The preamble is coming to an end.
Along with everything else.
We're now only a few hours away from the big supernatural punch up.
The characters are on a collision course for Lower Tadfield. Newton Pulsifer, Witchfinder Private has arrived in a very wrecked car and is taken to Anathema Device by Adam and pals, a not entirely unexpected event.
Deprived of the actual book of predictions, Anathema has a handy card index of summaries, annotated and cross referenced, a sort of cardboard Wikipedia (Wikipredictia?).
Newton's arrival is anticipated, and it transpires that the cards reveal the connections of the modern day witch and witchfinder and their respective ancestors. It also reveals what they are supposed to do next.
In the past Agnes Nutter smirks...
As things start to get weird in Lower Tadfield because of Adam's world-warping, Sergeant Shadwell decides its time to send in the reserves, i.e. Himself. Unfortunately the Witchfinder Defence Budget is rather slender, so Shadwell decides to tap up his clients for some expenses.
The clients themselves are both having trouble with their OWN employers.
Aziraphale makes a call to his boss to try and avert Armageddon, Crowley gets a visit from his master's enforcement arm who want to know how Crowley has mislaid the son of Satan.
Aziraphale's call doesn't go as planned, by quite a long way.
Crowley's actions are not going to be guaranteeing him a demonic bonus and promotion.
The pace is definitely hotting up.
There was lots of action in this episode, and this is where the strengths and weaknesses of radio come to the fore. For strengths, being able to fill in the blanks in your head where only a massive overblown budget would do on screen (Aziraphale's call) would do it proper jusice, and for weaknesses, Crowley's showdown with one of his pursuers which is great on the written page but is messy and difficult to follow audibly (to be fair it would probably be difficult to do well on screen also).
That said, this one is definitely an improvement, less exposition, no recap (hurrah), and the frenetic energy I have been waiting for is starting to surface.
I can accurately predict that Episode 5 is next..