As Wausau fractures, Dana’s search brings her into conflict with a dangerous local family…

From the opening, variable reality of Kay’s story to the sudden moment of revelation Em gets in the closing seconds of the episode, this never goes where you’d expect.

Maia Jae’s Kay is such a wonderfully plausible, mildly evil presence and she’s so plausible! When we find out the truth of what went on, it makes perfect sense, but the way the story is presented sells us completely. Kay’s the victim! Em did it!

Except as it soon becomes apparent, Em did not do it at all and it’s Kay’s fault that everyone is dragged into the orbit of the villainous Check family. Who, again, are not what we’d expect. Wendy Lyon’s charming, preppy Dorothy Check has a great line in folk art, knows exactly what her sons do and just… kind of runs with it. The episode’s biggest horror beats come from this plot, as Dana digs in on what Kay stole from the Checks and what role they had in Em’s murder. All of which is boiled down here to a feud between the Cypress and Check families, locked together long before the quarantine was put up around the town.

Take special note of Anthony Check, the brother who was out of town doing crimes when the quarantine was put up. He’s only on the phone here, but that’s Phil Brooks, best known in these parts as professional wrestler and frequent horror actor CM Punk. I’m sure we’ll be getting him on camera shortly but in the meantime it’s a neat way of using this plot to remind us that the quarantine is up and the world is still out there.

But the breakout this episode is Rhodey. Kaleb Horn’s elegantly wasted punk rocker is yet another character who has more going on than we might think. He’s adapted very well to being a reviver and uses it not only in his wonderfully showy stage act but as something to stand up on instead of being weighed down by. He’s sweet, supportive and open in the exact way no one else in Em’s life is. Although Dana, bless her, is trying. Scrofano is great as always and gets to flex those Wynnona Earp muscles in a nicely played interrogation that, again, is full of surprises. The reveal that Dana knows enough to know she can’t beat the Checks, just negotiate with them gets darker the more you think about it. Doubly so when it becomes clear they had nothing to do with Em’s first death.

Nothing is what it seems here, up to and including Blaine Abel, the messianic figure played by Steven Ogg who torches Arlene’s corpse at her final funeral and looks set to be the new authority in town. Isolating Wausau hasn’t contained it, it’s concentrated it, every tension and feud in town coming to a boil all at once and the result is a show you never see coming.

Verdict: Great stuff once again. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart