Review: In The Flesh Season 2, Episode 6

The tension had been building, but the final episode of In the Flesh should have answered any questions already set up during the second season. In fact, episode 6 opened up more questions, and paved the way for the continuation of the show with a third season.

Episode 6 saw Kieren under house arrest and waiting to go back to the treatment centre after not admitting to a crime he didn’t commit – letting out the ‘Rotters’ kept at the Doctor’s surgery.

Simon is preparing for his mission, the completion of which he believes will bring about a Second Rising; he is charged with killing Kieren (the First Risen) at 12 noon on the 12th day of the 12th month. Maxine, the councillor, has her own agenda and this becomes clear later on in the episode. There are also two new people planning to visit Roarton on this day, but their intentions are a mystery.

We see Amy walking around at the village fete, and eating – episode 5 saw Amy start to feel the rain and cold, all of which suggests she is feeling human again and could possibly be turning back into one of the living.

Kieren is being terrorised by Gary, his guard, who tries to provoke Kieren going rabid. The tension reaches its climax when there is a standoff in the graveyard, where Simon strikes but can’t bring himself to go through with murdering Kieren. Simon instead saves Kieren’s life after by taking a bullet for him. Obviously Simon survives, what with being half dead already.

Amy and Philip are enjoying time together as Amy continues to become human. Unfortunately tragedy is around the corner and Maxine puts her plan into action. Believing Amy to be the First Risen (the PDS sufferer who if killed will provoke a Second Rising), Maxine also believes her little brother, who died over 20 years before, would rise again if Amy is killed. In a harrowing turn of events, Amy is stabbed by Maxine and dies – this time without rising from the dead. Maxine reveals her plan to the villagers for a Second Rising, but this doesn’t go down well and she is carted off to a mental institution.

Amy’s friends are saddened by her loss, and the villagers and the PDS sufferers call a truce. The mysterious visitors to the village are seen in the dead of night digging up the Amy’s grave and on this cliff-hanger season 2 ends!

I really hope, and expect, that there will be a third season, as season two has been left so open ended. It was a shame we didn’t get to see Amy fully turn back to being human. Maxine’s secret agenda turned out to be selfish and deluded in the end, and it was satisfying to see Simon wasn’t able to actually kill Kieren. The episode was paced well, dark in places, but maybe didn’t answer fully all the questions that were posed through the season. We’ll have to wait for season three to see what the next threat to the residents of Roarton will turn out to be.