As Paris Has Fallen reaches the midpoint of its first season, things have now escalated from systematic political murders to large-scale terrorist conspiracy, which could put numerous innocent lives in jeopardy. This is the point where makers try to add terrible traits to make the antagonists, whom they themselves have set on a justified war against the existing status quo, seem like easy to hate generic villains. Dreaded former French Foreign Legion captain, Jacob Pearce, who lost his combat team and close ones to the evil machinations of people in power, had every justifiable reason to kill every single one of them. As the previous episode showed, he had managed to eliminate Cedric Duval, the agent who carried out the bombing that killed Pearce’s close ones, and Duval’s handler, Beatrice Paquin, as well, who gave the order to carry out the attack. Pearce became aware of the fact that French President Juliette Levesque had ordered the strike, and as Vincent confronted her about this, she acknowledged doing so for political gains. The fourth episode highlights the next major step in Pearce’s plan as Zara and Vincent continue to fail in their attempts to stop him.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did Pearce Hack the Air Traffic Control System?
In the aftermath of Beatrice’s death and Pearce learning about the President’s role in the betrayal, protective measures for Juliette have been doubled to ensure maximum security, but Pearce has his own schemes to get to the President. The episode begins with one of Pearce’s crew, Sabin, infiltrating the Orly airport traffic control office in the guise of a cleaner and, using a drive, hacking the control server. Tampering with the navigation control afterwards, Pearce is able to force pilots of a particular aircraft to consider making an emergency landing in the nearby vacant airstrip of St. Soubirous; Pearce and his crew set out to apprehend the flight crew thereafter.
On the other hand, Vincent and Zara have managed to track down a certain Shawn Walker, an accomplice of Pearce who was present during the terrorist attack in the UK embassy. Realizing he is being followed, Walker attempts to flee by driving away but ends up dead while trying to engage in a gunfight. From the trunk of Walker’s car, the corpse of a woman is found—who is identified as Annette Allard, who used to run a skydiving school at St. Soubirous with her husband. As Annette’s husband turns out to be unreachable, Vincent and Zara decide to visit the airport themselves to assess the situation.
What Was Inside the Aircraft Hijacked By Pearce?
Behind Pearce’s back, Freja continues to discuss plans of her own with an investor named Richard, who is among the people who are funding Pearce’s endeavors, and it seems there might be a disagreement between them and Pearce in the future—where Freja will probably end up siding with her employers. Anyway, as Vincent and Zara drive to the airport, the duo chat a bit—Zara reveals how her relationship with Thea has almost reached a breaking point after she has learned about her vocation, and Zara wonders whether people in her trade should be careful in choosing the persons they love. Vincent scoffs at the idea, as he believes having feelings for someone is not a premeditated affair. Zara takes this chance to poke at him by mentioning the fact that she is aware of his relationship with the President, and after a bit of nudging, Vincent reveals that he entered Juliette’s life at her lowest point but later on ended up leaving her for her own safety. Present events have once again caused him to gravitate towards her, but after learning about Juliette’s role in the context of Pearce’s vengeful quest, Vincent is in a conflicted state.
Vincent and Zara reach the airstrip, where Pearce and his men were awaiting the arrival of said aircraft and not willing to escalate the situation before the landing. Pearce asks his men to stand by for the moment. Zara senses trouble as she enters the control office, where she gets engaged in a brutal scuffle with one of Pearce’s operatives, while Vincent, unaware of the situation, goes to apprehend a number of Pearce’s men who are disguised as ground crew. The aircraft lands, and Vincent questions the boarding security regarding the situation. Zara manages to eliminate the operative and tries to warn Vincent of the sabotage, but by then Pearce’s men start shooting and kill all the members of aircraft security. Vincent and Zara are taken captive; Pearce forces the pilot to comply by threatening to hurt his family; and the aircraft takes off. The pilot sets his course towards St. Eianne, following Pearce’s commands.
The aircraft is revealed to have contained uranium, which was supposed to be delivered to a power plant in Estonia, and it doesn’t take Vincent much guessing to assess what Pearce might be planning to do with it. Pearce, who is aware of Vincent’s past—of how his humanity became the very reason for him getting axed from the army he used to serve—tries to recruit him. revealing how expendable they truly are at the hands of the self-serving world order.
Why Does Pearce Want To Make A Nuclear Bomb?
Using a distraction, Vincent and Zara manage to take control of the situation as they begin a gunfight with Pearce and his crew inside the aircraft. However, Pearce once again slips away with Freja as the duo jump off of the aircraft with parachutes and the uranium. Vincent and Zara return to their base as the President is informed of the situation, as it is revealed that a low-yield nuclear bomb can be made using the uranium, which could decimate a substantial area. Freja brings Pearce’s old friend, Farid, a nuclear physicist who is revealed to be capable of creating a bomb from the material supplied by Pearce. Before killing his next target, the President, Pearce wants to disgrace her and expose her secret to the world in the worst way possible by detonating the bomb.
Vincent floats the idea to Zara that there might be a mole among the task force or security services who is providing crucial intel to Pearce, as there was no way for him to know about the shipments being carried on an aircraft, especially one secretive enough like an uranium carrier. Zara returns to her apartment, and seeing Thea leave, she makes an honest attempt at acknowledging her reality to Thea and possibly, by opening up, manages to end the rift between them. Vincent returns to Juliette as well, who is relieved after seeing him, and Vincent promises to stay by her side. As the episode ends, I am excited at the possibility that despite Vincent’s noble intentions and efforts, he ends up getting thrown under the bus due to Juliette’s personal and political gain in the future, which will prove Pearce’s assessment to be true.
