For those worried by the season one cliffhanger that either a magic reset button was going to get pushed or the show would head off in a dramatically different direction, the season openers have managed to tread a careful path between the two. Relationships are still falling apart, no one's off the hook about anything and life is pretty much hell. Particularly local politics.

Isaacs's character, Michael Caffee, last seen getting beaten round the head into a bloody mess, isn't quite the same character, though. The producers have thankfully realised that massive head traumas are not easy things to recover from and Isaacs is now brain-damaged and clearly a lesser man than he was last season. He has memory loss, spatial awareness issues and blackouts and he's not going to get better. Isaacs does a fine job of making caffee frail, despite his violent nature, even changing the character's voice and walk. Much of the first two episodes - and probably the season - is about Caffee's attempts to reestablish himself as someone to be reckoned with, and how people try to take advantage of his new vulnerabilities.

Although I've said it before, the show still remains a somewhat “eat your greens” show, without The Wire's redeeming humour to get you through the patches of bleak misery. You'll be taking as many anti-depressants as Clarke's wife (Annabeth Gish) by the end of any episode. All the same, one of the most intelligent shows around at the moment and worth watching. Still.