Wounded and on the run, Madison is rescued by a familiar face who doesn’t want to be recognised…

The Fear The Walking Dead endgame is underway and Madison Clark is kicking stuff over just like she always does. This is a very weird time to be doing what amounts to a soft re-pilot but that’s basically what this is. We get Madison back in the saddle as the head of PADRE, we get Colman Domingo’s superb Victor Strand getting a third act and we get the return of arguably the show’s Negan, Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman).

The core of the episode is rock solid, and as the show often has, approaches the characters from a surprising angle. Madison seen from the outside is a frankly terrifying force of nature and for Victor Strand very much the Ghost of Murders Past. Kim Dickens attacks the role with gusto here and her refusal to let Victor rest in his new life is one part necessity and one part vengeance. She sees it, Victor does too, and they both put it aside to build on the trust that their years together have built.

As for Victor, it seems reductive to say Colman Domingo is brilliant here but he is. He always is. Victor’s new life as ‘Anton’ with husband Frank (Isha Blaaker) and son Klaus (Julian Grey) is what they’ve all always strived for: a home. A place to build and do good. It plays a lot like a second run at Strand’s Tower but with the blank slate of anonymity rather than the gravity of reputation. It’s a great move and it gives Domingo both a pair of excellent scene partners in Blaaker and Grey but also something new to play: fear. Victor does not want to be Victor, and there are subtle echoes here to Negan’s situation in Dead City. The difference is that Negan has no choice and Victor does. He chooses to come clean, to be himself, to save lives. Whether that damns either man is unclear at present but in the case of this show, it lines the forces up nicely for the final conflict.

The return of Daniel Sharman’s Troy Otto is the show’s darkest joy. Sharman was always great as the preening, dead-eyed militia man and his return gives him and us a chance to see how Troy’s changed. He’s still furious, still every inch Madison’s equal and even more manipulative. But he’s also tired. He wants a home. He wants somewhere to live. The fact he gets to take it from Madison is simply the icing on the cake.

Verdict: Writers Nazrin Choudhury & Justin Boyd’s decision to focus on these three powerhouses pays off over and over. Dickens, Domingo and Sharman turn in excellent work throughout, the new characters register and the new stakes are neatly put in place.  Top notch directing in what I think is her debut for season regular Danay Garcia too. Here comes the endgame. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart