It’s a brand new story in this week’s Chasing Shadows episode, and whilst ITV’s latest crime drama continues to underwhelm, it’s still oddly enjoyable, much like last week.

The first of part a two-part tale, this time writer Rob Williams moves away from the obvious teenage runaway shtick that dominated the opening story, and instead delivers an altogether different mystery – a well-off lawyer disappears, possibly the victim of a now incarcerated serial killer. Was he murdered? Or is there much more to proceedings then initially suggested?

It’s a good idea, if slightly slow and meandering in places, yet the cliffhanger, whilst a tad predictable, most definitely has us tuning in for next week’s conclusion. Unlike the first episode of the previous story, the setting up of the main mystery isn’t rushed in the final ten minutes.

Instead Williams builds it up, slowly but surely, proceeds to hit us with a definite answer halfway through, before then hitting us with a final twist that unsettles and poses more questions than before. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still slow and uninspiring for the most part, but it’s definitely finding its feet at last.

However, once again, Reece Shearsmith’s performance as autistic detective Sean Stone is still the main highlight. It’s easy to believe that without him, the show would lose a lot of its attraction. Here, Shearsmith continues to round out and build his character, whilst remaining as cold and determined as before. It makes for some great drama, especially in the interrogation scenes, with Shearsmith delivering on all fronts with gravitas and unpredictability.

It’s a shame the rest of the characters don’t get the same treatment, with Ruth and Prior continuing to receive little development beyond what we already know – Prior’s a hard-ass copper whilst Ruth is a single mum with a weird son and poor choices when it comes to men, both romantically and professional. There surely must be more to them than that!

Lack of character development aside, it’s still a solid, if slightly shaky, episode. If the show can pull some more twists out of the bag for the finale next week, then we’re hopefully in for a treat.

Then again, if you still need a reason to keep watching next week, then keep in mind two words – Reece Shearsmith!

Aired at 9pm on Thursday 18 September 2014 on ITV.

> Order Chasing Shadows on DVD on Amazon.

What did you think of the episode? Let us know below…