Unable to deal with the loss of his son, Dwight returns to his old home and drinks himself into a stupor. But when a survivor begs him for help in getting his insulin out of Sanctuary, the old Savior base, he and Sherry both find themselves facing their demons.

Austin Amelio and Christina Evangelista’s exhausted, cheerily violent ethical(ish) cowboys have been one of the best elements of the show for years and this episode is no exception. It also takes the speed run element from last week and turns it into something much more interesting. This week Dwight and Sherry don’t just face their trauma, they destroy it once and for all.

The use of the Sanctuary is both very smart production and rings the entire episode like a bell with narrative resonance. This is a place where atrocities happened constantly. Dwight committed some of them. Dwight and Sherry both fell victim to some of them. Having them process the loss of their son, and each other, on ground this soaked in other people’s blood was always going to work and both Amelio and Evangelista run at Justin Boyd and David Johnson’s script head on. My favourite moment by far is the pair of them back-to-back, surrounded by Walkers, having a screaming argument even as they watch each other’s backs. Never change, you magnificent bastards.

Director Phil McLaughlin also does some really interesting stuff here, with snap fire rapid flashes of moments from their time at the Sanctuary showing just how hard the pair are working to stay full conscious let alone sane. There’s some smart choices at every level here, and Dwight and Sherry as a pair of blood-soaked romantics is always a fun road for the show to go down.

Not everything works perfectly, and June’s sudden crisis of confidence when Dove is injured feels a little forced. That being said, Jenna Elfman, and Jayla Walton as Dove, do good work here and Walton in particular seems primed for bigger roles.

Verdict: In the end this is a story not about zombies but ghosts. Ghosts that Dwight and Sherry finally lay to rest the only way they know how. With exuberant, heroic, clumsy action. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart