Having been saved by his daughter, the Man in Black (Ed Harris) reflects on why his wife/her mother killed herself, and the humans turn Maeve’s mind control to their advantage.

I imagine it it was pure serendipity that this episode aired in the States on Father’s Day, but fluke or not, William’s ‘Worst Father Ever’ persona has not only reinforced why daughter Grace (Katja Herbers) has daddy issues but taken him to a whole new level of ‘bad dad’.

Ed Harris is great in this role, and kudos to the writers that by spending time on his back story they haven’t made him more sympathetic. He recognises that there’s a stain in his soul, but rather than this being something he developed, it was actually there all the time and he just finally shed his skin. William is paranoid and believes that he’s still being played by Ford, and his belief that Grace is a host is well argued, but he discovers all too late the error of his judgement. And why is he digging in his own arm? Surely he can’t be…?

But it’s not all about William, as the other leads take significant steps in preparing for the finale. Bernard ditches Elsie, knowing that he has to go it alone for the final showdown. It’s all very clear now that the stolen personas of the guests are being stored in The Forge, and hence the ultimate weapons for the synths. Maeve is having her Jedi mind powers exploited and being turned against her people – they’re turned into psychopathic savages – and there’s a lovely scene where ‘ghost in the machine’ Ford (Anthony Hopkins) tells her how much he loved her.

And finally… FINALLY!… the Dolores/Teddy arc has some momentum. The former has done little this year but go badass with a Clint Eastwood snarl, while Teddy has been turned into a beast. He struggles to live with it and because he could never hurt Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) he takes the only way out. Her silent scream is chilling as we finally see the emotion that has been absent for so long.

Verdict: I expressed a concern at the end of Episode 7 that this season had peaked to early ahead of the finale. I needn’t have worried, as we’ve been treated to two very different but equally insightful instalments that answers and insight do they we’re hitting the final hour with a full magazine of bullets, ready for the showdown. 9/10

Nick Joy