Spy/Master Episode 2 makes it a challenge to understand how the two timelines connect. A lot more happens here, and it makes one wonder how to place the events of the past and the present in the right sequence. We are bombarded with information, and all we can do is take it all in and wait to see what happens next. Here’s a detailed explanation of Spy/Master Episode 2.
Spoilers Ahead
5 Days Earlier: Planning
Lari Bogdan, the truck driver carrying illegal goods that were intercepted at the Bulgaria-Romania border, was found dead in his cell. He revealed that he was a DIE agent. Ioan Albescu, Deputy of the Party’s Security Committee, who is supposed to keep an eye on the Romanian Intelligence Services, thinks that Victor has intel on the guy, although Victor clearly states that he doesn’t. But saying no doesn’t mean no. That’s the first rule for intelligence agencies. Ioan shares the news of Bogdan’s death with Mircea and believes that Victor pulled some strings for it. While Mircea does have the pictures of Victor with General Shakarov, he needs time to collect all the evidence before he can hand them over to the president. Once the warehouse (either we are yet to know what it is and where it is, or they are talking about the one under the clothing store, although it is unlikely as it is used by the Americans and not the Russians) is found, Victor will be handed over to the president. Mircea and Ioan shake hands on it. Meanwhile, Victor suggests Nicolae to not ask the counterintelligence about Bogdan because he knows that it will compromise him big time. To prevent this from happening, Victor even plants the idea of Mircea’s girlfriend being a Russian agent in Nicolae’s wife Elena’s head. This is to get Mircea out of his way, at least until the Americans come to his aid. After getting permission to keep an eye on Mircea from Elena, Victor gets another bug planted in Mircea’s house that reveals that they have their hands on Victor’s records from the head of foreign intelligence.
4 Days Earlier: Spooked
Victor and his daughter Ileana visit an event to which President Nicolae has also been invited. There, Victor comes face-to-face with Mircea again. This time, Mircea doesn’t hold back. He tells Victor that he knows about the warehouse. And from the looks of it, he has even found the bug that Victor had planted was in his wife’s new bag. Victor is spooked. After the event, he takes Ileana to the place where he was born to show her how he worked the system to reach where he has. She, too, has to learn to work the system and push it while making sure she doesn’t overstep. The irony is that Victor is the one overstepped. It seems to be only a matter of time before he is caught.
3 Days Earlier: Found And Lost
Ioan and his assistant Albescu break into the warehouse that they had been looking for. In there, they find lots of stuff, like champagne bottles and television sets, which Victor sends over to the guys at the Security Commission as a bribe to keep their mouths shut. He must have acquired these from the Russians. Ioan informs Mircea about it, and the latter finally takes all the proof, along with the photographs of Victor with General Sakharov, to President Nicolae. Elena calls them fake because she knows that Mircea is having an affair with a Russian girl. This hits the spot, just as Victor had hoped. Nicolae, who trusts Victor more than anyone else, now doubts Mircea’s interests.
2 Days Earlier: Allegiance
Felix, the Russian guy, informs Victor that his warehouse has been discovered by Albescu. He realizes that the information will reach Nicolae very soon if it hasn’t already. On his way to the church where he is going to meet Frank, he is intercepted by General Shakarov’s car. Shakarov makes it clear that he knows what Victor is planning to do. Victor informs him that Nicolae will be going to England in a few days. Shakarov’s last words to him before he leaves are that everything has a price, even allegiance. Victor leaves the car and meets Frank inside the church. A car is about to arrive that will take Victor to his destination.
Negotiation
It seems that Victor and Ingrid know each other pretty well. What she did at the end of Spy/Master Episode 1 was nothing more than a stunt. It is clear that they are having an affair, and it’s been going on for quite some time. As for the gun, it was a lighter. Ingrid informs him that General Shakarov has come to town. This is not a good sign, as the last time he arrived, there was an attack at the airport. What will it be this time? And what’s the motive? Victor later meets Carmen, Director of the Ministry of Interior, for the first time, although he has already gone through her file (Episode 1). She is to help him negotiate the Pilgrims Program with the Germans. They both know that they are being tracked by each other, but Carmen is one step ahead as she has already passed on the negative to Mircea. Carmen suggests that they should take the money offered and greenlight the extra Germans, but Victor states that President Nicolae would rather have them ask for more from the Germans in return for their people.
Later, Victor somehow manages to avoid being spotted with Frank by Carmen in the garment store where he had met Frank earlier. He shouldn’t have done that when he knew that Carmen was onto him. Maybe she will come back again. As they leave the store, we yet again spot the bald guy (Episode 1) tracking them. Who is this guy?
Meanwhile, Frank is still trying to convince Scott to get the green light from his superiors to have Victor defect. Victor, Carmen, and Rancea meet Mr. Klaus and Ingrid for the renegotiation of the German-Romanian Pilgrims Program deal. Victor states that the amount of money offered isn’t enough. He is clearly stalling. In his desperation, he even calls Frank from the Ministry of the Interior itself to check how far his defection process has reached. Frank’s assurance means very little, but Victor has to make do with it. Ingrid tracks the call and finds out that the person Victor is talking to is Frank Jackson of the American Embassy. As Victor, Rancea, and Carmen are leaving the Ministry of the Interior, they get the message that President Nicolae wants them back in Bucharest the next day. Something urgent must have come up. Carmen has booked flights for them to Bucharest the next day. Frank is informed of this information.
Victor tries to contact Frank, probably to share with him the same information but fails. General Sakharov arrives at the Soviet Embassy in Bonn and is told that Victor Godeanu is defecting to America. Ingrid must have shared this piece of information with her superiors. She meets Victor the same night to remind him of the crime he is about to commit by defecting to the Americans. But Victor is adamant and warns her against betraying him. Their kiss tells us that their chemistry is on par with their own vested interests. In the spa, he is contacted again by Frank, who sends him the address of a church that he has to reach the same night. Before that, he decides to take the photographs he has of Mircea and the Russian girlfriend and arrives at Nicolae’s office. He intends to use the pictures as evidence against Mircea and thus prove that whatever he has told Nicolae about Victor is a lie. However, Victor doesn’t find Nicolae and thus hands over the pictures to Elena. He then returns home, takes his passport and some cash, and leaves. This is probably the last time he will see his daughter and wife.
Spy/Master Episode 2 is very confusing. Only Victor’s suits help us understand what’s happening in the past and what’s happening in the present, but that’s also tough. Only Episode 3 will reveal if we are thinking the right way or not. On the one hand, we have the present, where Victor is provided with the address of a church that he has to go to. He seems to be escaping. On the other hand, we have the events from two days ago, where we see Victor going to the church and being apprehended by General Shakarov. So how can he escape twice? There is one day missing in the middle. Or does the ending bring together the two timelines of past and present in the form of one day [one day earlier]? Only Spy/Master Episode 3 can clear the confusion.
