The Marionette – As the fifth episode of The Night Agent begins, Chelsea attends a meeting about the Secret Service four years prior. Ben Almora (Enrique Murciano) tells everyone about the importance of not making mistakes. Chelsea (Fola Evans-Akingbola) sees her mother Brittany (Erica Gimpel) in the back. Chelsea didn’t think she was going to show at all after their last conversation ended. Brittany questions why she’d want her daughter risking her life for a country that doesn’t give a dang about her. She still believes in Chelsea though. In the present, Maddie (Sarah Desjardins) continues arguing with her father, Vice President Redfield (Christopher Shyer). He complains she is only getting a semester of art and not a real education.

The VP wants Maddie to travel with him back to Wisconsin next week to stump for Turner’s Senate campaign. Then, he takes pictures with fans. Maddie returns to her room while Chelsea suggests they can come up with an excuse to get her out of the trip. Maddie says she’ll go like always. Chelsea doesn’t know how she does it. Maddie explains it hurts for the first second before she just falls into it and it warms her up. She confesses that she likes the lie because it is who she wishes he was all the time. Chelsea learns an FBI agent is there to see her. When she goes outside, Peter (Gabriel Basso) and Rose (Luciane Buchanan) are waiting for her. He wants to know more about her detail on April 27th of last year.

Peter wants to know if she was watching Maddie that day because she could be in danger. Chelsea reminds him that she can’t say anything. Instead, she wants to run it up the chain to get clearance first. After Rose tells her about the assassination attempt, they get directions to the library. Peter thinks they’ll be one step closer to figuring it out if Chelsea can confirm who the target was. Rose says someone was willing to take out the entire neighborhood to get to Maddie if it was her. Peter suggests trying to pinpoint the killer. He says the ring he took a picture of was Yugoslavian. They go to the library to research. Chelsea calls Ben to tell him about Peter’s visit. He orders her to tell him that Maddie isn’t involved and say nothing else.

After the call, Ben approaches Diane Farr (Hong Chau) to talk to her about it. Diane insists she doesn’t know why Peter is at Georgetown. Ben argues she needs to share any lead she has. Diane reminds him that the Secret Service is compromised and the deputy director of the FBI is dead. She goes on to say it was his guys who abandoned Rose at the motel. Diane asked Peter to find out what he could about this mess. Unless Ben has something to hide, Diane doesn’t think it is any of his business. Ben says the POTUS and VP are en route and they’ll want to know where Sutherland got this idea from. He recommends she come up with an explanation quickly. Diane calls a number that is no longer in service.

Peter tells Rose that the closest match they had to the ring was the coat of arms from the kingdom of Yugoslavia, but it isn’t an exact match. It has also been bothering him that it became a military op when everyone thought the bomber was PIF. The FBI stopped looking into suspects and the case was closed. Rose questions if they can retrace Hawkins’s path back to the White House since it was his call. Peter suggests they can go speak to his widow. He wants to stay together, but Rose would rather continue working at the library. Chelsea calls Peter to say she has been cleared to tell him she wasn’t with Maddie that day. She won’t tell him anything else. Peter mentions the coffee shop and asks if Osprey means anything to her.

She pauses before saying goodbye and hanging up. Maddie leaves the professor a note. Then, she steps out of the room to speak to Chelsea. She wants her help picking out an outfit for the art display tonight. The President arrives to speak to Ben and Diane about Peter’s actions. Diane explains she put Rose under the supervision of the one person she knew she could trust. She says Peter is loyal and she’ll get answers from him by the end of the day. In private, Diane tells the President that Peter is on to something because he is picking up where the Campbell couple left off. The President wants them back there because it is too late because their lives are in danger.

Peter visits Cynthia Hawkins (Rebecca Staab) who says they met in the FBI. Peter explains they were part of a group that was investigating the metro bombing. Cynthia says Jamie wasn’t allowed to share his work with her because she left the FBI 20 years ago. Cynthia says the bureau grilled her for two days. They already went through all of his files, his desk, his books, and their computers. They treated him like a criminal despite 30 years of service. Peter knows how that must’ve felt. Peter talks about how it feels after several years. After a while, you start asking yourself whether they’re right. He doesn’t want that to happen to someone else.

