Emmerdale character shot as John and Cain battle in early ITVX release

The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.

A showdown in the woods, once again involving John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth), has ended with a gun going off in Emmerdale.

It was at the start of this month that saw John’s time run out, as partner Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) discovered the truth about him.

Right by the edge of a gorge, Aaron worked hard to try and get John to hand himself into the police. He got close to succeeding in his plan, but Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) turned up and left John startled.

To the killer, it looked as though Robert and Aaron had been working together. John then grabbed his husband and threw them both off a cliff face.

Aaron and John were rushed to hospital. John’s injuries weren’t as severe as Aaron’s, which meant he woke up fairly quickly. Due to the fact Aaron was in a coma for quite a few days, it allowed John to manipulate people around him, causing them to believe Robert had pushed them both in a violent and jealous rampage.

Everything changed for John last week, when Aaron woke up from his coma and confirmed his husband was holding Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) hostage.

The police and Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) raced to the cottage location but when they found the bunker, it was empty.

This was because John had got there before everyone else. He pulled a drugged Mackenzie from the lair and handed him to a staff member at a nearby hospital. He explained that Mack had overdosed, needed urgent medical care, and then disappeared.

Mack was found, and the rest of the villagers also learnt that John was responsible for murdering Nate Robinson, among other crimes.

Of course, one person who has struggled to process this twist about John is Nate’s father Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley). He had spent the past few months believing a man called Owen Michaels killed Nate, and also accepted John’s support. The fact Nate’s true murderer was hiding so close to him left Cain a very angry man, and tonight he attempted to get revenge.

His plan involved brother Caleb Miligan (William Ash), who had organised for John to hide in one of the depot trucks. Caleb got inside and drove the vehicle out of the village, with John believing he was about to go on the run.

Caleb stopped the truck in the middle of the woods. When he opened the door, he pointed a shotgun at John. It was made to look as though Caleb had plans to pull the trigger but that absolutely wasn’t the case. Lurking in the bushes, waiting for his moment, was Cain.

The showdown allowed Cain to unleash his anger towards John. He commented on how John helped carry Nate’s coffin at the funeral, assisted the family through their grieving process, and thinks that his hero complex makes John ‘pathetic’.

Sitting in the van, Caleb suddenly had a change of heart and raced through the woods to find Cain, before it was too late.

The problem with John is that he is always one step ahead of everyone else. Standing in a freshly dug grave, John told Caleb and Cain that he has a scheduled email prepared, and intends to send it to the police and tell them about Anthony Fox’s murder, should they fail to go through with the plan.

It was simple – if Cain pulled the trigger, the email would get sent but if John went to prison instead, he would still tell the police about Anthony’s death. It seemed the only way to keep Caleb and Cain’s loved ones safe was to let John go.

The situation changed again for the brothers when John managed to leap out of the grave with a rock in his hand. He came close to hitting Cain with it, but he was too slow.

The episode ended with the gun going off – but who has been shot?