Alfred prepares to finally depart England for America, with the added impetus of staying out of Gulliver Troy’s way. Lord Harwood finds he is not as without friends in the Raven Union as he might have feared.

The first thing this episode needs in fairness is a content warning – there are some fairly brutal scenes of domestic abuse in this one and whereas the show itself has never shied away from violence, in light of recent real-world events, it feels extra pertinent to warn potential viewers that there is one scene in this one which is really quite difficult to watch in that context.

That said, on we go with an episode which feels, if anything, a little like it’s sprinting along, running for a finishing line which is three episodes away yet, but also starting to feel like it’s getting more cohesive, drawing its players together slowly in a fashion which starts to hint towards the future we know awaits Thomas, Martha and Alfie.

Thomas, as disgusted at his government’s refusal to act on the Stormcloud information as Lucius Fox, elects to go a different route. We’ve seen odd flashes of the man we hope that Thomas Wayne would go on to be as we understand it, but this is one of the first times this season that he really does seem ready to stick his neck out and put his career and reputation on the line in order to do the right thing.

Alfie meanwhile has the small issue that his illicit meetings with Melanie Troy aren’t as secret as he’d like them to have remained. Troy isn’t a man to cross lightly and Alfie is rightly concerned, as much for Melanie as for himself. That concern proves well-founded, and I doubt we have seen the last of James Purefoy’s character by a long way.

Still, the big day is near, Mrs P has agreed to go to America with him and there seems little now standing in the way of him getting what he’s after. Nothing practical, that is, but pragmatism is a suit that has ever been ill-fitting to Alfred, so it perhaps shouldn’t be taken for granted that he’s just going to cut and run.

Lord Harwood meanwhile finds that he is not without some influence still at Union headquarters. Salt must tread carefully, given that his authority rests on a lawful accession from Harwood and requires Harwood to be neutralised but very much alive. But Harwood has some determined and fairly competent friends. For all his cunning, Salt may have failed to consider all the elements in his victim’s favour.

There’s a heavy bit of homage paid to Casablanca of all things in this one, both in terms of general theme as well as in a couple of scenes. One, in the club, puts Sandra front and centre and is a scene which really does grab the viewer with the amount of emotion and power that comes off the screen. Overall, by the time the credits roll, it’s hard not to feel a bit optimistic – there’s a real sense of the band getting back together, and even on the side of the villains, a sense of things turning a corner for the better. I look forward to seeing how this one gets wrapped up in the time remaining.

Verdict: A superb episode that really gets the viewer invested and sets up some interesting possibilities for the upcoming finale. 9/10

Greg D. Smith