Down Cemetery Road Recap: Hide and Seek

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This week’s search for the mysterious woman reaches a turning point, as both Downey and Sarah locate her – though independently. While finding her felt like the end of the journey, it actually opens up a lot more questions. Now they need to figure out what to do with her and where to take her. The biggest question of all, though, is whether Zoë is still alive. It would be a surprise if she were gone, considering this is the first book in the Zoë Boehm series, but the show has been taking some liberties with the original story as it heads toward the finale, and anything could happen. Director Börkur Sigþórsson beautifully captures the dramatic Scottish island setting, emphasizing the sharp cliffs, rough waters, and biting wind. The cold weather even interferes with Nev and Ty’s soccer game at the beginning of this week’s episode.

Downey and Amos arrive on the island separately, interrupting a game of ball. Suddenly, Ty is shot while retrieving the ball, and Nev is quickly shot as well. Steph watches on the security cameras as a hooded figure moves through the building, and everything points to Amos being the attacker – his face is hidden and he acts fast. This suspicion follows Steph and Dinah as the figure pursues them, but surprisingly, he lowers his weapon when he reaches them. Dinah excitedly runs to embrace her Uncle Mike Downey, a heartwarming moment after a season of build-up. Meanwhile, Downey, who had run out of medication, finds some old Histropine pills in the lab – they seem expired, but they’re enough to give him some relief. Dinah shows Downey her blue teddy bear, which he immediately recognizes as being tampered with. He asks her to hold onto it, then abandons it when he sees Amos approaching on the security cameras.

When Amos gets close – just over a mile away – he surprisingly hops on an old four-wheeler instead of continuing to walk. It makes you wonder what all that treadmill work was for! Maybe his heavy gun was weighing him down. When he reaches the building where Downey previously found Dinah, he discovers Nev is still alive and quickly takes care of him. Downey then cuts the security camera feed and guides Dinah and Steph through the building and out the other side. Amos doesn’t find them, but he does find a teddy bear left alone in a room. Frustrated he can’t shoot anyone, he callously shoots the innocent toy. What a cruel thing to do!

Downey has a major advantage because he’s incredibly familiar with the island, having been exiled there for a long time. He’s hiding Dinah and Steph while Sarah and Zoë try to reach the island, but they’re completely lost, and Zoë is very sick. The captain remains locked up, and the others refuse his help – until the boat runs out of fuel, leaving them no choice. Sarah demands the captain not be condescending, which is ironic considering she stole his boat! It turns out the English have a history of taking things – including this island, which was secretly erased from maps for government use. Their differences seem impossible to overcome, but everything changes when Sarah explains they’re trying to expose the English government’s misdeeds. The captain, surprised, immediately turns the boat around. Sarah and Zoë had been relying on a broken compass, but the captain knows the exact route.

Driving towards the island, Zoë becomes emotional as she remembers Joe, reciting a Philip Larkin poem – “Toads Revisited” – that meant a lot to him and inspired the show’s title. She tells Sarah that Joe was a kind, trusting person who always saw the best in people. This led him to help others overcome difficult challenges, and Sarah points out that Zoë reminds her of him. Emma Thompson portrays Zoë with a deep sense of pain, adding layers to the character that weren’t present in the original story. It’s clear this is a woman who has faced hardship. While Sarah offers her comfort, allowing her to express her feelings, Zoë confesses she simply wants to lash out at someone.

As they reached the island, wading through rough waves, a sense of relief felt close, but a warning sign about land mines quickly appeared. Zoë suspected it was a scare tactic, so Sarah carefully followed her footsteps. They found a cluster of houses on the hilltop, reminiscent of Los Alamos but set against a beautiful landscape. Downey was inside with Steph and Dinah. Steph had thoughtfully grabbed a bag of supplies before they left their old building, though it didn’t really ease her anxiety. She was supposed to be at a bachelorette party right now! She was also deeply worried about Dinah, and frustrated that she might die before attending her friend’s wedding or escaping this crazy situation. She voiced her fears to Downey just as Sarah loudly called his name. Amos was pursuing them on a four-wheeler, but Downey managed to get Sarah and Zoë inside to safety.

Sarah comes face-to-face with Dinah, who is very different from the person Sarah imagined. It’s an emotional moment – Sarah is finally meeting the real Dinah, the woman who inspired her. She gives Dinah a card she’s kept from Ziggy. (Let’s not forget about Wigwam, though!) The scene is so touching that even Zoë is unusually quiet, simply apologizing to Downey when she meets him. Unfortunately, Amos interrupts the peaceful moment, circling the house and firing at the windows. As everyone ducks for cover, Dinah runs to Downey, and everyone fears she’ll be hit. In a tragic act, Steph tries to intervene and is fatally shot.

Downey comes up with a plan to distract Amos and allow Sarah, Zoë, and Dinah to escape on one of the many boats appearing on the island. Sarah initially hesitates, but Downey points out that Amos is after him, and they’ve risked everything to keep Dinah safe. As Amos enters the building, Zoë and Sarah take Dinah and leave. Downey fires a gun outside to draw Amos’s attention away from them. Downey then grabs a four-wheeler while Amos shows off his own driving skills. He wonders why there are so many functional, fueled vehicles in this seemingly abandoned location, and why they’re all in such good condition.

Downey puts up a fantastic fight, but ultimately fails. He skillfully leads Amos through a complicated path, but misses the final, crucial shot. His last bullet hits someone—either Nev or Ty—who were lying nearby and being used as cover by Amos. Like last week’s train chase, the action sequences in this episode were well-done and incredibly suspenseful. As Amos corners Downey, shooting him in the leg and looming over him, I kept waiting for Zoë, Sarah, or someone else to suddenly appear and take Amos down. When Amos starts boasting about how he’s going to kill Downey, it felt like a classic mistake. The show seems to enjoy challenging the unwavering optimism often seen in American characters. Fehinti Balogun brilliantly portrays Amos’s dark desire for revenge, conveying it with a nearly imperceptible, silent tear as he fatally stabs Downey. It’s a subtle detail—you might miss the tear entirely if you aren’t closely watching his face. After killing Downey, Amos cuts off one of his dreadlocks and places it inside Axel’s small red book.

You’d expect someone to feel better after getting revenge, but Amos is a psychopath, and once he starts something, he can’t stop. He still wants to harm Zoë, so she comes up with a risky plan. She’ll distract him while Sarah leads Dinah to his small boat. Then, Zoë hopes Sarah can circle around and pick her up from the beach. They know it’s a long shot, but it’s all they’ve got. Sarah’s biggest problem is figuring out how to get Dinah and herself down the steep cliff – there are no ropes to help. Looking over the edge, they see the boat below and realize they’ll have to jump into the water. Sarah explains this to Dinah, admitting she’s scared. It’s interesting that Sarah is now forced to jump to save herself, mirroring how she almost died earlier by acting on impulse – showing real character development! Dinah and Sarah jump, but it feels like it would have been safer if Sarah had held onto Dinah during the jump.

Amos starts shooting at Zoë, but she manages to hide behind a rock, dodging his shots. He seems to give up and turns to leave, but Sarah suddenly starts yelling, drawing unwanted attention to their location. Amos quickly returns to the cliff edge, gaining a clear view of the open beach Zoë needs to cross to reach the boat. With no other option, Zoë makes a desperate run for it. The boat captain watches from a distance, clearly disapproving of their reckless behavior. Amos fires as Zoë runs, and she tragically hits a landmine – proving they were actually live explosives. She hits another, and then a final one sends her tumbling forward. Amos is grimly satisfied as he watches her body fly through the air before turning his attention to the small dinghy. Sarah speeds away in the boat, sobbing uncontrollably.

Paper Trail

This week, the investigation led Janice to London. She used a number Zoë gave her, worried Zoë might be unreachable. She reached Detective Inspector Varma – you might recall him – who sent her copies of the unidentified man’s autopsy and other documents. This prompted Janice to research Talia Ross and contact her through Cheski. Talia then contacted C, wanting to know what was happening. She revealed a police source indicated a link between a doctor and foreign military operations, and that this doctor, Isaac Wright, had died under suspicious circumstances. C acted as if he knew nothing about it, trying to get Talia to reveal her source, but she refused. He kept his own secrets close, even as Talia warned him that betraying her trust would have serious consequences, ranging from a simple reprimand to imprisonment.

It’s strange Malik didn’t make it to the meeting, especially since he had a helicopter. It makes you wonder if he’s deliberately staying hidden and letting others fight it out. Things aren’t looking promising for him, and Amos still has plenty of ammunition left.

Why were Nev, Ty, and Steph shown pictures of the chemical burns last week, considering they all die in this episode? Could this detail reappear in the finale?

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2025-12-03 15:56