After weeks of tightly wound tension and intrigue, things really come to a head in tonight's season finale of Smother when Alanna and Val face off in an epic showdown that leaves the whole family reeling.
Val is determined to confront Alanna once and for all but when her investigation twists once more toward a surprising and dark conclusion, she realises, too late, that an even darker and more dangerous threat is brewing much, much closer to home.
Speaking about tonight's explosive episode, Hilary Rose, who first rose to fame in The Young Offenders, and who plays the scheming Alanna in Smother, says she doesn't see her character as a villain.
"I almost view Alanna as like a sleeper cell until episode five and then it just kicks off," she says. "It's definitely been fun to play, and I really built up a relationship with cast and crew so it's nice to reach that particular scene with Val, which is really big and know that I was safe to do it and safe to mess up and all those things."
"I don't see Alanna as devious at all," she adds. "I think she's great! Bad guys never see themselves as bad guys and they just do what they do because they think it's righteous and justified in their minds.
"Poor old wounded Alanna. She's had a bit of a rough ride, so retribution is well due.
Closer to the background in series one of Smother, both Frank (Conor Mullen) and Alanna have moved centre stage in the new season and both actors are relishing the attention.
"Frank in series one was a prime suspect," says Conor. "A lot of people thought there was something shady about Frank and then as things developed, Frank was just a casualty of Denis's reign.
"At the end of series one, Frank and Alanna get together as a business partnership and then we see them holding hands.
"It was really interesting; we talked about how we wanted to present their relationship so it wasn't an arch villain and a duped, lost man. We worked hard to give them as real a relationship as we could.
"We have the big scene tonight between Val and Alanna and there's more at stake now. It has a much greater cost. There's a bigger dramatic bang."
Hilary didn't expect her character to have such a dramatic arc. "I was offered the role and I said, 'Great. Where we filming? Lahinch? Awesome! Let's go!'
"I was told, 'We'd like to develop the character for season two'. And I said, 'Great! Where we going? Lahinch? Brilliant!' This job was so lovely in that I didn't expect Alanna to become a villain, but when I saw it I thought, 'This is amazing' because I love villainy and I love playing villains. I was so happy."
The season finale of Smother airs on RTÉ One at 9.30pm.
