The Bennetts make their move, and take a hostage. The battle for the Perimeter begins and Dennis picks a side.

No one is playing nice anymore and in one of the show’s best and sneakiest moves, that also involves the relationship between the characters and the audience. This week, the Bennetts are ahead of the audience for the first time. Their escape plan was always going to be discovered, they were always going to be exposed. It’s just now, thanks to the tunnels beneath the facility, they decided to make that a feature not a bug. It’s a smart play, as is taking Mason (Will Meyers) along as collateral.  This is pretty clearly their end game, and its notable the Bennetts are taken off the board until at least next episode here but this is a hell of a start to their final act.

But the real meat of the episode is at the Perimeter. Jadis (Pollanna McIntosh) chooses a side and, thanks to Brody (Lee Spencer), who wants to run the Perimeter, it’s absolutely the wrong side. The complex web of Huck lying, Jadis knowing but not quite having enough evidence, Brody wanting power, and the Perimeter being caught in the middle is brilliantly tense and well realized. Everyone has a secret, everyone has a hand on the trigger but no one is quite ready to fight. Yet.

That’s not true in Perimeter itself. A chilling moment, and a season highlight, sees Jadis tell Adira (Anna Khaja) that she admires her artistry, and as a former artist and junk cult leader herself she has good taste. But she also knows that art can inspire and that’s not what the CRM want so, with only a slightly heavy heart, she orders the Perimeter culled. For a split second you actually think the show is about to lose two lead characters, with Elton (Nicholas Cantu) in particular front and centre in the firing line. Then Dennis (Maximilian Osinski) and Will (Jelani Alladin)  and Silas (Hal Cumpston) make their move and it looks like the show might be about to lose three main characters. We’re sure a lot of people aren’t making it out of the season finale alive but, so far, there are no major casualties. Although Dennis isn’t looking well…

What matters more is that the fight feels real and scrappy and desperate. The war Iris wanted is here and it’s gone hot straight away. Huck is behind enemy lines, the Bennetts are walking into a possible trap and the Perimeter needs to regroup for a second round.

Verdict: Everything is coming to a head, it’s going to get darker before it gets light and I cannot wait. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart