Roxanne… you don’t need to put on the red and blue flashing lights.

We return to Roxanne’s story arc and learn her backstory. It goes oh so much deeper than I’d imagined as we find out exactly why, despite the surface-level harmony of the group, things seem so very wrong.

Roxanne is definitely leading a cult and its foundations are built on more lies than a politician’s prime time interview. The hypocrisy of her manipulation of a group of vulnerable women and the way she encourages them to demonise all the men in her life seems utterly lost on her.

This episode shows us what our Roxy is capable of and also offers a window into the reasons behind the evolution of her behaviour. Not to excuse her frightening descent into controlling, narcissistic psychopathy, but at one point she gives a speech that hints bitterly at the lack of value sometimes placed by society upon women of a certain age. Her rage against men, persistent even when they are all long gone, is rooted in the unfairness and mundanity of her previous life as she sees it. If you’d lived the same experiences and felt the same way, day in and day out, would you not grab any chance to reinvent yourself if one crossed your path? Maybe, but without the guns, I expect.

Special mention to Nora, who finds the backbone she seemed to have left behind the sofa. Being an easily cowed doormat will only get you so far before you snap, and when that happens, you’d better hide all the sharp objects…

Verdict: An impressively performed game-changer of an episode. 8/10

Claire Smith