The episode opens in Cadiz, Spain with The Jackal (Eddie Redmayne) bird watching. In London, England, Manfred Fest’s supporters demand the impending federal elections be postponed. An incoming call from Sparrow pops up on Bianca Pullman’s phone. Jasmine Pullman (Florisa Kamara) grabs it and asks who is Sparrow. Bianca rushes to take the phone. An irate Alison Stoke/Sparrow (Kate Dickie) accuses her of having Emma arrested to get back at her. Bianca denies the accusation. Sparrow calls her a liar and demands she get Emma out like she did her. Bianca agrees in exchange for Norman Stoke’s (Richard Dormer) phone number by the end of the day.
Cadiz, Spain – The Jackal watches Nuria (Ursula Corbero) and Carlitos (Adonay and Saul Barajas) from the doorway.
London – Bianca points out Emma’s preexisting heart condition. Osita Halcrow (Chukwudi Iwuji) reminds her that she put Emma in a cell where she died. She stresses the need to stop Manfred’s assailant before he kills again. He says so, it’s collateral damage. She thinks that is taking it a bit too far. Isabel Kirby (Lia Williams) asks how she sees it. Bianca believes Emma shouldn’t have died. Edward Carver (Jonjo O’Neill) is brought in to clean up her mess. Carver explains how his job is to ensure there is no connection to MI6. Bianca claims to have gone through a police officer, Gillespie, who knows her by name. Halcrow insists on shutting the operation down. She tells him about her conversation with Sparrow but denies informing her of Emma’s death. He asks if she wants to keep digging her hole deeper. Kirby declines to turn the case over to the Central Europe Desk. Bianca stresses the need to Keep Sparrow from finding out about Emma until she has Norman, the gun maker. Carver offers the stall things for 24 hours. Bianca calls Sparrow to tell her that Emma will be released once she has Stoke’s phone number.
Cadiz, Spain – The Jackal researches Ulle Dag Charles “UDC” (Khalid Abdalla), founder of the DagHaus Corporation. He signs into his Cayman Metropolitan Bank account to request information on a 3.75-million euro deposit made to his account 14 days ago. Nuria asks why he is distracted. He says an associate has misunderstood their obligations to him. She asks if it has to do with money. He voices concern about how it would reflect on the brand if the individual gets away with not paying him. She offers to collect the money for him. Assuring her that he will handle it, he says another deal is in the works. They make love.
New York – Timothy Winthrop (Charles Dance) questions if The Jackal can be trusted. Zina Jansone (Eleanor Matsuura) assures him that The Jackal is the best. Doug Wojack (Corey Johnson) is more concerned about the $100-million payout than The Jackal’s capabilities. Leonora Boggs (Christy Meyer) says no money is exchanged unless he pulls it off. Winthrop insists it would be worth $100 million if the hit is successful. UDC appears on a talk show to talk about his views on financial transparency. The interviewer (Kevin Shen) asks if he has concerns about his bank accounts being open to the public. UDC denies having anything to hide, unlike others. Winthrop flips off the TV and stresses the need to pull off the hit before UDC’s “River” technology is released.
Cadiz, Spain – It’s Carlitos’ birthday. The Jackal gives him a handmade airplane. Marisa (Puchi Lagarde) snaps their photos. The Jackal says no photos are to be posted to social media. Alvaro (Jon Arias) warns her. She reluctantly agrees. Nuria assures him that all of them know.
Belfast, Northern Ireland – Sparrow and Larry Stoke (Patrick O’Kane) stress over Emma’s arrest. Remembering her first time in jail, she expresses her desire to go to London. He says they don’t have the funds. She suggests borrowing money from Norman but he refuses.
Cadiz, Spain – Alvaro addresses The Jackal as Charlie. He tells him that his friend is looking for a partner in his pub. The Jackal suggests they wait until he returns when an alert from Cayman Metropolitan Bank. When he leaves to check his account, Marisa complains about the amount of time he works. Alvaro says look at everything he has achieved. The Jackal learns that his bank cannot confirm the payer’s identity but provides the Munich bank account from which the funds were issued. He tells Nuria that he has somewhere to go. She insists on driving him to the airport.
London – Damian Richardson (Ben Hall) and Bianca study CCTV footage of The Jackal. They take a screenshot of the logo on his backpack. They learn the assassin is right-handed and utilizing a Browning HiPower Mark III weapon. She questions why he would utilize a 9mm instead of a more powerful weapon.
