Strand, paranoid and increasingly violent, is enraged when a radio is found in Howard’s room. When baby Mo disappears, John makes his move to become Strand’s right hand man. As the search for the baby expands, Howard, John and June circle each other and not all of them will make it out alive…

Another excellent character study, this time a three way dance between Strand, Howard and John. Omid Abtahi’s Howard has been an increasingly frenzied part of Strand’s dystopia but here he gets welcome context. Howard, like everyone in the show, is the hero of his own story, obsessed with the possibility his family will find him at the tower and be impressed by what he’s helped do. It doesn’t work, of course, but like Strand he can’t see the house he’s building is being constructed on the dead. It’s a tragic, nightmarish role and one Abtahi finishes out here with real class and subtlety.

Colman Domingo has been a vital part of this show since the start and this episode is no exception. Strand is absolutely convinced he’s in the right and, every now and then, we see that slip and him realize he’s just a dictator dancing in the ruins. Domingo plays that to the hilt here, even as John struggles to somehow steer him towards his better nature.

And that brings us to Dorie Senior. Keith Carradine is a legendary presence and his combination of calm and fervour has made the character something very special in a cast full of remarkable talents. This episode sees John pushed far pas this limits. The key moment here comes when June asks John whether he’s drinking. Instead he reveals he planted the walkie in Howard’s room. June is horrified, not because he’s done it but because he’s done it again; the last cop on Earth planting evidence, convinced he’s going to do the right thing this time, unable to see he’s destroying himself.

Except, in the end, he does see it and uses his destruction as someone else’s salvation. The end of the episode sees John, in makeshift armour made from Howard’s historical relics, walk through the moat of Walkers around the tower to deliver Grace back to her dad. The fact he’s wearing an old Tommy’s helmet, and the scene is scored by a lullaby being sung to Grace, makes the sacrifice almost impossible to watch. John is already dying from radiation poisoning and this, he chooses, is a better way to go. He gets a moment of serenity when Grace is saved followed by his final scene: terrified and alone, being torn apart by Walkers to buy Morgan and Grace time to escape. He doesn’t get an easy end, because no one does here, but the legacy he spends the episode obsessing over is at least secure.

Verdict: Bleak, powerfully acted and continuing to clear the stage for the big finish, this is another very strong, very hard episode of a great season. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart