In the finale of BBC’s The Game, the team is still struggling to come to terms with the KGB bombing. Meanwhile, Operation Glass is edging towards its explosive conclusion. Will the MI5 be able to solve the puzzle and prevent a devastating disaster?
When the show opens, Sarah Montag (Victoria Hamilton) discusses the mole situation with Odin. She confirms she is the mole and Alan (Jonathan Aris) confessed and took her place. Arkady suggests dealing with Alan, after Sarah provides him with his whereabouts.
Afterwards, Daddy (Brian Cox) is questioned about the bombing and belittled, since the incident has hit the newspapers. With Daddy’s job in danger, he gives the team a new task, discovering information on Alan and the whereabouts of Colin Blakefield (Jay Simpson). Sarah enters and is comforted by Daddy. She attempts to convince the team that she is not her husband. Wendy (Chloe Pirrie) tells Joe Lambe (Tom Hughes) about information she discovered regarding Phoenix. Meanwhile, Jim Fenchurch (Shaun Dooley) is on the hunt for Blakefield. He uses the ruthlessness of the IRA to intimidate a woman into giving up Blakefield.
Meanwhile, Alan is lonely and abandoned in captivity, where his radio will not receive any reception. Alan is confronted by some KGB agents and beaten up, when he refuses to cooperate. The men hang Alan in his cell, but he is saved by a British soldier. After a break, Jim tells Bobby Waterhouse (Paul Ritter) that Blakefield has just turned himself in. He offers Bobby to be present, when he questions him.
In the interrogation room, Jim and Bobby go to work on Blakefield. Due to his fear of the IRA, he agrees to help MI5. Blakefield says he was set up by some Russian bloke to tell the MI5 about some big operation. He tells them about a passport he supplied to the Russians, which was meant for Joe Lambe. Afterwards, Daddy, Jim and Bobby discuss the potential betrayal.
Joe visits an apartment builder, where he is followed. However, he makes his escape. Daddy tells Sarah about Joe’s potential betrayal. Sarah admits Joe was always unpredictable. Daddy suggests it was Joe, who gave up Alan’s location. Sarah pleads to get to speak with Alan, before she meets with Odin (Yevgeni Sitokhin) and confirms they’ve played Joe perfectly. However, Odin isn’t pleased with Sarah and begins questioning her motives. Odin insists Sarah do whatever necessary to keep Alan quiet.
When the show returns, Wendy tells Bobby she has been researching Alan’s history. She says she has found a potential clue, Duncan Mercer, which is a false identity used to join the police force. Next, Joe meets with Sarah, who informs him of Blakefield’s revelation. Joe insists Sarah to speak to Daddy for him, but she says it won’t do any good. Sarah tells Joe to leave Glass alone and let the KGB come to him.
Meanwhile, Wendy and Bobby continue working to uncover KGB spies. He tells her to find men that have long gaps of unemployment. He suggests using the information to advance his career, but Wendy doesn’t care, as long as Daddy gets all of the information. Meanwhile, Joe listens to the recording he received from Wendy earlier. He listens several times, before discovering some key information. Next, he startles Sarah in her house. Joe suggests Alan manipulated the tape to cut out the word “she”. Joe now has Sarah pegged as the mole and is prepared to make contact with Daddy. Sarah reveals Yulia (Zana Marjanovic) didn’t die and she can help Joe see her again, if he hangs up. She gives him an address and a meeting location, which Joe suspects is a trap.
Bobby and Wendy provide Daddy with a long list of spies. Daddy suggests the men are able to influence Britain, due to their spots. Daddy gives all of the credit to Bobby, who gladly takes all of the credit. Daddy looks over the files of the spies and discovers something startling. Afterwards Sarah speaks with Bobby and tells him that Daddy’s days are numbered. At the same time, Daddy prepares to meet with the Secretary, while Sarah confronts Alan, who says he followed her, after finding her pills, which allowed him to discover her Moscow handler. He says he was relieved to know Sarah never betrayed him. While he says he loves Sarah, she does not return the favor.
Meanwhile, Daddy speaks with the secretary, who insists the men have nothing to suggest their spies. Daddy explains that Operation Glass has been in operation since the end of World War II. He points the blame at the secretary for appointing or promoting these men. Sarah attempts to provide Alan with information to use, when interrogated. The secretary has setup the Prime Minister to be killed. Alan disagrees with Sarah’s plan, while Daddy finally reveals that the plan is a coop to let the the secretary become the Deputy Prime Minister. Alan swallows the pills.
When the show returns, Joe heads to the meeting location, while the Prime Minister edges closer to the bombing area. When he enters the room, Joe discovers Odin and Yulia. Odin agrees to let the pair go, once the Prime Minister is dead. Odin confirms it is a setup and will result in the end of Joe Lambe. Joe is forced to put his fingerprints on a sniper rifle, which is to be used to kill the Prime Minister. As he begins to aim, Jim gets out of the car and Joe says to take the shot. A British soldier fires and kills the gunman. Odin is injured and makes a run for it, with Joe hot on his pursuit.
Joe chases Odin into a building, where he finds Odin laying on the ground bleeding. Joe kicks his gun away and Odin suggests they’re here again. Odin apologizes and says the game is over and that his secrets are his. He reveals Yulia has been working with the KGB all along, but Joe doesn’t believe it. Odin mentions guilt being deadly, before pretending to shoot Joe in the head with his finger gun and dying.
Afterwards, Joe interrogates Sarah at an air base. Sarah suggests she has confessed to save Alan and that others will take up the fight. Joe tells Sarah he walked into the KGB trap, but didn’t make the same mistake. Sarah says he felt, as if she was working for the resistance in an occupied country. Joe questions Yulia and Sarah questions Joe’s trust in her answer. Joe leaves, without an answer. Meanwhile, Bobby attempts to comfort Daddy, before suggesting Alan could be seen as a security risk. Daddy disagrees and vows to continue letting Alan work for MI5.
Joe tells Yulia that she’ll be reunited with her son, before being sent out of the country. She suggests he will join them, but he says he needs to do a few things first. He questions where she has been in the last year. She says she was in the hospital, before being moved to a prison camp. Joe questions Yulia again about her location, during the year they were apart. Meanwhile, the team at MI5 continues working as usual.
Review
Ah! The gripping conclusion of BBC’s The Game definitely put all of the pieces together, but nothing came together with ease. Instead, we met a clever, sadistic plot to turn Joe into the scapegoat for Operation Glass. We finally discovered that Operation Glass was a KGB operation to execute the Prime Minister and place KGB friendly individuals into powerful positions within Britain’s high offices.
However, the MI5 was too clever for Moscow. Thanks to Alan coming to his senses, Wendy discovering the spies and Joe’s quick thinking, the team was able to shut down Operation Glass, while finally putting an end to Joe’s nemesis, Odin. Did Joe finally reunite with Yulia? Yes, but not without suspicions. It seems Odin was right all along. Suspicion can be deadly.
The final episode of The Game was gripping, intense and insightful. While everyone did an excellent job in their respective roles, Tom Hughes definitely lead the pack, with a masterful performance, as the calm, methodological Joe Lambe. While The Game might not be the best mini-series of the year, it is certainly worth your time, if you’re up for a sophisticate tale of British spies. The finale deserves a 9 out of 10.
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.
