into a headless corpse by morning, so there’s a murderer out on the loose… again. Is this anything to do with axeman?
Into Part 2, and technophobe Douglas Quaid got excited at the news that the info on the USB stick, given to him by exam girl-cum-supermarket-checkout-girl Bianca , contained info that Red King Crab is coming across the Arctic at $13/lb so he can be richer than an astronaut before long!
Petra and PC Ingrid investigate the corpse, later finding its blood in the snow, but the dead man isn’t the only one to have suffered a rush of blood to the head, as Petra’s feeling a bit faint. Surely she’s checked these out before?
Elsewhere, while everyone’s in the pub, the power goes out and it looks to be the Aurora Borealis that’s causing all hell to break loose; Quaid’s wife, Freya, collapses… she’s a bit Pat-and-Mick, in that she has a terminal disease; Natalie says Vincent has wasps in his head; Governor Sofie thinks Dan’s dead… yet he’s in the opening credits so he can’t be… or can he?; and Vincent lets slip that Eric’s up on the glacier, he’s not just dodging Governor Sofie. Meanwhile, he’s leaving town. He says it’s for health reasons, but most likely, it’s for “making A Street Cat Named Bob” reasons; and Ingrid smirks at Quaid’s son, who we now know was the axe-wielder in the supermarket. He looks evil… so is that the reason why he’s got blood on his shirt and trying to hide it in the wash? Not even Daz will shift that!
Then we get to a stilted conversation which is a perfect example of my earlier Eldorado argument.
Governor Sofie: “You are need in Fortitude because there’s been a murder” (nods head and lets upper torso move about like a Grand Theft Auto tertiary character does when they’re expressing surprise)
Eric: “……..a murder?”
Governor Sofie: “Yes… a bloody decapitation” (more upper torso movement)
Later that day, all the dogs are gone from the pound… except they haven’t. And cue an ungodly attempt at screaming surprise as the woman in charge spots one hanging up by its neck…. They’ve had their spines removed, making them a metaphor for Piers Morgan.
But wait! Vincent’s back! And he wants to get back with Natalie! So how will he make the Street Cat film? Oh, but hang on, Natalie’s found one of those pesky mosquitos in her lab and she’s keeping schtum about it. NOW is the time for one of those ungodly screams!
Finally (yes, we got there in the end), Sophie and Eric spot someone wandering about in the middle of the road. It’s Dan! He’s alive! And he’s a zombie! Kinda. Well, nothing else makes sense.
I hope Fortitude Season 2 improves and that this is just an intro, but based on the first episode, we’ve not had any huge surprises that happened with series 1’s opener, such as with Christopher Eccleston’s character, since it’s just the same sort of thing happening again.
I’m reminded of when Danish drama The Legacy came back for season 2 – we were introduced to the characters again, plus the occasional new one, but they didn’t do an awful lot over the seven episodes. How they’ve made a third, God alone knows.
Fortitude Season 2 is available to pre-order on DVD, but the release date is yet to be confirmed (I doubt it’s December 31st, as Amazon currently claims – that’s just a placeholder)
Score: 4/10
Director: Hettie Macdonald
Producer: Trevor Hopkins
Screenplay: Simon Donald
Music: Ben Frost
Cast:
Governor Hildur Odegard: Sofie Gråbøl
Michael Lennox: Dennis Quaid
Natalie Yelburton: Sienna Guillory
Vincent Rattrey: Luke Treadaway
Eric Odegard: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
PC Ingrid Witry: Mia Jexen
Petra: Alexandra Moen
Freya Lennox: Michelle Fairley
Rune Lennox: Edvin Endre
Dan Anderssen: Richard Dormer
Tomak: Gershwyn Eustache Jnr
Vladek Klimov: Robert Sheehan
The Fiend: Mark Field
Bianca: Jessica Henwick
Dr. Sarinda Khatri: Parminder Nagra
Axel Fersen: Joi Johannsson
Yeva: Eloise Smyth
Erling Munk: Ken Stott
Lars Ulvinaune: Rune Temte
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.