Negan returns. Dwight makes some choices. Simon makes some very, very bad choices. Eugene has a terrible day.

It’s taken a long time but this season we’ve had a couple of truly fantastic Negan episodes. After being required to do little more than spout unconvincing dialogue for the longest time, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has finally been allowed to cut loose and Good Lord does he have fun doing it.

This episode focuses on four men: Negan, Simon, Dwight and Eugene. Eugene, running the bullet factory, is doubling down on his loyalty while being as over-articulate as possible. He’s also part of one of the side plots here that feel like the things the show does when it realizes that a character hasn’t had anything to do for a while. His attempted kidnapping by Daryl and Rosita is fun, and it’s cute to see Eugene can vomit on command but it doesn’t actually do that much.

Elsewhere, Austin Amelio and Steven Ogg turn in some of their best work on the show to date. Amelio has always been good but his constantly thinking, constantly working Dwight is a delight to watch here. He may not win but does he try hard.

Ogg, best known for his work on Grand Theft Auto V, has had a much less consistent run to date. Like all the Saviors, he’s been required to do little more than spout overly macho overly articulate threats and it got boring a season ago. His brief rise to power here, and the brutal one on one fight with Negan, are his finest hours even if they’re his last on the show.

But this episode is all Negan and for the second time in a while, it deserves to be. Morgan’s swaggering good ole boy has rarely been more disturbing and you get a good look at his ethics here. Negan really is a hero. To Negan. As far as he’s concerned he’s saving people from themselves and if they resist that is not his fault. It’s a monstrous role, touching, finally on the Shakespearean notes it’s been aiming for and Morgan has a blast. And, again, so do we.

Verdict: A good deck clearer for the finale and a chance for some of the show’s best to show their best. Confined, constrictive and well done. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart