Blaine finds Ibrahim at Moore Creek and in questioning him they slowly discover the truth about Revival Day. The Colonel takes steps and Em gets a surprising, and horrific visit, from her long dead mother…

The show hits the final curve running flat out and we get an entire episode of payoffs. Steven Ogg, always great, brings complexity to the odious Blaine here and the way Dana and May’s investigations shed more light on him is enormously satisfying. The Dilischs get a lot of development too, and there’s a massive left turn in Dana, Em and Wayne’s origin that I didn’t see coming but makes perfect sense. The reveal that Wayne and Dilisch’s wife had an affair is like setting off a nuke in a small town and it blows up any trust Dana may have been building with the world’s best/worst dad. It’s a brilliant beat, played to perfection by everyone and it explains why Wayne is so focused on his job. He knows he’s irreparably damaged his family, and instead of fixing anything, he’s just doubled down. It’s a brave, smart choice and it plays into the very personal darkness the show excels at.

It’s also one of three two-hander scenes that are the best moments the show has had to date. The other is Ogg and Andy McQueen as Blaine and Doctor Ramin. McQueen is the only cast member to be dismally badly served by the first half of the season but here, at last, he’s given chewy material. His conversation with Blaine sees a man of faith and a man of science find surprising common ground and a later duet with Paige Evans’ Dr Morel builds on that. Ramin knows what they’re doing is wrong. So does everyone else. The difference is that Ramin is brave enough to say it out loud.

But the final double hander is where the show (un)lives this week. Romy Weltman, excellent yet again as Em, works with Lara Jean Chorostecki as her dead mother in a sequence that’s horrific, unsettling and just two women talking. The reveal on why Patty Cypress is great  and what it says about where Em is has immense emotional impact for the finale.

Even then the show isn’t done. We get a Reviver jailbreak, the police doing the right thing for once and the final conclusive proof of why Revival Day happened. It’s action packed and character heavy and gives all but one of it’s large cast a lot to do. The only person badly served by it is Konima Parkinson-Jones as General Cale, given very little to work with other than looking intimidating. It’s a real shame, especially for a character coming in late in the game.

Verdict: That aside, this is a great penultimate episode of a great show. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart