The search for Tessa begins and ends. Rowan cuts loose. Lasher is unleashed and Ciprien finds his way home.

The weird pacing from last week continues and the show responds to it by throwing even more stuff at the wall. The revelation Rowan is pregnant is sprinted past as we spend some time with a lot of the Mayfair family we’ve barely seen before. Tessa’s disappearance has weight, and it needs it for this rushed plot to work. Rowan being forced to confront the consequences of her choices works very well, but it still feels early. These are events that happened one episode ago and one day ago for the show. Nothing has had time to bed in before the next thing hits.

That’s a shame because Madison Wolfe as Tessa is excellent and has some great supporting cast to work off. Chris Coy’s Arlo Whittle is so odious you don’t even notice that he’s barely been named on screen while Ian Hoch’s Keith is both repellent and oddly, poignantly self-aware. The standout though is Kerry Cahill, a stoical supporting player as Dianne on The Walking Dead for years, who carries the episode on her back here. The reveal that the anti-witch terrorists are blue collar folks who’ve lost everything because of the Mayfairs is welcome context without resorting to cowardly ‘Good people on both sides’ bleating and grounds the series. It’s also the sole beat these characters get as the show sprints along to the big finish. Daddario’s Rowan finally gets to cut loose, straight up kills people and she and Tessa instantly pay the price. Again, fun, but again so little room to breathe.

Ciprien’s plot works better, as he meets the early Mayfairs and Lasher and starts to understand the nature of his captivity. I’ve liked Ciprien from the start and his decision-making and problem-solving here is smart, fun and more than a little scary. He gets himself out of the past by poisoning himself to death so he can wake up in the present. Which is effective and so terrifying even his colleagues stop to remark on the fact he’s done it. He’s principled, driven, brave and just a little off. He’s everything the Talamasca think they are and his scenes with the always excellent Dennis Boutsikaris as his boss speak to that.

Verdict: Hitting corners at a dead sprint it doesn’t need, this is a set up for the big finale that would work better if it took more time. Good, but again a little ragged. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart