The Honourable Woman
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Whilst secrets, affairs and vengeful plotting unfold, Hugh (Stephen Rae) seems determined in his quest to find answers. Suspicious of Monica Chatwin (Eve Best), his paranoia firmly established in “The Mother Line”, he sends a covert crew to spy on her at a hotel under the ruse of routine maintenance. A member of Hugh’s team enters Saleh Al-Zahid’s (Philip Arditti) room to plant a listening device, and a shocking surprise is waiting behind closed doors as Monica emerges from the bathroom. Monica’s reveal is framed by a two-shot with Saleh Al-Zahid, where the characters exchange concerned looks and the scene is suggestive of a partnership between the pair. After Hugh receives news of the meeting, it is also revealed that Saleh Al-Zahid has a fake Israeli passport and is in fact Palestinian; it is learnt that Monica is in some way involved with the Palestinians.
“The Hollow Wall” begins to unveil the show’s many secrets. Hugh discovers that Kasim (Oliver Bodur) is Nessa’s son and closes in on Monica; meanwhile we revisit the affair between Ephra (Andrew Buchan) and Atika (Lubna Azabal). With a newlywed glow about the pair, they coyly exchange “good morning” pleasantries across the kitchen of Ehpra’s home, guiltless that his wife is bed bound upstairs. Nessa is in Jerusalem to announce the beginning of the Stein’s contract with El-Amin (Raad Rawi); his company now holds all rights to the contract regardless of whatever happens in the future. Nessa is supposed to start the engine of a digger to initiate their partnership, until she realises that El-Amin is fleeing and pursues his motorcade. Will Nessa ever see her son again? A montage bombards us with scenes of Nessa stumbling through a crowd desperately trying to reach El-Amin, Ephra and Atika having sex together, and an engineer toggling the digger’s throttle. This highly tense and quick-paced sequence comes to an abrupt end after the rigged digger explodes. Kasim watches on from afar as smoke fills the horizon. Meanwhile, Rachel (Katherine Parkinson) stands in the frame of the doorway, watching Ephra and Atika kiss, until the crackle of a gunshot kills Ephra. Atika hides Rachel in a nearby room and Saleh Al-Zahid enters with a rifle. The camera profiles Ephra, Atika’s refection is glimpsed in the pooling blood beside his body as she confronts Saleh Al-Zahid. It is confirmed that Atika was involved with the assassination plot. Rachel shoots her husband’s killer with a loaded gun; Atika calls Monica to confirm the deaths of both Stein’s and is instructed to “stick to the plan”. Even more thrills are introduced as Rachel goes into labour and the MI5 raid the house after monitoring Monica’s calls. With Ephra confirmed dead and Nessa believed to be killed at the bombsite it would appear that the Stein family drama has ended in tragedy. It seems Nessa, full of heartache, bitterness and desperation, may never find peace. Under Monica’s instruction to “make the claim”, an Israeli extremist group called the League of Samaria takes credit for the assassination of the Steins. She is in cahoots with El-Amin and the Palestinians now have full control over the Stein cabling contract. The episode concludes on Hugh’s investigation, where he links Monica to Kate Larsson (Laurel Lefkow), the American special advisor to the Secretary of State. It appears we must entrust our faith into this “old dog” spy to finally deliver the answers to the remaining questions, and bring an end to this increasingly tangled narrative web of espionage, affairs and deceit. |
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