Prime Target – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Syracuse

Episode 2 of Prime Target begins 4 days ago, and this time we follow our other main character, Taylah Sanders. Much like Ed, she’s consumed by her work and that happens to be watching the professors at the university.

Turns out she’s the one that’s been spying on Robert and the others. She’s a surveillance officer for the NSA, and she soon slips into the cliché of showing a new recruit around that arrives to do the job. They’re part of the “European unit” and they’re looking to root out the next digital weapons. They’re actually monitoring 15 key mathematicians across Europe, which includes Robert Mallinder.

They have the capacity to plant or access any camera but their surveillance is basic. They don’t get audio, only picture, and their job is to upload any pictures from whiteboards, rather than actually deciphering the math work. Of course, as our digital world is designed around numbers and patterns, the right combination could, theoretically, take down the entire system. This explains what they’re doing here, and why this Cipher is so important.

Back in the present, Andrea is grief-stricken over Robert’s death while Ed is more interested in getting his research from the man’s office than anything else. He’s not allowed in there right now, but of course he doesn’t listen and breaks in that night. He doesn’t find anything, but Ed  does get caught rooting around by the faculty and is warned by the other professors that he’ll go down for this.

Reprimanded by the authorities in charge, Ed refuses to apologize for what he’s done. As a result, he’s kicked out the university. However, he does find a picture of an icosahedron up on the mirror, which could be a big clue. Apparently the Greeks believed this described the shape of the universe.

Ed could be onto something and he heads off to see Andrea, who brings up that Robert burned the tablecloth he scrawled over in episode 1, and Andrea believes Ed has found something. He’s being warned off from everything and both of them are determined to find the truth.

Remember the girl from the past that struck a chord with Ed? Well, this was a mathematician by the name of Safiya, and she was close with Ed. Quite what their connection is remains a mystery but we do find out that Safiya commit suicide 30 years ago. Ed and Andrea are understandably rattled by this revelation, and back home that night, Ed receives a visit from a strange man who’s apparently looking to develop their work. He works for a company called Kaplar.

Taylah meanwhile, believes Ed and Robert could be key components here, especially when she watches Robert burn his work and then commit suicide in the parking lot. This rings alarm bells and she brings her boss, Olson, in to watch the footage. Despite it all being chalked up to a suicide, Taylah isn’t convinced. She thinks there’s more to it than that and soon realizes they’ve been focusing on the wrong guy – they need to go after Ed.

Taylah believes that Robert’s voice on his suicide note has been artificially generated. The background appears to have been looped, given she hears coughing, and thinks they’re witnessing a cover-up. Olson agrees to look into this and contacts his bosses to try and find out more. Unfortunately, they don’t go for it.

Taylah is not happy when she finds out and outside by the dock, demands Olson allow her to talk to those at the top. Unfortunately, she’s asking way too many questions as Olson is shot dead by a sniper. Taylah tries to run away but a man on a motorcycle chases her so she dives into the water. While scrambling for safety, forced to get away from shady mercenaries, we cut across to the sniper who happens to have a wolf insignia on his gun. 


The Episode Review

We finally learn more about this number pattern and its significance, and specifically how it could well be that Ed has stumbled upon something that could be super dangerous in the grand scheme of things. Quire how the NSA and this strange Kaplar company play into everything remains a mystery, but it’s clear that things are looking pretty dramatic and starting to heat up now.

The show is quite slow in parts, and it’s also incredibly tropey as well. We have all the cliches of the genre, including the rogue agent, the genius with terrible people skills, the mentor character who guides Ed to the next plot beat, and a senior character holding secrets that others need to figure out.

It’s all very standard stuff right now and it remains to be seen if Prime Target can actually step out of this and deliver something a bit more unique and original. What’s here is still enjoyable, no doubt, but it’s also quite forgettable too.

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3.5

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