You might be surprised to discover that Episode 7 of "Down Cemetery Road" is not the penultimate episode, despite it feeling like it is. All the hallmarks are there: characters from both sides of the moral divide converge on a remote coastal town in Scotland, some even crossing paths. And yet, for the most part, they manage to avoid each other while making their way to their next destination—presumably their final one. How can the next episode be anything but a finale? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
In the meantime, this episode is rare in that it doesn't actually reveal anything new. The broad shape of what's going on has already been revealed, so we're left with a couple of cat-and-mouse chases, some very funny physical comedy—mostly from Ruth Wilson—and a bit of amateur sleuthing. It's a good thing these characters have so much personality, or "Neglected Waters" would have suffered.
But you can see that personality right away. After following Amos at the end of the previous episode, Zoe finds herself on an overnight train to Scotland with him. But since he spotted the tail, instead of keeping a low profile, he presents himself to her openly, leading Zoe to buy time by befriending the American couple sitting at the next table. There's a lot bundled up in this: it shows how quick-thinking and personable she can be, but it also shows she's terrified, which is a new mode for her and helps give Amos a bit more spooky credibility.
What follows is a taut cat-and-mouse chase through the train as Zoe tries to find somewhere to bed down for the night without Amos catching her. She's eventually able to, mostly through luck, but their separation allows Amos to sneak off the next morning and hijack the taxi transporting the American couple she had befriended. Amos executes them both, calls the police with Zoe's description (he describes her as having "a face of pure evil"), and leaves the Polaroid photo of Zoe posing with the couple at the scene.
Meanwhile, in "Down Cemetery Road" Episode 6, Sarah and Downey are camping out in the woods, but during the night, he disappears, prompting Sarah to venture into town alone. In a shop, she overhears mention of an abandoned military base and heads out there still wearing her hilarious lost-and-found attire. The base has become a haunt for local youths, and Ruth Wilson's interaction with them is a highlight of "Neglected Waters." Everything from her gasping run to her dropping her can of Coke is funny, which is nice since the show really doesn't need to be at this point.
Sarah stumbled her way into the military base, her journey marked by a cleverly crafted edit that hinted at the discovery of Dinah's safehouse—though not quite the destination she found. Instead, she encountered Zoe, who had similarly realized that the base held no secrets of consequence. It was heartening to see these two reunited, their odd-couple chemistry adding a dash of energy to the proceedings, even as they immediately parted ways to pursue their separate investigations.
Zoe spotted a pair of suspicious fishermen, known to be delivering supplies to Dinah's hidden island sanctuary, while Sarah delved into a map at the local pub. When juxtaposed with a map of a puffin tour, the discovery revealed a sixth island in the archipelago that had been deliberately obscured from official cartography.
Sarah overheard the pub's landlady receiving a phone call from the police, alerting her about the deceased American couple and providing a description of Zoe as the prime suspect—armed and dangerous. With Zoe now on the run, Sarah concealed her under her borrowed baseball cap, and together they acquired a boat through slapstick hijinks to sail to the enigmatic island in search of Dinah.
Meanwhile, Downey was headed there too, as was Amos, and not to be forgotten was Malik, who had been armed by C and instructed to take out whoever remained standing after Downey and Amos had their confrontation. You see the buildup? Whatever transpires in the next episode, it's sure to be monumental. But who knows what might happen beyond that?
