Thursday, January 25, 2024

Citadel - Time Renders Us Enemies / Time Renders Us Enemies

After giving us the hard sell on Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) as the mole who brought down Citadel, the final two episodes clear her leaving only one real suspect. "Time Renders Us Enemies" focuses on flashbacks showing the romance between Nadia and Mason Kane (Richard Madden), the secret that broke their trust, and what she was really up to after disappearing from Citadel. All the little clues which seemed to point to her betrayal are explained away as her hiding a pregnancy from Mason. 

The finale, "Time Renders Us Enemies" offers more flashbacks, this time focusing on Mason's obsession with Nadia following her disappearance from Citadel and the steps he goes to (even blackmailing the organization by personally coding the submarine to himself) to find her. Out of options, he chooses Dahlia (Lesley Manville) who lied to him about how she was going to use the information choosing murder rather than exposure of the spy agency.

In the present Nadia and Kyle are forced to go along with Dahlia's plans after her men find and kidnap their daughter. Kyle's family is also in danger from Dahlia, eventually making it out safely for a reunion at the remains of Citadel. We get the same bonkers plan of jumping on to a moving sub and taking it over in both the flashbacks and the present. Being the super spies they are, our two protagonists stop the baddies from getting control of the nukes which leaves Dahlia in a precarious position to answer on promises made.

There's a thread that runs across the season that starts when Mason impresses on Celeste (Ashleigh Cummings) how deeply she'll need to buy into her undercover assignment to sell not only to her mark but herself as well. This idea of lying so easily and convincingly that it becomes the truth is central to the second-half of the season and Mason in particular. Given the ability to bring back the Mason personality at the end of the episode (which feels a bit oddly tacked on coming out of nowhere), I wonder if the original script revealed Kyle was always Mason explaining his marriage to Abby and how he had enough skills to always just survive whatever situation he was thrown into. While that would no doubt have created several plot holes of its own, the theme of the show would more naturally fit. Either way, Citadel's mole is awake by the end of the season leaving pretty big questions about where the show goes from here.

  • Title: Citadel - Time Renders Us Enemies / Time Renders Us Enemies
  • IMDb: link | link

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