The virals are out in the world, infecting the inhabitants of cities, while survivors live day by day, fighting to stay alive.

It’s 30 days since Amy, Wolgast and Lila escaped from Project Noah and they’re fishing by a lake in Oregon. It’s great to finally be outside, and for a moment there’s serenity, but radio reports tell us that cities are falling. The government, in its wisdom, tries to contain the disease by nuking the hotspots – each viral has returned to their home town or city to wreak havoc.

“This is how the world ends,” claims Lacey Antoine as she gets Lear to face what’s ahead of him – as the accidental architect of the fall of man there’s a lot of guilt that he’s carrying on his shoulders. Less surprising is that Clark Richards is still alive, having made an arrangement with Shauna. We never really believed that he died at Noah, and he’s now supplying corpses to his undead beau.

It’s a curious episode and feels rushed. After some fairly slow instalments that did little to further the plot we’re now shooting forwards in time… and then it’s 97 years later in the Palm Desert as warrior Amy seeks sanctuary. It’s a curious choice, and as the show has not yet been renewed for a second year then maybe this was included so that there’s a conclusion of sorts.

Verdict: Low on logic, with some awful narrative steps, The Passage has always been entertaining on a basic ‘fantasy TV’ level. The cast have kept it alive, the moments of high emotion being far superior to the generic action scenes, but it took a long time to reach this place of indeterminate future. If it does return, will we be in the future or picking up from modern day? And what will stop it from becoming just like The Walking Dead or The Strain? 7/10

Nick Joy