Written by Ameni Rozsa
Directed by Jamie Childs
John Dee (to Morpheus): "Your life and your lies end now."
We're now at the halfway point of this season and this episode adopted a classic from the comics and brought it on to the small screen in such an intimate and foreboding way. One diner. Six characters. True feelings brought to the front. The result: absolute chaos.
I knew that by sparing Rosemary from the previous episode, John Dee would do something to counterbalance it and like David Thewlis's other DC character, Ares, this episode had Dee simply use the ruby to let the truth come out. Sometimes maybe honesty isn't the best policy.
Our six characters here were aspiring writer/waitress Bette (Emma Duncan) who had a crush on her boss, Marsh (Steven Brand) while also playing a role in getting Mark (Laurie Davidson) to be interviewed by Vanguard couple Kate (Lourdes Faberes) and Garry (James Udom) as well as Judy (Daisy Head). These characters all managed to connect with each other as John's influence also tore them asunder.
The effects of seeing these characters bare their souls made for a beautifully character driven episode. We saw Bette's horror in realising Marsh preferring having sex with her son while she herself would then seek comfort with Judy, whose relationship with Donna had been damaged beyond repair. Bette was also the only one who could really see the danger that John posed to them all, even if it didn't help her in the end.
Then there was Kate and Garry, whose unequal relationship was taking it's toll on the pair of them. This resulted in Kate having sex with Mark and Garry likewise with Marsh. Then we had Mark kill Garry in a fight and as the episode unfolded, all of the diners managed to kill each other. This amount of chaos also brought Morpheus back into the mix.
The battle of wits between Morpheus and John Dee certainly had it's twists and turns with both Tom Sturridge and David Thewlis delivering exceptional performances. Dee's comeuppance was done in a particularly gratifying way to the damage his actions caused here while Morpheus's own victory might be under threat with his sibling, Desire (Mason Alexander Park) making their presence known at the end.
- The episode briefly introduced Rose Walker (Kyo Ra), who Judy had a phone conversation with when she was looking for Donna.
- Both versions of Ethel Cripps and the Fates appeared to terrorise John in this episode.
- Standout music: U.S. Girls Red Comes In Many Shades.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off and again, New York.
24/7 was an exceptional piece of writing. The show has been so enjoyable to watch but this episode really hit the right spot. Fantastic guest characters, a brilliant showdown between Morpheus and Dee and the sense of more chaos to unfold. Brilliant.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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