As the third episode of The Day Of The Jackal begins, Alison Stoke (Kate Dickie) rides the bus with Larry. Bianca (Lashana Lynch) asks Paddy if she got anything from Norman’s phone. Paddy shows her what they found in Norman’s bag. Bianca goes to Isabel Kirby (Lia Williams) and Osita Halcrow (Chukwudi Iwuji). Osita tells her the operation has been in total shambles from the start. He complains about Emma’s death and the deaths of two top Special Forces operatives. They want to shut down the operation until Bianca shows them the bag. She shows them the sniper rifle hidden in the bag. Isabel wants to get to the bottom of what went wrong in Belarus as quickly as possible. Of course, the operation can continue. Bianca calls Alison to say how sorry she is. She offers to speak to her and try to make sense of this.

Damian (Ben Hall) is going to Hereford to see if they have any names. Bianca questions why that hasn’t already been done. In Munich, Germany, someone meets the Jackal calling him Herr Bauer (Eddie Redmayne). He speaks to someone about burying his mother. Jackal claims he needs to get his keys out of his car. The employee, Frau Mahkler, goes for him so he can use a remote access installer on the computer. He’s finished by the time Mahkler returns. Elias Fest begins rehabbing so she can attend his father’s funeral. He yells for Muller to explain how he let a murderer get to his father. Elias finishes a minute on the treadmill and says he’ll do two tomorrow. The Jackal accesses the Mahkler computer system from elsewhere. He learns more about the people who will be attending Manfred Fest’s funeral, including Stefan Wolf.

Cadiz, Spain – Nuria (Ursula Corbero) is asked if she talked to him. Nuria says he never picks up his phone when he’s traveling. Her mother insists this is not normal. Jackal calls Nuria and apologizes for not calling her. He makes an excuse for being away for so long. Nuria says she was at Plaza Las Flores the other day when she left him at the airport. She saw him pass in a taxi. Jackal insists he was on the plane and that she didn’t see him. Nuria wants him to go on video to prove he’s in Amsterdam. She makes him show her the room and the bathroom. The Jackal asks if he can see his son now. Nuria shows him Carlitos. Nuria says she’s coming to Amsterdam.

The Jackal thinks he’s leaving tomorrow. Nuria insists this life is not normal because he’s always away for business and she’s never met his colleagues. She gets upset and ends the call. Nuria goes into his office and begins looking around. She finds the hidden safe under the floor.

London, England – Bianca reads about Fest’s upcoming funeral. Alison asks Larry if he’s coming. Larry is still upset about what happened so he tells her to go alone. When Alison leaves, Bianca follows her. Larry receives a call from Norman. Bianca speaks to Alison and explains that Emma had a pre-existing condition. She says Norman killed two British officers yesterday and now he’s disappeared. Bianca knows Larry’s number was in Norman’s phone. Alison says they were trying to get money to go to London. Bianca says she’s turned a blind eye because she likes her and wants to help, but Alison has to help her now. Alison refuses to tell her where Norman is.

Alison returns to Larry who asks what she has done. He wants to know why she kept pushing him to call Norman. Larry asks if she knows what happened to Norman (Richard Dormer) after he called him. He reveals that they came for him and he popped a couple of them. Larry demands Alison’s phone before asking who Nadine is. Alison lies and says she’s the new girl at the hairdresser’s. Larry questions what she’s done before punching a wall. Alison flees. Larry throws her against the wall and drags her back into the room. Damian receives a list of men although it’s unlikely they could’ve made the shot. Bianca speaks to Edward Carver (Jonjo O’Neill) about Norman knowing they were coming.

Edward asks about her pay and Paul’s pay. Bianca insists that has nothing to do with Norman. She says her mother is an alcoholic who lives in sheltered housing. Bianca tries to prove that she didn’t tip off Norman.

Cadiz, Spain – Alvaro (Jon Arias) talks to Nuria about trying to get into the safe. She tries it but it doesn’t work. She also tries her birthday and Carlitos’ birthday. It doesn’t work and the safe is impossible to open. Nuria worries that he’ll notice now. Alvaro asks if she has the receipt or the purchase invoice. He suggests they can get the manufacturer to give them a new code. Nuria begins looking for a receipt or invoice.

