Suffering side effects from the last episode, Rowan struggles to deal with her past and with the growing realisation of what she’s done in the present.

This is one of those episodes a show needs to do every now and then when the main characters hit rock bottom. Rowan has messed up almost everything, so much so that Moira has come out the other side of being an enemy back into being an ally. She’s locked two of her relatives away, Lasher is gone, Lark needs answers and the family are fragmented. Rowan is no game Moira wants to be part of but she’s the only game there is, and brilliantly, she steps up. Daddario is an actress with enormous natural presence and that, combined with the exhausted ‘Oh COME ON’ energy that Rowan has this episode means it’s a breezy, fun hour that plays as dark comedy for a lot of its run. Alyssa Jirrels is a big part of that too and her Moira is a gloriously snippy reluctant sidekick. Nether of these women are enemies, but neither are friends either and that unusual bond is great fun to watch.

But the episode lands because of the human cost. The family house is collapsing and JoJo and Daphne are still trapped between dimensions in it. The metaphor isn’t subtle but it’s very effective; Lasher’s presence rots everything that interacts with it and the family house is collapsing as fast as the family itself is.

That metaphor turns out to be the core of the episode, and it takes it to some surprising places. The entire back half focuses on Charlyane Woodard’s Dolly Jean, one of the family cousins and Evelyn Mayfair, the bar owner we met in the previous episode played by K. Steele. Their story is a tightly plotted, surprising exploration of the nature of addiction and family care. It also moves the plot along at the same time as focusing it down and sets up the next episode. It’s tight, smart writing that gives another perspective on the cost of the family and what they’ve done and had done to them. It’s Rowan and the family, hitting rock bottom and then, picking themselves up.

Verdict: This feels like the season starting to lock everything in place. The Lasher drama, Rowan’s own struggles to fit, the dysfunction of the family shifting from hostile to tragic. Everything serves everything else and it creates a densely packed, resonant piece of TV that’s a season highlight. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart