Hostage giveth, and Hostage taketh away. Old James Bond might’ve been spared in the last episode, but now we’ve lost Julie Delpy and Toussaint. RIP to a real one. At least she goes out with a literal bang, I suppose, after a fiery and redemptive monologue about truth in politics, which Delpy kills — and to have her die saving Matheo’s life is a nice way to tie off their arc. Is it incredibly silly, and once again unlikely, that he would bring a laptop full of incriminating evidence that was so conspicuously left inside his flat to Downing Street? Absolutely. Would he get it past their security team? Well, I’m no expert on the ins and outs of Number 10, but it seems implausible. But hey, if you hadn’t already parked any expectation of realism somewhere around the time that the Prime Minister’s husband was kidnapped on an aid mission abroad, you’re probably watching the wrong show. (This is when someone in the comments tells me that this actually did happen once, and that I’m the moron.)
On the plus side, we finally have an alias for the head terrorist, so I can stop thinking about synonyms for “head terrorist.” It seems he’s a guy called Shagan. If he’s anything like Saskia — who we now know to have been a Corporal in the Highland Guards, discharged after her battalion was closed after Dalton’s budget cuts — he’s likely ex-military, which would explain why Alex’s captors were so organized. (The fact that he has dozens of high-security access passes, including one that allows him to access the press line at Number 10, suggests that he either has powerful benefactors or is himself well-connected.) Shagan’s scheme to assassinate Dalton almost goes perfectly, and he must leave Downing Street thinking that she’s dead; boy, does he have a surprise waiting for him in the finale. How did Dalton survive, you might ask? Luck, I suppose. Well, plot armor. But let’s say luck.
It’s not even the first assassination attempt of the episode. Earlier, Toussaint went to the French embassy to take part in Adrienne’s interrogation. She manages to say nothing — aside from requesting a coffee — in the hour before Toussaint’s arrival. Adrienne risks life in prison for treason, but if she gives Toussaint a name, she’ll be allowed to return home to France. (Why did Adrienne get involved with Shagan’s scheme in the first place? She accuses Toussaint of being a fraud for drifting towards the political right before the election. Fair enough, really. But maybe playing a part in blackmail and murder was a step too far.) Shagan instructs Saskia to kill Adrienne before she can say anything, so Saskia sets up a rifle in a building opposite the embassy, sort of like The Killer; just like Michael Fassbender’s titular hitman, she misses her shot. Toussaint and Adrienne are whisked into the back of a car, and Toussaint demands a name. Hence, the reveal of “Shagan”.
Back in Downing Street, a political hit job is in motion. In the wake of the public unrest stoked by Shagan and his cronies, the country has descended into chaos. The Home Secretary is torn from his car and beaten nearly to death by a mob coordinated by Shagan, barely escaping with a fractured skull and a bleed to the brain. Dalton’s cabinet is shaken by the attack, making a point that, unlike the PM, none of them have armed security standing on their doorstep. She has already been put through the ringer — plus, this is the day after she has had to identify her dead father at the morgue — and now comes further misery: the cabinet wants her to stand down to end the violence nationwide. “The majority of people renounce this kind of violence,” Dalton pleads. “But even they think you’ve put them at risk by not resigning,” counters Dan Ogilvy (Pip Carter), the sharp-tongued, ambitious secretary of defense who clearly smells blood in the water. Dalton refuses, ever defiant, so they table a motion of no confidence to be voted on in parliament. “If you want me gone, you’re going to have to drag me out of here,” she says.
Dalton suspects that Ogilvy, with his military connections, might actually be the puppetmaster of an attempted coup. He would be the one to step into her shoes if she were forced to resign, so he has everything to gain from the crisis. She reconciles with Kofi, who is exonerated from treason; it turns out he just used insider knowledge to profit from a tax loophole, hence the offshore account. And who hasn’t done that? Besides, he spent the money on respite care for his wife. “It was illegal, unethical, the worst decision of my life, and I’d do it all over again,” he tells Dalton. A virtuous man who wants to do good — love him. Nonetheless, he’s the only person Dalton can trust to look into Ogilvy for her. He draws a blank; it seems Ogilvy is clean. In the meantime, Alex returns to the U.K., and we get a nice moment wherein Dalton, Sylvie, and Alex emotionally reunite.
Towards the beginning of the episode, the video exposing Toussaint and Matheo’s affair finally leaks, which inspires her to leave her husband, Elias (Vincent Perez), and shift back to the ideological middle ground, realising that she has been led astray by the people around her. “This isn’t about Matheo. This is about us,” she tells Elias. “We don’t see things the same way. We never have.” He might credit himself and his news empire with putting Toussaint in power, but she still wouldn’t have become president if she wasn’t strong, competent, and popular in her own right. Basically, she finally sees the light, which should probably have tipped us off on her imminent death.
When she meets with Dalton towards the end of the episode, she agrees to sign an emergency drug agreement that will see the U.K. receive vital medical supplies within the next 24 hours. She wants nothing in return. “For too long, I’ve listened to the wrong voices. I’ve allowed myself to be led into making the wrong decisions, in an attempt to maintain my position,” she tells the assembled news teams outside Downing Street, a defiant Dalton by her side. “People want the truth from their politicians. It’s the least you deserve.” Unfortunately, the last-minute deal isn’t enough to stop Dalton’s parliamentary colleagues from ousting her, and she loses the no-confidence vote by 22. Soon thereafter, boom: the laptop blows. The entrance to Downing Street is obliterated. Bye-bye, Toussaint. You’ll be sorely missed — and hopefully Shagan gets the bomb or bullet that he deserves.
Hostage Demands
• Kofi spends his time on gardening leave, literally gardening. Have I already mentioned how much I love this brilliant man?
• This is really Delpy’s episode. My favorite moment: soon after Adrienne’s assassination attempt, when her car pulls up to Downing Street, she composes herself and power walks into Number 10. Mother, etc.
• It feels like a fool’s errand to pick holes in a schlocky popcorn thriller like this, but would it really be so simple to set up a sniper nest in a building immediately opposite the French embassy? Not least at a time of crisis. But eh, who cares. Drama!