Seville, Spain – At the airport, Nuria asks The Jackal if he loves her. He says yes and kisses her. After she leaves, he gets into a taxi, asks the driver to take him to Andulcia Avenue, and stuffs his wedding band in his pocket. A short time later, he accesses his safety deposit box which is filled with cash and fake IDs. Upon leaving, he takes a taxi to Santa Justa. Nuria returns to her car with a bouquet of flowers. As the taxi passes, she gets a glimpse of him in the backseat. She tries his phone but he isn’t answering. She later returns home. Marisa knows something is wrong. Nuria tells her about The Jackal. Marisa reminds her that she warned her. Nuria assures her that he is a good person. Alvaro threatens to break his legs if he is having an affair. She tells him to calm down, she will handle it.
Belfast, Northern Ireland – Sparrow pleads with Larry to ask Norman for some money. He claims Norman isn’t answering his calls.
London – Bianca investigates the origin of The Jackal’s backpack. She tells Kirby and Halcrow that the assassin is British and served in the military. Kirby asks how she knows. Bianca says the Browning HiPower Mark III was utilized by the British Army until 2013. Halcrow tells her that the HiPower was standard for many armed forces. She says the backpack “The Perfect Pack” was manufactured by a UK startup that only selss locally through two retailers in Leeds. Bianca insists the assassin works alone. Halcrow argues that every assassin has a spotter. He warns that she has until tomorrow morning before Sparrow learns about Emma’s death. She asks for more time but Kirby refuses. After a brief phone conversation with Jasmine, Bianca refuses on the case. She tells Damian that the assassin would have undergone Pirbright sniper training if was in the British Army.
Bavaria, Germany – Utilizing voice distortion technology, The Jackal talks to Zina on the phone. She insists they meet again to discuss their plan. He reluctantly agrees but at his own discretion.
London – Bianca spends time with Paul Pullman (Sule Rimi), Jasmine, Adam (Hope Ikpoku Jr.), and Ollie Akim Bangura).
Belfast, Northern Ireland – At a pub, while Larry goes to get her another drink, Sparrow snaps photos of his contact list. She emails the contact list to Bianca. She calls Central Control before leaving.
Munich, Germany – At a restaurant, a waiter (Peter Nagy) delivers a message to Zina. The Jackal wants her to meet him at the English Garden at 10:00 but not to bring her phone.
Riga, Latvia – During a phone call, Bianca informs Kirby that Norman is in Belarus. She warns if Larry learns about Emma’s death, he will alert Norman. Spencer (Matthew Gravelle), Colin (Nick Wittman), and Toby (Thomas Dominique) are waiting to take her to Smarhon.
Munich, Germany – The Jackal meets Zina at the English Garden. She says her client asks if it is possible to pull it off. He assures her that UDC isn’t mortal. She asks if they can negotiate on the fee. He demands $50 million today and $50 million after. She offers him $20 million today but the job must be done before River is released on the 28th. He promises to start working on it once he has the money. She says they will utilize the codename, Rodin, for UDC. He suggests calling him The Jackal. Utilizing the alias, Herr Thirsk, The Jackall speaks with Bank Manager Zimmer (Kristian Wanzl) about the deposit. Zimmer tells him that the payer is HelleLinie. He researches several companies connected to Hellelinie, including Newtone LTC registered in Guernsey.
Smarhon, Belarus – Bianca, Spencer, Toby, and Colin close in on Norman. She orders Norman to come outside. Spencer shoots a booby trap off the front door. Inside, they come under fire. Spencer is killed. She alerts dispatch that two men are down. The pursuit ends when Norman escapes. Bianca insists someone alerted Norman. She sees his gear lying on the ground.
Munich, Germany – The Jackal scans online photos of the Optapan’s Annual Celebratory Gala. Elias Fest and Hans Lange were in attendance.
Belarus – Bianca is leaving Smarhon with Norman’s gear as the episode opens.
The Day Of The Jackal Review
The execution falls short by failing to deliver on its hype. Eddie Redmayne has pulled off some extraordinary roles like Stephen Hawking. Unfortunately, The Jackal will not be added to this list. I blame some of this on the subpar direction which led to constrained performances across the board. Redmayne’s weak performance is by far the least of the problems.
Chukwudi Iwuji would have been a more realistic, solid antagonist than Lynch. It doesn’t help that Bianca is built up to be a hero capable of taking The Jackal out on her own. It’s a bit silly to think Bianca meets resistance from her MI6 superiors at every turn. The story makes out like she is the only agent working on the case.
The lack of character development makes it impossible to relate to the characters. We see two sides to The Jackal, one of which is a loving husband, and father and the other, a cold-blooded killer. There is nothing about his past that would explain why he chose to become an assassin.
The wafer-thin script and burdened with unnecessary side stories and side characters. It was clunky enough without adding Nuria’s raging jealousy to the mix. The episode deserves a 5 out of 10.
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Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
