As the eighth episode of The Day of the Jackal begins, viewers are taken to Helmand, Afghanistan in 2013. Gary Cobb (Gerard Kearns) works as a spotter for The Jackal (Eddie Redmayne). Gary sees the target and tells Duggan to shoot him so they can get out of there. However, Duggan doesn’t believe he’s the right man. Gary asks how long they’re going to have to take. Duggan says as long as it takes. Timothy Winthorp (Charles Dance) watches a news report about the assassination attempt. Leonora Boggs (Christy Meyer) calls and says the man who pulled that stunt wasn’t their guy. Teddy (Patrick Kennedy) is interviewed about the assassination attempt. Teddy is adamant that River will flow. Timothy says he may as well open a stall in a farmer’s market if this thing opens. Zina Jansone (Eleanor Matsuura) is trying to determine whether The Jackal is still active.
Timothy says Tallinn was their one chance and he missed. In private, Zina says there’s still a week before River is released. She’ll get in touch with Jackal once he breaks his cover. Leonora says failure threatens these men. Anyone associated with that failure is expendable. Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch), Vince (Nick Blood), and Oskar Ilves (Tambet Tuisk) find evidence of The Jackal’s activities. They find the gun that Norman printed. Vince says that weirdo Chris ruined it for The Jackal. Chris (Russell Balogh) posted a manifesto on Facebook before taking the shot. Teddy complains that a fanatic came this close to killing Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla). UDC yells that The Jackal is no longer his only concern since he has to worry about people in his own house. At the police station, Bianca is told nothing matches the e-fit yet. She tells Damian Richardson (Ben Hall) that the Jackal has to be one of the men in the surveillance video.
Damian sends her the updated report on Alexander Duggan. Bianca complains that it’s a bit thin. He explains the file on Duggan and his unit is STRAP 2. Bianca says Duggan and his unit must’ve done some things the army wants to keep hidden. In 2013, Gary tells Duggan they’ve been waiting for six hours. Duggan finally shoots the target before they flee. Captain Baldwin (Eddie Elks) gives Duggan alcohol back at the base. Baldwin asks if any of them wants to take a trip to Cyprus for R&R. In Akrotiri, Cyprus, Duggan and Gary hang out and celebrate. Gary believes Duggan is the best sniper in the British army. Cenk (Philip Arditti) bumps into Gary who almost starts a fight. Cenk talks to them about Helmand and their pay. He says his friend would pay ten thousand or fifteen British pounds to take care of a problem for him. Duggan suspects he wants someone killed. Cenk says his friend is a very important man and he might go up to 20 for each.
He gives them his card. Next, Osita Halcrow (Chukwudi Iwuji) speaks to Isabel Kirby (Lia Williams) and others about identifying the Jackal. Bianca thinks they should focus more on Alexander Duggan. She wants to see the file on Duggan and his unit. Isabel says she’ll see what she can. She asks Bianca to speak to the Foreign Secretary later. Bianca meets Isabel and Jeremy Whitelock (Adam James). Isabel urges Jeremy to use his charm to get them access to the Duggan files. He agrees to help. In Ankara, Turkey, Duggan and Garry carry out an assassination. Cenk tells them his friend is pleased with their work because Barzani was a big troublemaker and told lies in his newspaper. They’re paid for their efforts. Cenk admits they’re the best. His friend hopes they’ll be available to look at something else. Cenk says they would provide the logistics, travel, equipment, house, and so on.
Garry says he still has six years to serve and Duggan has three. He worries that the military police will look for them everywhere if they go AWOL. Cenk tells them to call if they change their minds. Alvaro (Jon Arias) watches a news report about the Jackal. He calls Nuria (Ursula Corbero) into the room to say the sketch is Charles. She rushes out of the room to call the Jackal who says he managed to get out of Tallinn. Nuria says Alvaro thinks he’s the man in the picture on television. The Jackal wants her to tell her brother that he cannot repeat that to anyone. He insists she’s safe and that the police will not come there. The Jackal says he’s coming tomorrow. Nuria demands the truth. Jasmine Pullman (Florisa Kamara) returns home. Bianca convinces her to come inside. They begin talking about UDC. Jasmine asks Bianca if she’s really leaving them.
