The episode begins at the Thames Estuary. Fraser Walker (Richard Dormer) is looking at the sea through binoculars. He speaks to Audrey Hemmings (Alexa Davies) who is with the Royal Navy in the North Sea. Audrey tells Fraser she is concerned about the weather and will never forgive him for sending her asea.

The town is being evacuated in preparation for bad weather. Fraser meets with a group responsible for helping to evacuate the town. He voices his concerns for the elderly who are refusing to evacuate. He thanks the group for helping with the evacuation, which he hopes to be completed by the evening.

The Royal Navy performs a dive in the North Sea. A diver goes down to access a sunken munition ship. The diver runs his finger along the outside of the munition ship. Audrey and two Royal Navy officials watch from above via a computer screen.

A mandatory evacuation order is in effect in the town.

Audrey and Royal Navy officials continue to monitor the dive in progress. Abnormal activity is detected that is believed to be a tremor. The diver continues to access the sunken ship when what appears to be pressure is released from the interior. An alert from the Royal Navy’s computer system prompts officials to issue a command to the drive team. Royal Navy official, Captain Pugwash begins to yell, “Bring him up!”

While the dive team prepares to bring up the diver, pressure from above causes a massive explosion in the North Sea.

Back in the home of Anna Marshall (Victoria Hamilton). Anna Marshall is listening to the news, as her son, Barney Marshall (Joshua Hogan) enters the room. Barney Marshall responds to a media member on TV talking about full COBRA, “That’s fracking.” Anna Marshall questions, “What’s fracking.” He says fracking is contributing to earthquakes. Anna tells her son she is proud to be Gen X. As she prepares to leave for work, she tells her son to “Put the milk back in the fridge or there will be hate speech.”

The new Home Secretary is viewing documents during a ride.

Anna Marshall and Prime Minister Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle) are walking down a hallway. He describes the new Home Secretary as “impressive” and asks Anna if she has reservations. She responds, “I don’t really have an opinion one way or another.” They continue to discuss the Home Secretary.

Home Secretary Joseph Obasi (Richard Pepple) arrives at his destination.

Anna Marshall and Prime Minister discuss the former Prime Minister. He explains how Archie wanted to “whip back”, which he would comply are necessary. Anna was not happy with his response.

Prime Minister and Anna meet with Home Secretary. Prime Minister congratulates Home Secretary Joseph for his victory over the former Home Secretary. Home Secretary Joseph jokes about no longer being viewed as a “black man.” They prepare to attend the COBRA to discuss the earthquakes in Kent.

They enter the Cabinet Office Briefing Room to attend the COBRA. Prime Minister greets the attends and introduces the new Home Secretary. Fraser explains the Royal Navy dive. He expresses his concern for the earth tremors and the hull. Home Secretary Joseph questions Fraser about the reports that suggest there is nothing to “detonate the explosives”. Fraser agrees with the reports but speculates copper azide would detonate the explosive if it were produced. Prime Minister questions if it is necessary to evacuate. Fraser suggests mandating the evacuation to combat any resistance among Kent elderly residents.

Prime Minister explains the what-ifs of the sunken ship hull and tremors. Fraser explains if the hull explodes, the damage will be “enormous”, possibly reshaping the Kent coastline. He compares the situation to the 1917 Nova Scotia incident and Beirut explosion, which left significant damage and casualties.

Fraser iterates the ship will probably not explode. Anna Marshall questions why the shipwreck had not been dealt with previously. The COBRA meeting adjourns.

Mikael Kostenko (Greg Kolpakchi) and two other people are leaving a varsity march at Twickenham Stadium in London. They are talking about traveling to Porto and then Brazil. They get in an awaiting vehicle.

A man and woman carrying what appear to be suitcases enter an elevator, heading to the 4^th floor. They climb a set of steps to the roof. They open their suitcases and pull out to drones. The drones take off from the roof.

A class of students watch the three people get in a helicopter on the school grounds. Teacher Graham Hadleigh (Jonathan Dickson) tries to get control of the students to continue their lesson. The helicopter takes off, as the drones approach. The drone operators begin to shoot at the helicopter before it crashes into the school. The survivors stir around in an attempt to see what is going on.

Peter Mott (Edward Bennett) meets with the former Home Secretary Archie Glover-Morgan (David Haig). The two men discuss Archie retaining his seat with 17 votes and Peter walking away from court a free man. Peter stands up to leave because he does not like the discussion. Archie encourages him to sit back down, so they can discuss Archie’s plan to become a Cabinet member with Peter’s help.

“Morbid symptoms” podcast host Hari Misra (Karan Gill) discusses the Rachel Sutherland trial and Ellie Sutherland’s sentencing.  Ellie bought drugs and gave them to her friend who overdosed.

Anna Marshall, Eleanor James (Lisa Palfrey), and Prime Minister discuss the helicopter crash that led to the death of Teacher Hadleigh who was also a rugby coach. They discuss the death of Kostenko who was finalizing an Amazon land contract. Prime Minister mentions Archie’s whereabouts as of late.

Anna says a lot of people held a grudge against Kostenko, including the Russian and Ukrainian governments. Eleanor explains how Kostenko was involved in several high-profile corruption cases. The helicopter was permitted to land on the school grounds for funding. The decision to permit VIP helicopters to land on school grounds came under the scrutiny of parents. Anna says, “School forced to rent out playing fields for oligarch’s helicopter equals blood on our hands.”

The evacuation continues. Fraser discusses the condition of the hull with Captain Pugwash. He asks the official if the hull would explode. The official said it was difficult to tell.

Fraser and Audrey visit a local pub for drinks. Audrey asks Fraser about his interests outside work. He responds, “I don’t really have any interests.” Audrey speaks fondly of her dad, his habit of wearing the same hat every Christmas. He died in a hospital without family. The band plays.

Prime Minister and Anna Marshall are in a vehicle discussing the teacher involved in the helicopter teacher. Hadleigh volunteered to coach disadvantaged children.   Anna says she is having difficulty sleeping. Prime Minister responds, “As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m gone.” She denies being depressed, just tired, stressed, and down in the dumps.

Podcast host, Hari Misra,” Morbid Symptoms” and female talk about white privilege and the helicopter crash. The two exchange phone numbers before separating. Misra receives a text about the death of Kostenko. The text says Kiara Lechkova and Rodrigo Araya (Sebastian Capitan Viveros) killed Kostenko with armored drones.

Prime Minister and his wife, Rachel Sutherland (Lucy Cohu) are having a drink. They are discussing her work and holidays when a phone call comes in. Anna Marshall tells the Prime Minister, Kostenko’s death was a hit with armored drones.

Prime Minister meets Eleanor and Home Secretary Joseph to discuss the death of Kostenko. She says Lechkova, a Russian citizen, is picked up on CCTV footage near the school grounds, where Kostenko’s helicopter was shot down. Lechova’s aunt is a Duma member and uncle a GRU member. Araya is a Columbian citizen. His father was affiliated with the FARC guerrilla movement. He attended the People’s Friendship University in Moscow. Eleanor tells the Prime Minister, Kostenko’s death was a Russian hit.

Prime Minister asks Eleanor if it is possible to arrest Lechova and Araya. Her response was, “Do we want to.”

In Kent, the evacuation continues. Fraser and Audrey have a quick chat during breakfast. Captain Pugwash says the water is choppy, but Audrey insists on joining him on the North Sea. Fraser tells her she does not need to go out. She admits to not wanting to go out.

Prime Minister, Anna Marshall, and Eleanor monitor live CCTV footage. Eleanor encourages the Prime Minister to let Lechova and Araya go to avoid potential consequences. Prime Minister ignores the warning, issuing an alert to have them arrested.

Audrey joins the Royal Navy at the Sheerness Launching Facility in preparation for the dive. Captain Pugwash questions the purpose of Audrey joining the dive. Her response is she is under the order of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat and Prime Minister to be present while the dive is in progress.

Eleanor is monitoring CCTV footage. She speaks about a private mission deemed “Lightfingers.” The Prime Minister has made up his mind to arrest Lechova and Araya, regardless of Eleanor’s hesitation. He gives the order to make the arrest. Anna questions the Prime Minister about the Lightfingers mission. He refuses to respond. Araya and Lechova are arrested at the airport.

Eleanor reminds the Prime Minister of the risks of the decision to arrest Lechova and Araya. He ignores her and says, “Update me in an hour.” The House Secretary looks concerned.

Back at the North Sea, Audrey has joined the Royal Navy to monitor the dive.

Fraser continues to monitor the progress of the evacuation of Kent residents. He stops a couple walking on the beach to demand they evacuate the town.

Captain Pugwash and Audrey are monitoring the dive from above. An alert pops up on the computer screen, which is believed to be another tremor. Pressure begins to build up inside the sunken ship. Captain Pugwash orders the dive team to bring the diver up. The North Sea explodes while Fraser watches from the coastline.

Kent citizens are terrified as they are being pelted with flying debris. The town is in chaos. The townspeople are clamoring about as the Royal Navy tries to restore order. A massive tide rolls in. Kent is flooded. Fraser is stuck in water in a tunnel.

Prime Minister addresses House Secretary about the North Sea explosion. Prime Minister is very concerned. He asks about the whereabouts of Fraser and his team. He calls for live CCTV footage of Kent only to discover there is none. Communication to the Royal Navy ship is unavailable.

Audrey is fighting for her live in the North Sea. Fraser is fighting to get out of his flooded vehicle.

A massive cyberattack has been reported. Anna Marshall blames the situation on the Prime Minister’s decision to arrest Lechova and Araya. A malware message “Ruin Britannia” on the CCTV screen.

Prime Minister demands to know who is behind the cyber-attack.

COBRA Review

Where to start? I wasn’t a big fan of the first season. However, the second season takes the cake. Much of the dialogue is cheesy. Several scenes were used over and over again. The never-ending evacuation and diver rubbing his glove across the exterior of the sunken ship appeared to be the same footage. It is possible, the producers and writers were not expecting to get a second season. Maybe, they were in a mad rush to pull the season together, but they failed.

I truly hope to see some improvement in the next episode. But after watching the first episode or debacle, I feel like throwing in the towel. The episode scores a 5.5

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