When sad news spreads through the Crimson Cat, Rico tries to placate the volatile crowd while Rio argues for vengeance. Peter Craft, Elsa and the boys are trapped in their car amidst a riot as Tiago tries to help Mateo.

For those anticipating any wrap-up in this season finale, temper your expectations now, for while some characters permanently leave the scenes of the crimes, the show is not in a state of resolution. Instead, as we’ve seen each week, the stories of the characters bump along like chapters in a book, occasionally crossing paths with others.

That’s not to say there isn’t tension this week, as there’s a big fight down town when Peter Craft (Rory Kinnear) is shocked into accidentally hitting one of the Chicanos in his car, thus inciting the riot that Rio has been working everyone up to. Tiago and Molly confess their love for each other and plan to run away – that was never going to work out – and when Brian confesses that he knows how to create nuclear fission, you know he’s on a one-way trip in the car.

As a series, this Penny Dreadful spin-off is a very different beast to the mother show, unfolding at a slower pace and not having the benefit of well-established literary characters. The cast have been uniformly excellent, with Nathan Lane and the multiple personalities of Natalie Dormer making the greatest impression. The attention to period detail has also been a mark of quality for this show, even if creator John Logan’s scripts felt like they could benefit from a jolt of energy.

Verdict: Well-made, quality TV that creates its own mythology and sticks to its guns. As we go to press, there’s no word either way on its renewal. If this is a ‘one and out’ then the shame is that we’ll never get to experience the impending ratcheting up of tension as LA catches fire on multiple fronts. 8/10

Nick Joy