Troy begins his assault on PADRE, putting together a colossal herd of Walkers and leading them to the island. But no one’s plan survives contact with the enemy…

Nick Bernardone & Jacob Pinion & Kelly Jane Costello’s script isn’t a story you see coming. Haifaa al-Mansour’s direction cranks the focus in on first Troy and Tracy and then Troy and Madison as these two siege engines of relentless violence collide. This is the duel you think the show has been building up to. So of course they work together.

The idea of a new start is the ghost haunting every scene here. Tracy, still the manipulative weapon forged by her dad, finds she’s being shown kindness by the last people she expects. Troy, still a Shakespearean villain, finds honesty and something approaching decency. Madison finds just how far she’s fallen and how far she’s willing to go. It’s all tight, brave stuff that consistently makes choices you do not expect, not the least of which is the brief return of Ben Krennick. The surviving voice of PADRE has been off the table so long everyone forgot about him, including Madison. But he returns here, Daniel Rashid filling the character with righteous fury, to remind Madison and us of what she’s capable of for good and ill. Ben saw his sister killed and Madison stand by and do nothing. Madison saw the Krennick children abuse a generation of their peers into an army. No one’s right enough and everyone is somehow still standing and wondering what to do next.

That space is one the show has occupied a lot, and ‘Sanctuary’ earlier this season explores it in some very successful, hopeful ways. The success is here too, and Madison and Troy’s brief team up against Ben Krennick is especially good fun. One of the other highlights is the Alicia disciples and Madison annihilating a third of the herd and Odessa leading the effort to turn the rest away. There’s a real sense of community, of everyone being on the same page. That’s even reflected in Troy, who finally tells the story about how Alicia killed Tracy’s mother. It’s a great moment for Daniel Sharman, exhausted and furious and, it turns out, entirely false.

The final reveal here is superb. Alicia didn’t directly kill Tracy’s mother, her example did. She went out to help someone, was ambushed, critically injured and Troy had to put her down. It’s the sort of offhand cruelty the franchise has always excelled at and here it serves to show just how far Troy has been pushed. He’s built this narrative to convince Tracy, and himself, that the fight is worthwhile when in reality fighting is all Troy knows. It’s great, dark, bleak stuff and it opens the door to a very different relationship with Troy.

One Madison ends by stabbing him to death with Alicia’s arm. In one, stunning, final scene we see she’s fallen all the way and we learn that Tracy isn’t Troy’s kid. She’s Alicia’s. Madison has just killed the only father her granddaughter knows, in front of her. It’s a perfect closing note for the doomed relationship between Troy and Madison and one hell of a set up for the final episode. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart