Eugene, Yumiko and Ezekiel meet Princess who is the absolute best. The Alexandrians regroup in the wake of the colony and Alden and Aaron find themselves in the right place at absolutely the wrong time

What a deeply weird episode this is, the de facto season finale despite the final episode of this year being filmed. With social distancing in effect, the VFX crews couldn’t quite finish the finale in time and as a result, this is the de facto finale for the next few months. We get the second spin-off and the finale later in the year but for now, this is it.

And weirdly, it’s actually kind of a brilliant finale.

First off, Beta, whose newly Alpha-ized mask is horrifying and who is instantly shown to not be a tenth of the leader she was. Brutal, mildly panicked and unsure of both his role and what to do, Beta is a tragic nightmare of a man and one whose tangible threat is as much down to his unpredictability as anything else. There’s a moment of jet black comedy here as he looks out across Alexandria, filled to the brim with his horde, and realizes he has no idea what to do next. He’s a curiously human villain, arguably more so than Alpha and while I doubt he’s making it out of the season, he’s certainly leaving a mark on the way.

But to my tremendous surprise, the episode belongs to everyone’s two favourite MurderUncles and to Princess. The Uncles first. Negan is now very definitely on side, and no one is sure how to feel about that. Cassady McClincy as Lydia is fantastic in her scenes with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, completely unsure of how to feel about this glorious catastrophe of a man who has killed her mother, but saved her life. Likewise , Norman Reedus is excellent as Daryl, stepping into the parental role for Judith now both Michonne and Rick are off the board. Again, Cailey Fleming is fantastic as the younger part of the duo, simultaneously studious and impulsive.

But the episode belongs to Princess. Paola Lázaro’s joyous machine gun wielding performance artist gives the show its first legitimate comedy plot in years as she leads Eugene, Yumiko and Ezekiel the scenic route to her transport. The moment they spot this, and call her on it, is one of the best the show has ever done and Lázaro plays the reveal that Princess has basically been alone for years beautifully. Likewise Josh McDermitt, who gets a moment of genuine maturity and pathos here as Eugene. Eugene knows where Princess has been living, emotionally, for a while now. He isn’t there anymore and, better still, is able to help someone else leave too. That’s a massive turnaround for the character, one McDermitt does brilliantly and it continues Eugene’s slow rise to the top of the cast.

Verdict: Nothing is resolved here, because it was never going to be. But in a sense, that actually works better than most season finales. This is a show about striving, seeking, finding and refusing to yield. This episode does all of that and does it well. Bring on The World Beyond and the season finale. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart