The new episode of Emmerdale opens with a series of dramatic events following the previous episode, when Aaron Dingle unexpectedly finds Mackenzie Boyd’s phone in John Sugden’s belongings.

From that moment, viewers implicitly understand that Aaron is on the brink of life and death.

Aaron rushes to the truck in the hope of escaping the cabin and finding his friend.

But John quickly realizes the truth and with terrifying coldness, he tricks Aaron into going back inside.

To hide his intentions, John pretends to care, gives Aaron a glass of water and forces him to drink it. Despite being afraid of the strange substance in it, Aaron still has to force himself to follow, trying to suppress the fear in his heart.

As soon as John leaves to do his “errand”, Aaron immediately tries to vomit the water, then rushes to find Mackenzie. In a parallel development, John arrives at the secret basement where Mackenzie is being held. He does not save her, but cruelly leaves a syringe filled with poison, implying that Mack should “free himself” or else wait in vain. The image of Mackenzie sitting in the dark, shaking with the syringe, makes the audience shiver.

In an instant, both Aaron and Mackenzie are thrown into a life-or-death situation – one fighting the poison, the other facing a life-or-death choice. This is the beginning of the most heart-wrenching climax of Emmerdale in years.