XV – The finale begins by briefly expanding on Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) and Emily/Angela Adams’s (Alia Shawkat) final phone call, where she asked him to take her off speaker. As she pleads with him to accept what is about to happen, a team of Russian mercenaries begin breaching the door of the room she is hiding in. Once they breach, she not only identifies herself as Faraz Hamzad’s (Navid Negahban) daughter and only surviving family member but agrees to trade what she knows for the safety of the others. The leader agrees while also sternly warning her that he has explicit orders to separate and kill the family, meaning that lying would be futile.
As time passes, Angela is true to her word and shares what she knows. Despite being held captive, she appears to be treated with the utmost respect and care. Her information is so valuable and brings such success that the Russians oftentimes reward her. On one such occasion, she is given a bottle of whiskey that she later uses to escape. Before that, she develops a relationship with her American guard, Pavel (Daniyar). During one of their discussions, he asks why she is betraying her own people. After telling him that it is to keep them safe, he asks if she thinks that they will accept her back. She doesn’t have a response and escapes shortly after.
By this time, Harold Harper (John Lithgow) learns from eavesdropping on one of Marion’s (Janet McTeer) calls that the Russians have lost control of the mine to a very determined group of local fighters. After confronting her about the discovery, he also learns that the group was led by an American woman. He immediately suspects it’s Angela and advocates for Marion to intervene. Although she doesn’t answer him at the moment, she tells him that Suleyman Pavlovich (Rade Seerbedzija) is already dispatching troops to reclaim the mine.
Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman) pleads a similar case for Chase as she and Julian Carson (Gbenga Akinnagbe) continue their journey to Pavlovich. He agrees to trade her assistance with Pavlovich for his help finding Chase. Almost as soon as the deal is made, Harper calls for an update. He then relays that information to Marion and tells her to make a decision. Although she does so in an insulating way, she agrees to help and is on the phone with her Chinese within seconds.
Upon arriving at the party, Julian is given a 15-minute window and word that Pavlovich is in cabana 14 with his security detail of 7 men. He promises to keep one of the guards alive for interrogation. Julian doesn’t get the full 15 minutes after being forced to shoot two of the guards. As promised, Julian keeps one of the guards alive but by the time Pavolovich is dead, Zoe has already found Chase’s location from Pavolovich’s GPS. She doesn’t bother waiting for Julian. It’s merely minutes later when she finds Chase unresponsive. She spends several minutes giving him the antidote and doing CPR but he still remains unresponsive.
At the same time, Marion tells Harper about their success and claims her people will take care of the rest. As he hands over his cell phone, she apologizes to him and tells him that she knew he would never let her get close to Angela. He is shown getting up and walking out after handing over the phone.
Chase is eventually revealed to be recovering when he wakes in the next scene, according to Zoe, at one of Morgan Bote’s (Joel Grey) safe houses. Chase is initially frantic and wants to keep moving but Zoe eventually convinces him they are safe. As time passes, he’ll become more at ease and Zoe oversees his recovery while also going about everyday errands. It takes a bit of time, but Chase apparently becomes uneasy again because he brings up his concerns with Zoe over dinner one night.
He was right to be concerned because in the next scene, a Union Parcel Express pulls into the end of the driveway and drops off a package, containing a cell phone with a cryptic diagram and phone number. Emily will eventually be revealed as the sender of the package when Dan and Zoe meet her at a local diner. There is a brief reunion and she promises to tell him everything but apparently needs his help first. By the time Angela explains everything to them about Marion, Harold, and the Meshbahar deposit, Chase is nearly speechless.
The Old Man Review
Not a bad finale at all. I won’t go as far as saying it was superb but I enjoyed it, especially the ending. Crap got real and I’m digging Angela/Emily’s new outlook on life. I don’t know if she’s always been ruthless but from what I saw from the earlier season 2 episodes, I didn’t get that feeling. It’s obvious the series is going for the hat trick, but whether it will get it or not is still up in the air. I’d give the finale a 5.7 out of 10.
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