Morgan arrives in Louisiana and is instantly mistaken for The Collector, a hated figure that steals children. Then he meets The Collector: Madison Clark.

The core of this episode is the collision between Morgan and Madison and it does not disappoint. Fear has really steered into this concept of the ‘two-hander’ episode this season and its paid dividends time and again, as it does here. The extra advantage this pairing has is that Morgan has been influenced by the woman Madison was, and in doing so, saves Madison from who she’s become. ‘No one’s gone until they’re gone’ gets used here for the first time in a long time and it has some real thematic weight to it. The show is out from under Teddy, from under the shadow of the bombs and the consequences of them falling and in a new location.

There’s a sense of a new start, even if that’s going to be unusually hard fought for Madison in particular, because the heavy lifting this episode does absolutely moves the characters from the frying pan into the fire. The reveal that PADRE (Or P.A.D.R.E. as it seems to be on a file we get a brief look at) is splitting up families to ‘save’ them sounds like the sort of nihilistic idealism Teddy embraced, just with better stationary. The fact that Morgan risks everyone by telling P.A.D.R.E. where they are in the hopes of getting Baby Mo back means the next season starts with the stakes as high as they can be. It also, cleverly, mirrors some of the later Madison seasons, where bad choices for good reasons were very much the order of the day.

That’s all the fun meta-plot stuff but the meat of the episode really is getting to see Lennie James and Kim Dickens spar with one another. The two characters are a riveting pair, and bring out the essence of each other. Morgan, freed from the conflict with Strand (for now) and faced with a chance to make right for two of his friends, is back to being fiercely, intensely idealistic. Madison, lungs scarred by the fire that apparently killed her and soul scarred by what follows, is grim, determined and pragmatic. Seeing her wake up to her idealism, as Morgan leans into her way of doing things, is a masterclass of writing and acting that keeps the show absolutely where it should be; centred, personal and intense.

Verdict: This is a great episode, rounded out by a memorable guest turn from Lyndon Smith as one of Madison’s victims. It sets up the new status quo, locks the show on a new course and most of all brings Madison, and one of the show’s core values, back to the fore in an entirely new way. A brilliant end to an outstanding and innovative season. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart