In the eyes of many in Emmerdale, Kim Tate is the embodiment of power: land, horses, money, influence across the village.

But as Kim lies motionless in hospital, breathing raggedly after the ambush at Home Farm, viewers get a first glimpse of a different Kim: small, fragile, and absolutely not as in control as she thought.

The shooting on the Tate property wasn’t just an accident, it was a symbol of all that Kim has sown over the years, now back to collect.

Before she collapsed in the woods, Kim was in a very dangerous moral position.

She knew she was involved in Craig’s death, she knew Cain had orchestrated the scene with her, she knew Lydia was getting closer to the truth. Kim could choose one of two: either face it directly, open up to Lydia, accept the trade-off of reputation so that a wounded woman can be clearly known, or continue to hide it, pushing Lydia into a life of eternal ambiguity. That hesitation makes any decision of Kim heavy.

When discovering that Sam organized illegal hunting, Kim had the opportunity to vent all her anger on the Dingle family. In her mind, Sam and his family had taken advantage of her trust, turned her land into an illegal hunting ground, and disregarded the power of Tate. Kim rushed out to check, determined to cut off all escape routes of the Dingle family with the most drastic measures. But Emmerdale did not give her time to do that. In just a few minutes of chaos, gunshots rang out, horses panicked, and Kim was pulled straight from the position of queen to the role of victim, lying in the middle of the land she thought had absolute power.