Rowan stops at nothing to reunite with Lasher before his wedding day.

There’s a moment early in this episode where Rowan basically kicks a door in and demands answers. It’s a great beat, it gives Daddario a nicely hard edge to play with and it also speaks to the escalating stakes and the painful humanity at its core. These are people who’ve been pushed to the limits and beyond. They’re making terrible choices but doing so for understandable reasons. Rowan gets what she needs, and the people she’s facing are just that, people. But the choices they’ve made are inhumane.

Centre to this, after a surprising absence, is Lasher. He and Rowan are reunited and newly armed with knowledge of what and who he is, they effectively break up. It’s a well-handled beat and one that moves the show past the Just Just Side Of Tiresome angst that’s been starting to beat it down. Rowan and Lasher are now allies not lovers and so much more interesting as a result.

That evolution is present elsewhere too, especially with Lark and Cortland. The former is the emergency control human and one who pays a dear price for it this episode. Ian has him stitched into the spell that unites the Scottish side of the family in a very dark way. The last person in the spell is the one that any physical pain experienced by the others flows to. With Lark in that spot he’s a literal human shield. Cortland, meanwhile, is a pawn who thinks he’s a bishop and pays a terrible price for that this episode as his father possesses him. Julien being a threat in the real world is a major escalation for the show and one that promises a lot of dark fun further down the line.

But the real victim this week is Lasher. We discover what he is at the same time he does. A member of a different species called a Taltos, Lasher is the embodiment of life, and his terrifying sex drive is a reflection of that. He’s also the engine that’s powered the Mayfairs for generations and this episode discovers that. The idea of this all powerful creature being turned into little more than a battery is a wonderfully horrific turn, and it lies at the centre of each plot here. As Ciprien and Polina finally get on the same page and head for Scotland, we also see Lasher wed to a new member of the Mayfairs in a ceremony that’s one part Wicker Man one part Midsommar. It’s a deeply unsettling beat and one that closes the episode on a strong note and sets up everyone being dragged into the high stakes events to come.

Verdict: Personal, intimate, inventive and nasty. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart