Spy/Master – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

The Trojan Horse

Is Mircea’s plan to kidnap Victor from the Embassy successful?

Episode 6 of Spy/Master, the last of season 1, begins with the operation by Romanian counterintelligence to extract Victor from the US Embassy. The agents have positioned themselves through the exit from the parking basement. One of them dresses up as one of the Marines who are stationed throughout the Embassy. The BND has confirmed reports of a bomb in a synagogue. They spurt into action and reach the spot to evacuate, find the bomb, and diffuse it.

Frank and the other high-ranking officials at the Embassy are consumed with the unfurling action. This creates a good enough distraction for the counterintelligence agents to lay their trap. Popescu calls one of the desk girls at the embassy and tells her that the Communications department wants Victor to come. The request is about the tape he made for Ileana. Victor slips away without anyone else noticing and he is kidnapped by the agents. So, the operation is indeed successful.

Are the BND able to diffuse the bomb and apprehend Jabare and Omar?

The BND reach the synagogue and evacuate everyone. Omar and two associates of Jabare are hiding in the basement of the building, waiting to trigger the explosion. Jabare, meanwhile, stands at the opposite end of the street and watches as the troops make their way. But where is he going?

The BND is able to find the explosive and diffuse it with relative ease. Omar is shocked to see that the explosion wouldn’t trigger. He looks outside through the window and cannot spot any BND officers around. He goes out to check on the explosive. But something inside him clicks and instinctively, he takes out his gun. That is enough for the snipers on the rooftop to pull the trigger, killing Omar.

Jabare has not been apprehended yet and wants to give shape to his ominous plan.

Who saved Victor from the Romanian counterintelligence?

When Victor was arrested, it seemed like that was the end of his defection. Mircea and Popescu masterminded the entire operation to perfection. They place Victor in an abandoned building. Before executing him, Popescu asks Victor to explain why he is defecting. In his mind, the reasons are clear. The Communist system does not work. He has become “fed up with the system” and constantly has to find ways to work around it. As she is about to pull the trigger, General Shakarov’s men kill her. The KGB, Russia’s intelligence agency, has kept its promise and freed Victor.

What happened to Ingrid? Will she be safe?

Victor immediately calls Frank from a telephone booth and inquires about the operation. He is still worried as Frank tells him Jabare was not apprehended. The two men decide to go to Ingrid’s house. They find Safiya hiding in Ingrid’s bedroom with her son Achmed. Victor speaks to her on the phone.

Ingrid was not mortally wounded in the shooting at the border. She will make a full recovery in a few weeks’ time. But since her cover is broken, she has no way of returning back to Bonn. Ingrid had to leave everything she had behind, including her son Max. Victor offers her a new lease on life and proposes she comes to the US with him. But Ingrid bids farewell, knowing that she will have to spend the rest of her life in the shadows.

What happens to Ileana? Does she make it to Bonn?

Ileana was smuggled out of Romania by the KGB. Boris, whom we saw in the last episode, tells her that she has a choice: go back home or go to the US with her father. Adela has played her part well, giving the authorities the impression that she didn’t know Ileana would be taken from her. Ileana meets Shakarov and tells him that she will be going to Bonn and be with her father. The KGB arrange transportation for her to make it happen.

Ending Explained:

Safiya gives the men keys to Jabare’s storage space, where he has housed all the guns and other weapons. Inside, Frank and Victor look for clues about Jabare’s next target. After some digging, they shockingly find out that Jabare is going to target the conference being held at the US Embassy in Bonn.

What is Jabare’s real plan?

They find a newspaper from the storage space where Sacha Kenvin’s name is highlighted. He is supposed to be a keynote speaker at the conference. We see Jabare walk inside, confirming their suspicions. Ileana walks into the Embassy too and John takes her under his wing. Fank is able to alert John of the bomb threat and asks to evacuate the place. Frank and Victor reach the Embassy, where the latter recognizes Jabare descending the stairs with his briefcase that has the bomb.

How does Spy/Master end?

They give chase but Jabare gets hold of Ileana. He forces John, Victor, and Frank onto the ground. Walter Simpson, Frank’s boss, shoots Jaabre in the shoulder and Ileana breaks free. Victor once again runs after him and finds Jabare lying on the pavement, barely able to breathe. He believes Victor is a thoroughbred KGB agent and will not be happy in the US. Frank and John are able to diffuse the bomb seconds before it goes off.

Scott informs Frank that President Carter has officially signed the papers for Victor’s extradition. Sitting on the steps outside the Embassy, Frank asks rudimentary questions to Ileana about how she was brought to Bonn and who brought her. She lies to him and does not reveal that Boris and the KGB helped her. The series ends with Victor’s tape, where he confesses he had to “corrupt himself to play the corrupted game.” Victor and Ileana will now be American citizens and the CIA will be watching over them.

The Episode Review

Compared to the rest of the series, Spy/Master’s finale was underwhelming. It was still good, though. The standard of filmmaking and storytelling was elite for most parts of this season. But episode 6 did have some hasty surprises for the viewers. It was also the shortest of them all and that reflected in some haphazard and half-hearted efforts.

But given how good Spy/Master has been until now, these flaws are forgiven. Victor and Ileana were able to make it through in a relatively expected ending. The strength and efficiency of the Romanian counterintelligence and Nicolae’s obsessed manhunt were downplayed significantly. While that was a major upset in the finale, we were able to get all the answers we needed.