Bianca insists she’s not going anywhere. She needs to work out how to best protect the family. Bianca tells her that the man who came that night is in prison. Jasmine believes he was just upset about his daughter. She asks Bianca if she had something to do with her death. Bianca says no. She claims she only does good things and never bad things. In Afghanistan, Duggan learns that the new target is Najib Khan who is a Taliban field commander. Captain Baldwin says he’s come down for a wedding. They need to take Khan alive. Duggan and Gary will be watching over the operation. They will be in a vehicle with Ronnie. Before long, Duggan and Gary get into place. The others approach the location in trucks. One man tries to talk to the guards about getting Khan. Gary notices a shooter above the compound.
The soldiers are told the Deputy Governor is inside so they cannot go in armed. Duggan shoots the man above the compound before gunfire erupts on the ground. Gary and Duggan realize that Walter has lost it again. After the shooting stops, Duggan gets up and runs toward the wedding. Walter says they need to make this look proper. He calls it in to say they’re pinned down and under fire. As they get ready to leave, they’re told not to say anything about what happened there. Once they get far enough away, the compound is blown up. In Wakefield Prison in England, Bianca visits Larry Stoke (Patrick O’Kane). He accuses her of using his daughter to get to his wife. Then, she used his wife to get to him and used him to get to his brother. He says she’s left a trail of woe. He believes they do the same thing. Larry says she’s rotten too.
He has a shank. Bianca apologizes. Larry says she is more twisted than he is. He slashes his throat with the shank. Bianca yells for a medic and tries to stop the bleeding. She goes back to the office. Vince talks to her and tries to calm her down. He reminds her that they do what has to be done. Vince reveals he has Alexander Duggan’s file. When she goes to read it, Osita tells her that they’re authorized to read the file. However, it doesn’t leave the room and he doesn’t either. Bianca learns that Alexander James Gordon Duggan joined Sandhurst as an officer cadet. He was tipped to win the Sword of Honour until he walked out and joined the Paras as a private. They learn about his determination and training as a sniper. In Afghanistan, Duggan was part of a covert Special Forces unit. On April 23, 2013, the unit was on their way to a mission when their entire unit was wiped out by a massive explosion. Bianca still doesn’t want to believe that Duggan is dead.
Duggan asks the driver to stop. He notices a mound with an IED on top of it. They see movement nearby as well. When Osita steps out of the room, Edward Carver (Jono O’Neill) and Isabel are waiting for him. Isabel takes the phone and Edward says they need to talk in private. Meanwhile, Duggan’s unit doesn’t think they see anything. Duggan decides to take a look and take Gary with him. Duggan scans for IEDs. He eventually makes it to the mound and finds a child’s tricycle. Duggan pulls out a phone and uses it to blow up the rest of the unit. Gary questions what just happened. Duggan says they need to go where they can’t be found.
The Day Of The Jackal Review
The eighth episode of The Day of The Jackal didn’t achieve a lot besides providing more information about Duggan’s past. Even then, there really isn’t anything new here since Bianca has been telling us this since the beginning. Much of the episode was just filler so it really didn’t push the story forward at all.
The episode also had some odd moments. For instance, it was a bit funny to see Alvaro become so upset when he saw the picture on television considering that image looks nothing like Eddie Redmayne. It’s even a little incompetent for them to release that image. The whole army angle is just cliché.
How many times have we seen a disgruntled Special Forces member turn on his comrades because of something or another? Jasmine’s dialogue is beyond dumb so those scenes could’ve been removed completely. It’s just stupid to think she’d somehow sympathize with the man who broke into her home and held her hostage.
We also didn’t need to see Larry’s death or those scenes because anyone who has been watching will agree that Bianca is just a terrible person. It’s a shame when viewers are probably cheering for Larry to put an end to the character in that scene. Bianca and Vince finally gained access to Alexander Duggan’s file, but it really didn’t tell them anything new and turned out to be a waste of time as well.
The performances here were not strong at all. It was hard to care about Bianca’s difficulties because the scenes weren’t executed well enough. In some scenes, even Redmayne seems very odd. The casting choices remain questionable. Another problem here is that the series has been renewed for another season so we know this one is going to end with a nothing burger.
The story is already stretched thin so it’s going to be a lot worse with 10 more episodes coming in a year or so. With the renewal, the reasons to watch the last two episodes are dwindling since we all know that nothing will happen. It doesn’t help that the episode quality is in the dumpster at this point.
Not to mention that the premise of River is imbecilic as well. What would happen if the Jackal did kill UDC? Wouldn’t that tech mastermind have a kill switch of sorts to have the program, River, released anyway? Why would UDC wait another week after an assassination attempt and just give someone else time to stop him? Just release the program and end this drivel.
The episode scores a 3.5 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. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.
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.
