June and Sarah are running a mobile clinic and it is not going well. It’s no priority for Ginny and despite their best efforts, they lose numerous patients. Until a reunion with John offers a chance for escape and a message from Luciana forces everyone’s hand.

This episode sacrifices drama for narrative intelligence. It’s an interesting play and it makes a ton of sense, but the very discordance it’s aiming for is what ultimately makes it something of a bum note.

It does this by finally making overt the difference between the two halves of the show’s principal cast. Characters like Strand, Alicia, Dwight, Morgan and Al are fundamentally concerned with securing the present. Characters like June and to a lesser extent Sarah and Luciana, are concerned with building for the future. Here that conflict becomes overt as the very act of instability that could give Morgan the opening he wants, actually gives June and co the chance to force negotiations with Ginny.

This fascinates me because the show is making overt the fundamental problem with its own story. The world ended ten years ago. People are still here. Now what? World Beyond is exploring that through the clash between the CRM and others. Fear looks to be exploring it through the realisation that Ginny is making some good calls for some very bad reasons. In other words, while Morgan and co are planning to take her down, June and Luciana and co are trying to preserve some of her infrastructure. The world has ended. They’re still there. Now what?

All of this combine to give the cast a lot to do but the episode feels oddly flat. Yes there’s a massive explosion in Tanker Town, and yes there are multiple Walker fights but ultimately this is still a small scale, intimate character study which, for the first time this season, feels a little off tempo.

Verdict: It’s still great but it’s a different kind of great and that takes some adjustment. But trust me, it’s worth it. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart