(Warning: this article contains spoilers about Season One of ABC’s Alaska Daily)

Alaska Daily’s newest breakout star is a ferret. The show opens with reporter Claire cheerily walking into the newsroom clutching a clear backpack. Inside the backpack is her son’s ferret, Harry Hairy Potter. She’s taking it to her son’s school for show-and-tell after lunch. Five bucks Hairy disapparates before the second commercial break.

Eileen gets an alert: Secretary of Defense Raymond Green, the man who torpedoed her career, is going to be speaking at JBEM, Anchorage’s military base. Yes, local Anchorageites, the showrunners went with JBEM. For half the episode I thought they were saying JBAM, which I preferred. Eileen is convinced a scandal is afoot and barges into Stanley’s office demanding to cover the speech. Uh oh, Stanley has purposefully assigned the story to Austin and Yuna. Eileen is furious and points out that not only is the story important to her, her past with the Secretary makes it a better article that will translate to more clicks. She has a point. Stanley is worried about the integrity of the paper and doesn’t want Eileen to act like… Eileen and become the story. Stanley wins; Eileen is told to stay away from JBEM and the Secretary.

Eileen and Roz continue to track down the two persons of interest in Gloria’s murder. They can’t find any trace of Rega. Ezra is in Anchorage and has a healthy rap sheet, including an open domestic violence charge. The prosecutor on the case, Adam Barnett, is in court today. Off to the courthouse they go.

Austin speaks to his contact at JBEM. Off the record, the Secretary’s visit seems odd to him – no notice was given, which is unusual for these types of visits, and his superiors seem on edge. “We’re on the front lines, Corey says, “with climate change melting the ice caps, the Arctic’s up for grabs. The Russians are testing us.” As Corey leaves he lets Austin know Eileen Fitzgerald is not welcome at the event. It seems Secretary Green has been keeping tabs on our favorite disgraced reporter after all.

Eileen and Roz are impressed with Assistant District Attorney Barnett’s performance in court. He seems pro-victim and is aggressive in bringing abuse cases to trial. They ask him about Ezra Fisher and he’s happy to help, as long as it’s off the record — Barnett says he’d be fired if the attorney general knew he was talking to reporters. Barnett describes Ezra as a violent, unpredictable charmer. A nasty guy. Barnett knows that Ezra works at Denali Broadband and gives them contact information for Ezra’s ex, a woman named Taylor. Just one question: is Denali Broadband faster than GCI? I’ve been thinking of switching providers.

Hairy Potter has escaped! A defeated Claire picks up the phone to call her son’s teacher muttering, “she already thinks I’m a failure as a parent.” Bob intervenes and launches Operation Find Hairy Potter. It is unsuccessful. After searching all day, Claire and Bob take a break from ferret hunting and have a heart to heart while sitting on the floor of the newsroom. Bob reveals his wife is sick.

Ezra’s ex Taylor meets up with Eileen and Roz at the famous Anchorage watering hole Tolstoy’s Beard (okay, this fictitious name even better than JBEM!). Taylor confirms ADA Barnett’s description of Ezra – he’s a jerk that left her with a black eye, stitches, and a bruised rib. But she doesn’t think he killed Gloria. Eileen has coffee for two when Roz picks her up to go confront Ezra on a jobsite downtown. Roz is immediately suspicious of Eileen’s Ms. Nice Gal gesture. Ding ding: Eileen asks Roz to drop her off at JBEM to watch the Secretary’s speech. Austin and Yuna are already on base getting checked in. Yuna spots some acquaintances, colleagues of her mother, looking worried. When she greets them, they reveal their fighter pilot son has been missing for a week. No one will tell them anything.

Eileen shows up just in time for the Secretary’s speech. “As our enemies encroach and the arctic melts, Alaska Command has never been more important,” Secretary Green says. During press questions Eileen stands up and goes for the kill, asking the Secretary if he’s aware of the missing F41 fighter pilot.  “Hello Eileen, as usual I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Green responds. When Eileen presses him again, connecting Green to the board of the manufacture who makes the F41 fighter jets, he rushes off stage. The clip goes viral. Just like Stanley predicted, Eileen has become the story.

Roz confronts Ezra, a young white guy, about Gloria’s murder. Ezra denies killing her but has a couple useful bits of information. Gloria was looking for Oxy the night she went missing. Oh, and ex-Taylor is sleeping with the ADA, Adam Barnett. Wait, what?! Roz decides to trust Ezra’s intel and it pans out. The ADA has a habit of pressuring the victims of the abusers he prosecutes to have sex with him in exchange for not dropping their cases. Gross. Adam Barnett admits his actions to Roz but claims the moral high ground, saying he doesn’t date victims he dates strong, complex wonderful women, and that he reports every relationship to his superiors. Spoiler alert: Barnett is lying. He’s going down. Is Barnett connected to Gloria’s murder? Or is he just another corrupt white man in a position of power?

Eileen is vindicated when breaking news announces the Russian navy seized a downed American aircraft five days ago and a body of an American pilot was recovered. Yuna reaches out to his parents. They go on record with a copy of a recent email from their son to his commander expressing grave concerns about the F41’s oxygen system. The paper rushes to print the bombshell story.

Hooray! Hairy Potter is found! The ferret that lived. I notice Claire has been wearing the same jean skirt throughout the week., but she has managed to change her top a couple times. Claire is hands down the most relatable character in the show.

The Daily Alaskan’s story about the missing fighter pilot and Secretary Green’s potential involvement is national news. The website traffic is off the charts. Lots of clicks. Eileen is back at the Captain Cook Hotel celebrating with a drink and wall-to-wall cable news coverage. Knock knock. A sultry Aaron Pritchard appears in the doorway of Eileen’s hotel room. Publisher Pritchard is into those big clicks if you know what I mean. He goes in for the kiss. “That’s a good kiss, but it can’t happen again,” Eileen says. Let me remind everyone, Aaron Pritchard is Eileen’s boss’s boss and the publisher of the Daily Alaskan!!! This is a big no no on so many levels. So, of course, they’re gonna kiss again. Poor Pilot Poet!

We’re halfway through season one and so far, we don’t know who killed Gloria or who the concerned citizen that’s threatening Eileen is. Are they the same person? Eileen has gotten intimate with Pilot Poet and Publisher Pritchard, but Austin and Yuna’s relationship is moving at a glacier pace. I expect all these storylines to heat up considerably in the next couple episodes. And I bet we find out who Rega is sooner than later. I also think we’re not done with creepy ADA Barnett. Here’s hoping for more Gabriel and less ferret in future episodes. Five down, five to go.

Allison Hovanec was born and raised in Alaska. She and her husband are raising three young children in South Anchorage. She is a co-owner of the Alaska Landmine, writer for the Alaska Political Report and generally competent.