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Boris Johnson returned to the lectern at Downing Street as enthusiastic as ever.
During his three-week coronavirus-enforced absence there was clearly a vacuum, as Britain limped along with no clear leader.
Daily afternoon press conferences provided little but a harrowing update on the count of the dead.
Now the Prime Minister is back and oozing authority compared to those who had stood in his place.
But still, after a nine-minute address to a fatigued nation, there was nothing really delivered but colourful words.
COVID-19 was a "physical assailant" Mr Johnson declared, which needed wrestling to the floor.
And it was "pure grit" and "determination" that meant the people of the United Kingdom were winning the first phase of the fight.
It was all down to their "good sense," "altruism" and "spirit of community".
Public still unclear on what the next step may be
But despite all of that, Mr Johnson warned the nation was now at a moment of maximum risk and under a cloud of the threat of a second peak.
And, in reality, when he turned to walk back into Number 10, there was nothing more known — the public no wiser as to what the next step may be or when it might come.
The lockdown could be tightened in some ways and loosened in others, Mr Johnson said. But when and where he wasn't willing to reveal.
And there was no acknowledgment of past missteps and mistakes.
We know they happened, because the death toll tells us so.
More than 21,000 have now died in hospitals across the UK.
The Government's experts had told the UK weeks ago that 20,000 deaths would be considered a good outcome.
Johnson acknowledges 'mourning households'
And it will only get worse, as Mr Johnson himself said the UK is just now "passing through the peak".
He said nothing of the graphs that show the UK is one of the worst-affected nations on a per capita basis in the world.
And nothing of criticism about the lack of testing or that a target set by the Government to have 100,000 people tested per day by Thursday (local time) will almost certainly not be met.
Although Mr Johnson briefly acknowledged the "mourning households" across the country, he said nothing of the anger they will undoubtedly carry at the thought that their loved ones may have been saved if more had been done earlier.
Comparing a nation like the UK with Australia or New Zealand is not like for like — the population, for starters, is far greater — but leaders will be judged for the actions they took early on.
In New Zealand, Jacinta Ardern locked down her nation just weeks after the first case was discovered, now community transmission has ended there.
Regardless of her nation's small population and remoteness, the decisions taken quickly have now paid off.
In the UK it matters very much what decisions Mr Johnson makes going forward as they will determine where the UK death toll finally rests.
But they won't erase the errors of the months gone by or the suffering they have caused.
