On the eighth anniversary of the night that took Ty’s brother and Tandy’s father from them respectively, each determines to finally close the book on the injustices in their own ways. But closure isn’t easy to achieve when you’re digging up the past.

This was it. This was the one. Of the whole series to date, building slowly, brick upon brick, this episode was nothing short of an absolute masterpiece and a vindication for that slow burn pace the show adopted from its first episode.

It being the eighth anniversary of the night the rig blew, both Tyrone and Tandy have justice very much on their minds. A revelation from Ivan to Tandy provides her with the missing piece of the puzzle she so desperately needs in order to prove the rig explosion was not her father’s fault and finally clear his name. So driven is she by the need to vindicate him that all other considerations are secondary, and that’s something she may live to regret.

Meanwhile, Ty thinks he has come up with the perfect way to exact justice upon Connors for the murder of Billy. It involves taking O’Reilly and Fuchs into his confidence to pull it off. Unlike Tandy, Ty isn’t interested in any sort of visceral revenge against the man who wronged him, all he wants is a confession and the vindication of his brother. When he gets it, there’s a sense of elation for him against the background of his parents not doing anything in particular to mark the day, and you almost start to wonder if the show is over and done with.

Conversely, Tandy’s mother dutifully sets out to mark the day Nathan Bowen died, and Tandy and Ty go along with her. It’s a touching moment, our two protagonists linked in their grief and their sense of justice having finally being done for their respective losses. What happens next raises a few question marks about just how done everything is, and reminds you forcefully that there’s two more episodes to go yet and more story to be told.

It’s an emotional episode. From flashbacks of a tiny Ty looking up to big brother Billy while their parents look on smilingly, to a young Tandy getting herself home from the beach after the accident, only to discover a whole new set of troubles waiting for her. This episode, more than any other to date, really gets us inside the heads of both the leads, and makes us understand not just who they are, but why they are the way they are. If there’s a minor criticism, it’s that at least one ‘shock’ feels a little telegraphed, possibly because this viewer is too cynical, but for all that, it’s no less affecting when it happens. If you’re invested in this show to date, be warned – this one brings the feels, and it brings them hard.

Verdict: Tension, emotion, stylish execution and some genuine surprises and thrills, combine with a little Easter Egg nod to another series to make this about as good as you can ask a comic book show episode to be. Flawless. 10/10

Greg D. Smith