Strand commissions a painting. Morgan makes a choice. Death comes to the tower.

This is a tragedy, an acting masterclass by two of the best actors on the planet right now and a truly, gloriously, inspired piece of post-apocalyptic faintly absurd nightmare fuel. This episode is a lot. All of it is Great.

The tragedy, and one of those actors, first. Coleman Domingo has almost always been the best part of this show and this week he turns it up even further. His Strand is mercurial, violent, terrified, grief-stricken, furious and lonely. So convinced of his own legend that he commissions a portrait and so guilt ridden by his monstrous actions he incriminates himself with Wendell, Strand is a Shakespeare villain with a tower block kingdom and the dead at the door and Domingo shows us it all. All of which leads to the moment where, poisoned, alone, terrified and guilty he reaches for Morgan’s hand and…

Let’s talk about Lennie James, one of the talents of his generation and the rock around which this show increasingly revolves. Morgan is such a hard working, good, decent man that the moment he shows up you breathe out. James has that fundamental reassurance that Denzel Washington has, or Nick Offerman, the sense that he’s here and things have stabilised. That’s why, after months of Strand picking a fight with the one person he trusts to beat him, when Morgan reaches out, Strand takes his hand both literally and metaphorically. There’s this electric moment of unity from the two men and then a curdled one as we and Strand see the blue dye on Morgan’s hands. The same colour as the poison Strand has been fed.

Like I say, a tragedy.

Morgan has no choice. Strand has no choice. The battle lines are finally drawn and as the episode finishes Victor is, well, the victor. He has Grace and Mo, Morgan is barred from the tower and the portrait he threw out at the start is back. Ripped, torn, stamped and bled on by the dead. But still there. No wonder he likes it better.

We haven’t even got to the nightmare fuel yet. This masterclass in acting and nuance is delivered as the two men fight to keep the tower intact as the masked figures seen throughout the episode use a catapult to hurl Empties in through the windows. And explosives too, with the terrifying threat of irradiated Empties as walking dirty bombs released into the crowd around the tower. It’s an absurd sight as we see an Empty smash into the window, storeys up. It’s a terrifying one as we see them smash through. Resources are low, people are getting desperate and the only thing there’s an abundance of is the dead. No wonder they’re ammunition and weapon all in one now.

There is still, somehow, even more. The episode closes with the welcome return of Alicia and an attack, possibly by Strand, deploying chemical weapon infected Empties. The world is getting smaller, everyone is at last back on the same page and now, someone is set to be wiped off it forever. Victor’s number is coming up and it won’t be pretty or merciful but the tragedy he’s built for himself is entering its final act and I promise you won’t be able to look away. Neither will he, even though he wants to and that is the biggest tragedy of all.

Verdict: The best episode in years. Staggeringly good throughout. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart