As Cobra begins, we see two airplane pilots struggling to land their aircraft. Something has gone wrong and they’ll need to land in the middle of the highway. It crashes into the pavement before we jump back to the University of Liverpool 24 hours earlier. We see Prime Minister Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle) checking his phone and smoking before his wife Rachel (Lucy Cohu) and daughter join him. It appears that Ellie (Marisa Abela) has graduated from college and her friend Georgia (Ruby Barker) has done the same. Ellie and Georgia are told to enjoy themselves at the party before the Prime Minister is harassed by a brief protestor.

Robert jumps into his vehicle and calls with Anna Marshall (Victoria Hamilton) on the phone. Once that call ends, Anna calls Dan to tell him she wants an immediate update if there is any sign of panic buying at the petrol stations. Before Anna can enter her home, she is approached by a man who calls her name. He asks her why she didn’t answer his letters so she tells him they didn’t deserve an answer. Anna’s daughter Tess (Grace Hogg-Robinson) steps outside so Anna pleads with the man to leave. He asks if she even wants to know what happened. She says no and before stepping inside with her daughter immediately after that. We jump over to the Cabinet Office Briefing Room or COBR.

Fraser Walker (Richard Dormer) and another man find several X5s on the radar system. Fraser says he’ll let them know about it. Anna receives a call from him moments later and learns about the multiple X5s. Fraser tells her that the threat has gone from moderate to significant so Anna says she’ll contact the Prime Minister. Anna notifies Robert while he boards a helicopter. He tells her to schedule a full COBRA for the morning. Meanwhile, Ellie and Georgia get high on drugs and party with some boy. Anna heads for Downing Street in London. She is informed that Dominic Knight is on the way. Anna checks the newspaper and finds a headline about the Prime Minister wobbling on immigration reform as the Cabinet splits.

She shows Dominic the newspaper as he enters. He says it wasn’t him but Anna doesn’t believe it. She discusses her responsibilities with him before telling him about the COBRA on the solar threat at 11. As for Dominic, he has until the end of the day to draft his resignation letter. Robert enters and tells him he can have two hours since that should be plenty of time. Dominic is told he can leave through the public entrance. After that, Robert lets Anna know that Peter is going to brief the press regarding the threat level. There is no sign of panic and the petrol stations are still operating. As they pass by, Robert tells Archie (David Haig) good morning but Archie isn’t happy about Dominic’s firing.

Archie wants to know who is going to replace him and Anna suggests Francine Bridge might be a good candidate. Anna and Robert join the COBRA meeting so they can speak about the threat from Extreme Space Weather. It is confirmed that the United Kingdom is at risk before the Chief Scientific Officer begins talking. He says the Met Office has been seeing fairly significant activity on the sun’s eastern side. Archie doesn’t believe it will be a major problem but the others are more concerned. Fraser explains that the first stage of the storm would knock out satellites and destabilize all navigational systems. Aviation is a major concern.

Stage two could release several blasts of plasma in space and it might hit Earth that could leave some places without power for months. Archie reminds everyone that it might impact a small area and they don’t know where yet. There is a 50-50 probability that the storm will be harmless or devastating. They’ll only have 30 minutes to find out if the storm is going to be bad or weak. After that, Robert laughs about the joke about Francine Bridge becoming the new head of the policy unit. Anna says she wasn’t joking. The former Labour MP will be joining them. Peter tries to calm the press so they don’t put out outlandish stories. Dominic calls Archie after that and they agree to meet later. Anna reminds Robert that they’re still the nasty party to the younger generation. Robert is worried about Francine (Marsha Thomason).

Fraser enters and tells the couple that Met Office has witnessed a massive solar flare with multiple plasma launches. In the COBRA room, it is confirmed that a solar explosion of sorts is heading right towards them. They’ve already experienced problems with airplanes across the country. They contemplate grounding all flights but Fraser admits that would create major economic problems. The Prime Minister decides to keep flights operational until they have more information. After that, we jump to the Civil Contingencies Secretariat in Whitehall. Fraser intends to stay until they find out how bad it is going to be and his team agrees to do the same.

However, Fraser has to check out to check in on his dad’s dog since it is staying with him while his dad is in the care home. Anna meets with Francine and tries to convince her to join her party. Fraser takes his dog out for a walk. He tells Mabel that he can’t wait to get rid of him so he can be on his own again. He calls Heather and leaves a message telling her to take the threats seriously. He also says he loves the kids despite her trying to destroy their relationship. Things start going wrong with the airplanes. After that, Chief Constable Stuart Collier (Steven Cree) gives a press conference of sorts about the upcoming event. Anna tells Francine about a life-changing experience for her. She says she was reporting in Bosnia, a local translator was working for UN forces around Tuzla.

That man’s sister was in Visegard and was taken when the local Serbs overtook the town. The man went to look for his sister and vanished but he has returned now. Anna doesn’t know if the man found his sister since they haven’t spoken properly. She doesn’t know if she wants to speak with him at this point. Anna pleads with Francine to work with her but she responds that this isn’t going to happen. Archie tells Dominic he did everything he could to protect his job. Archie tells him about the rumors that Robert and Anna had a bit of a thing once. Dominic learns who is going to be replacing him and he isn’t happy about it. Archie will be surprised if Robert goes along with that.

Archie admits he plans on making his move soon enough. The airplane crashes onto the highway. The Chief Constable finds a woman in the broken plane. He manages to help her and her child. Hannah gets a call on her way home. She receives a letter telling her he is going home but will be at the George Hotel until tomorrow evening. She enjoys a treat with her daughter after that. Her son joins them too and he believes the low polls are the reason for the impending disaster. Hannah calls it fake news before receiving a call about the airplane. Robert wonders if they should’ve grounded all of the planes. Fraser explains he made the right decision but Robert doesn’t believe others will see it that way.

Moments later, Rachel receives a call from Ellie who says Georgia is in a coma. This creates problems for Robert since he has to juggle his daughter’s problems and the country’s issues. Rachel agrees to take care of Ellie so Robert can deal with the solar storm. In return, he says he’ll send Peter Mott there first thing in the morning. The following day, the media tries to place the airplane accident on a particle blizzard from the solar storm. The Chief Constable gives Fraser an update on the casualties. The woman’s husband is in a coma and she’ll need to have surgery that might prevent her from being paralyzed. Stuart says it would be a bad time to lose power right now.

Archie tells Anna she is going to suffer if she adds Francine to their party but she isn’t intimidated. Archie believes Robert will be ousted soon enough. After that, Fraser speaks to everyone in the Cobra room. The Prime Minister receives bag news. They can expect a massive geomagnetic storm surge in the coming hours. A major incident is declared at the Royal Northumberland Hospital. Fraser learns that the coastal areas have been hit and the surges are going to continue. The entire system is on the brink of collapse. The power of the storm is far worse than what anyone thought. Robert intends to speak with the palace so Her Majesty can authorize the necessary powers under the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act.

He says it is a national emergency and Cobra will remain operational until everything is over. Francine calls Anna and tells her she has given it some thought before the power around her goes out. It goes the same throughout the country.

 

Cobra Review

I am not really sure what to think about Cobra right now. I thought the beginning was very interesting although I am not a big fan of these political thrillers. Robert Carlyle and Victoria Hamilton felt like a natural match. I only have a few problems with the show. First and foremost, I couldn’t bring myself to care about some of the side stories. I don’t care about Ellie or her friend. That seemed a bit unnecessary to me.

I was a bit confused with the story too. The time jump at the beginning didn’t throw me off so it wasn’t that. I guess I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of a solar storm. I didn’t understand all of the complexities of it but found the idea somewhat intriguing. Finally, I think there is too much going on at once. We got Archie trying to take over, Robert dealing with a major disaster, Anna and her mystery man, Fraser and his dog, and Rachel dealing with Ellie and Georgia. Don’t forget Francine joining the team.

It wasn’t awful by any means but it might be a bit too much. We’ll have to wait and see where things go from here. The episode scores a 7 out of 10.