Time Renders Us Enemies
Episode 5 begins with Carter telling Mason he can’t trust Nadia.
We flashback to Athens, 9 years ago. Nadia pours them drinks while Mason looks at a small box in his hand. Nadia suggests bringing Celeste back now that Davik seems to have disappeared but Mason dismisses the idea.
Their current mission has them posing as a married couple. They’ve been told to bring back a yakuza boss. Mason gives her the engagement ring from the box. She thinks it’s from Bernard but Mason reveals it’s from him and asks her to marry him.
In the present, Bernard uses Abby to convince Anders to get him out. He cuts the ropes on Bernard but suddenly gets shot by Dahlia. Bernard tells Dahlia that Thomas would be ashamed of who she’s become. Dahlia says she’s doing it all to protect people from losing their loved ones as she did. And it was, after all, a Citadel agent who betrayed the organization.
Back to nine years ago, Nadia gets a secure message from someone revealing the truth about Celeste. She goes to Bernard and asks him if Mason knew. When she meets Mason, she tests him by asking if he knew Bernard backstopped Celeste. He says no but she reveals she knows everything. He claims he did it to protect Nadia as he knows she took the Oz Key. Nadia says she took it and destroyed it because nobody deserves that power.
She gets more frustrated when she realises Mason deleted Celeste’s memories from the system. They argue about whether Nadia’s really invested in their relationship or not and whether she shows her true self. She concludes that she can love but she just can’t love Mason. She leaves the ring and walks out.
Afterwards, Nadia calls up someone and tells them something has happened. She meets the man, Rahi Gambhir, outside where he hands her air tickets to Valencia. He tells her to be careful as she turns her back on Citadel but she says no one suspects a thing. She also says Mason can never find out.
At present, Carter reveals he knows Nadia met the terrorist Rahi Gambhir days before Citadel fell.
Dahlia threatens Bernard’s family to make him give up the password to the Citadel nukes. After that, she orders her people to kill his family anyway.
In Wyoming, Joe sees the incoming threat and the group of five get ready to leave.
A body bag lies in Dahlia’s mansion as she gets a call from Davik who gives her the update on Nadia and Mason. She tells him to find and get Mason. Davik must also go to Valencia because they’ve picked up communication between Nadia and Rahi Gambhir. She then casually mentions that Bernard killed Anders.
Elsewhere, Nadia, Carter and Mason argue. When Carter and Mason pressure her about Valencia, Nadia reveals she has a child.
Back in the flashback, when Nadia called Rahi, it was to tell him that she was pregnant. She didn’t want Mason to know because she didn’t trust him.
At present, Nadia says she hasn’t seen her daughter since she was six months old. Mason finds out the child is his daughter.
In Washington DC, Dahlia meets with a woman named Christophe. She tells Dahlia the other families are pleased with Dahlia. Dahlia speaks with someone on the phone and reveals that despite having the codes, she still needs Mason’s fingerprint to activate the nukes.
Nadia tells the other two that Rahi Gambhir is none other than her father.
In the past, Grace calls Nadia for a mission in Italy. She decides to go to meet Mason and tell him the truth. She ties a small golden bracelet for her daughter Asha before leaving.
In the present, a string of cars surrounds the Citadel party. A man steps out, hands Mason an earpiece and tells him someone wants to speak to him. It’s Dahlia. She reveals she has his daughter. The man holds up the golden bracelet that Nadia had tied for her daughter. To save her, Mason must help Dahlia activate the nukes.
The Episode Review
With only one episode left to go, Citadel doesn’t have the same level of excitement it had started with. A lot of this seems to do with the story, which relies on general statements about death, protection, and criminals, without going into any specifics. A typical example is the oz key, a very convenient piece of tech that can hack into a whole country, notwithstanding any kind of explanation. It’s this generalisation that’s colouring the show as an average spy series full of typical tropes than a gripping thriller.
The reveal of Nadia’s secret child also comes across as a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting something more along the lines of a secret mission or a Citadel conspiracy. A secret daughter, by comparison, is not as exciting. Meanwhile, Dahlia keeps hinting at the terrible things Citadel has done to her but we never find out about it (generalisation, again). All in all, Citadel tells us that it’s about moral greyness and complicated issues without showing any of it.
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Episode Rating
(2.5)