London, England – Damian tells Bianca about the list he got from the Special Forces. She tells him to check them out. Isabel asks her if there is anything new on Norman Stoke. Bianca admits she didn’t get anything from Alison. Isabel tells her to go home and get some rest. Once Bianca is alone, she receives a call. She meets Osita moments later. He says he just had the pleasure of Carver’s company. They discuss the possibility that they have a leak. Damian and Isabel are the only two who knew about the investigation. Osita says an American friend has been in contact to say the Yanks are worried that the assassination of Manfred Fest will spark copycat murders of politicians. His department has been told not to say any information with 303.

Bianca believes Carver is right or the Americans are trying to sabotage them. Osita claims the Americans didn’t know about the Belarus operation until after it happened. Therefore, the problem is in-house.

Cadiz – Spain – Nuria and her mom continue worrying that something isn’t right. They look at blueprints before checking the room. Alvaro ends up finding a hidden room of sorts.

Munich, Germany – The Jackal packs and gets ready to leave. He receives a call asking if he’s checked his account. Zina Jansone (Eleanor Matsuura) tells him Rodin is going to be in Tallinn on the 22nd. The Jackal says he’ll begin making arrangements. In the parking garage, he confronts a man with a gun and tells him to get into the boot. He shoots the man and closes the boot.

London, England – Bianca continues waiting for Alison to get back to her. Damian gives her a list of the snipers. She wants to know where they were when Fest was killed. Paddy says she found something interesting on the phone. Bianca asks Damian to get her a coffee. Paddy reveals they were only able to recover incoming and outgoing numbers. In the three weeks leading up to Fest’s murder, there was a flurry of calls and messages from a single number. They stopped on the day of the murder. The name of the caller is Jackal.

Munich, Germany – Elias makes it to his dad’s funeral. He points out that his mom didn’t even acknowledge his recovery. His sister wants to know how much Manfred gave him. She wants her fair share. Elias wants Julia to ride with him. She calls him conniving. Elias struggles to make it to the car outside. He just happens to get into a car with the Jackal. Before long, Jackal shoots the guard and tries to speed away from the other vehicles. Elias calls Muller and pleads with him to help. At one point, Muller manages to shoot one of Jackal’s tires.

Cadiz, Spain – Alvaro warns Nuria and her mom that this is going to be loud. He begins drilling into the safe.

Munich, Germany – Elias admits he was made that the Jackal shot him. He promises to pay him for killing his dad. Muller overhears the conversation. Jackal says it’s not about the money. Elias tries to break the window out but can’t. Jackal eventually shoots him. He changes his clothes and gets ready to leave when he receives a motion detection alert on his phone. The Jackal sets the timer on the explosive and walks away from the car. It blows up when Muller arrives.

London, England – Bianca gets a message from Sparrow saying she wants to help.

Cadiz, Spain – Alvaro gets the door open. They go inside and find the disguises, money, passport, and weapons. The Jackal watches them on a camera feed.

 

The Day Of The Jackal Review

The third episode of The Day Of The Jackal was equally tedious to the point that very little happened. There was no need for ten episodes and that much is clear. The series should’ve been five episodes or maybe six so it could’ve reached the finish line much sooner. The characters are becoming obnoxiously annoying although the Jackal could redeem himself by killing everyone.

The personal dramas are so bad and pointless. Bianca’s personal matters aren’t going to matter when the character is as wooden as a cedar tree. As for Jackal’s personal matters, they might even be worse. Nuria was a nuisance throughout the whole episode. First, she called Jackal and whipped him around because she was jealous about a possible affair.

Then, she came up with a big scheme with her mother and brother to break into a hidden room. The series is also very predictable. It was easy to see that Elias paid Jackal to kill his father and that Jackal would kill him before leaving Germany. The same can be said about Alison’s situation and Larry eventually leading Bianca into a trap.

Jackal’s assassination of Elias was ludicrous. He’s gone to great lengths to plan his assassinations to avoid capture, yet he rushed into this one haphazardly and left himself exposed. In reality, he would’ve been shot dead or captured during this one. The series is trying too hard to be sophisticated, but it would’ve been better if it had just gone full-speed into the action and absurdity of the script.

If Osita Halcrow was hunting the Jackal, it probably would’ve worked better. The Jackal’s story is mostly enjoyable, but that barely takes up a quarter of every episode. Everything else is dismal and skippable. The episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of The Day Of The Jackal can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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