Pop flashes back to why he adopted Abdi and Nadia and holds his own wake. Ace builds his following of undead townsfolk.

It was inevitable that we’d find out the true reason for Pop’s benevolent adoption of the Somali kids, and as he explains at the end of his wake, it was all about trying to pay a debt, except it’s a debt that can never be paid. Tim Robbins is on blistering form here, watching his town and empire fall apart around him while also being hit with the news that the chemotherapy just hasn’t worked as hoped for. The reveal that it was he who shot the kids’ mother is quite a shock, particularly in the circumstances under which it happened.

We get to spend more time with Nadia (Yusra Warsama), possibly the show’s most virtuous character, and her world too falls apart when her investigation leads to secrets she never wanted to know. Annie Wilkes gets little look in this week, though Lizzy Caplan is still great as the spiralling mom desperate to get her daughter back. She’s in a desperate place and will do whatever it takes to survive.

But as the episode hits its final act we get a spotlight on the… let’s call them ‘Undead’… members of the community, who are growing rapidly. They’re not vampires, and there’s no easy way to recognise that they’re dead – in fact, the vicar says to Chris ‘We’ll make you good as new, son’, suggesting that they are sci-fi replicants. Whatever they are, estate agent Valerie is among their ranks, as is JJ Abrams regular Greg Grunberg’s police officer. Who knows who else is part of this cartel? There’s a definite Tommyknockers vibe to all of this.

Verdict: The stakes are high and the town is in crisis. I hate to say it, but Annie might be our only hope, and in a show where she has the potential to be a hero, anything can happen. I can’t wait to see what happens next, my little love. 9/10

Nick Joy