Peter warns her that it is going to get worse if the questions aren’t answered. Rose looks through a book when the lights go off. She is relieved to see two students kissing. Peter tells Cynthia why he is looking into Jamie’s death. Rose researches the Pavelic family when trying to identify the design on the ring. Cynthia admits that Jamie talked to her about his cases and ran ideas past her regularly. There were a few inconsistencies he picked up on in the metro bombing case. He thought someone interfered with the FBI’s investigation. He said the Omar Zadar and PIF stuff was all crap. The bureau already had a list of suspects before the confession came out of thin air.

Jamie went back through some case files. Cynthia believes he found something that pointed to a government contractor called Turn Lake Industries. The day he went missing, he had a secret meeting with them. He left for work and never came home. Rose learns that police were looking for a suspect in the Pavelic disappearance. She finds a picture of the suspect. Cynthia never said anything to the agents because Jamie didn’t know who he could trust. Jamie knew the Campbells since he was their handler when he was in counterintelligence. She doesn’t know how that is related to Turn Lake or the metro case, but she believes Jamie was close to knowing. Paulo (Greyston Holt) tells his roommate that Maddie is coming there tonight.

He admits that it feels wrong to manipulate her like this. The professor is reminded that they could change the world if she helps. After providing a urine sample, Erik approaches Ben who shows him Chelsea’s report from the bar. When Erik says it is rough but fair, Ben reminds him he isn’t the only one who will get the report. Erik says he is good although he is acclimating. He is asked about Chelsea. Erik says she is young and sharp. She just has a different way of doing things. Chelsea tries to help Maggie pick out an outfit. She lets Maddie wear her necklace. It was given to her mother by her grandmother when she was a kid. She had to pawn it at one point. Her dad worked double shifts to earn enough money to get it back.

Back at the library, Peter tells Rose what he found out. He believes Hawkins was killed trying to solve their murders. He had been meeting someone high up at a company called Turn Lake Industries. When she shows him the suspect in the missing person’s case, Peter confirms it is him. The missing guy’s name is Andrej Pavelic. Before he disappeared, Andrej was railing in the press about an American defense contractor conducting shadow ops throughout the Balkans. The contractor was Turn Lake Industries. Rose is told to see what she can find out about them. Peter calls Diane who asks him about Maddie. He says they thought she was in danger, but it was a dead end.

Once he tells her about Turn Lake, Diane says gather everything he has because they need to brief the President. Diane wants them to come immediately. Rose says she found something on the FEC’s public database of campaign donations. It looks like a lot of Turn Lake’s money went to VP Ashley Redfield. Rose finds out that the CEO’s name is Gordon Wick. There are multiple pictures of Gordon and Ashley together. Peter wants to take it to the President. Ellen complains about having to sleep in the car. She thinks they should’ve kept the baby even though Dale says it was a prop. Chelsea tells Erik she is going to stay on shift for the art show. They argue about it briefly. Erik tries to smooth things over with her.

Before she goes, she reminds Erik he wouldn’t be there if she wasn’t willing to give him a second chance. Chelsea goes with Maddie to the art show. Maddie speaks to Harper before saying she is going to the restroom. The assassins see Peter and Rose. They begin following them in their vehicle. Chelsea checks on Maddie in the bathroom only to find it empty. There is a message on the mirror saying Maddie will be back soon. Erik and the others learn that Maddie is missing. Maddie meets the professor and says they have a couple of hours before it becomes a national crisis. Chelsea works with the team to try to find her. Erik tries to help her.

He mentions that he noticed something charged between Maddie and her professor. Chelsea wants his address. Maddie freaks out when she sees her professor’s roommate watching them. He shoots the professor before telling Maddie that he was just using her for his save the environment crap. He claims he needs her for something much more important. He drags her out of the room. Erik and Chelsea storm the house later. They find the dead man and Maddie’s belongings.

 

The Night Agent Review

The fifth episode of The Night Agent was decent although the action was slowed considerably to the point that the story is becoming boring. The plot is predictable unfortunately, but that would be okay if it had stuck to more action-oriented scenes. The new characters at the university aren’t particularly interesting or unique and the more complex story really slows the pacing.

The first two episodes were at least enjoyable because they were senseless fun and the story didn’t matter so much. Now, it seems to be getting worse with each episode as the story gets more complicated, more characters are added, and nothing important happens. This could’ve been cut down to eight or even six episodes without losing any significant source material.

Unfortunately, it seems The Night Agent hit its peak through two episodes and has never recovered since trying to become anything more than a brainless action show. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Night Agent are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.