The Day of the Jackal Episode 1 Explained: Eddie Redmayne Thrills in Hunter v. Hunter Tale

The first episode of this present day take to the Frederick Forsyth classic began and ended, fittingly, in death. It opened in Munich, where the assassin who had already put on his elaborate prosthetic disguise was practicing his voice against a recording. A few feet away was the old man he had killed for his identity. He paused by the body before he left and stared at it calmly, as though to underline the character’s sociopathy.

It ended at the back of an ambulance, where MI6 Agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch) faced her latest sin. In an effort to locate the manufacturer who might have made the assassin’s weapon, she had a young college student named Emma Stoke arrested, to pressure her mother Alison into giving up the information Bianca wanted. But young Emma had a medical emergency whilst in custody, and she died. 

The deaths that bookended the episode set the tone for the series that is a fascinating, uncompromising look at a brilliant murderer for hire and the ruthlessness exercised by the ones tasked to catch him. Bianca’s rough around the edges agent – walking into meetings late, speaking without checking the temperature of the room, casually hanging the threat of imprisonment on a frightened asset, getting that asset’s daughter dragged to a police station, clumsily lying to her own daughter – was a stark contrast to the smoothness of the Jackal (as he would soon be called), at work and at home. The chase and the chased anchor the story strongly, and their duel set up what should be an exquisite ten-episode series. 

The old man the Jackal killed was called Ralf, and he was a cleaner at a building owned by Manfred Fest, a prominent businessman who was running to become the next German Chancellor. Once inside, the Jackal started shooting – a female member of the staff, a few security men, and eventually, Manfred’s son Elias, whom he wounded but did not kill.

The target, of course, was not the son but the father. Manfred made a rather high profile visit to the hospital where his son laid. In a building that should have been too far away to be a security threat, the Jackal methodically assembled his weapon from pieces of his luggage. After two test shots, the third hit the target as he was already inside the building. 

Manfred’s security team immediately identified the origin of the shot, but the Jackal had already readied his escape. He took apart his weapon, re-arranged the parts into his luggage, and calmly walked away. He had multiple covers to his tracks – a bomb left inside his room which took out the first responders and wiped off any prints he may have left, a bomb on the first car he used to get away, and a second vehicle, which he used to drive to his alibi, a dealer of antique chess sets in Nuremberg.

Job done. All that was left to do was to invoice his client for the final payment. Only, this particular client refused to pay.

The Jackal had a new potential client with a budget of $10 million, but this client insisted on a meet, which he usually did not do. He named the outrageous price of $1 million, half before the meet, half afterwards, and the client agreed. They met at Lake Malaren in Sweden, where the Jackal posed as a bird watcher, complete with a small notebook where he penciled in a bird drawing, because his cover was always that elaborate. The client, a woman, named the target – Ulle Dag Charles, also known as UDC, a billionaire who claimed to have developed a revolutionary software called River that would track and open to the public all financial transactions around the world. The Jackal quoted $100 million just to begin a conversation about this particular, very difficult hit.

At the end of his multiple business trips, the Jackal came home to a large, beautiful house in Spain, to a gorgeous wife who greeted him warmly, in time for his son Carlito’s birthday. That was the Jackal, on his fourth personna just on this one episode (let’s count: one - Ralf, two - himself as assassin, three - businessman buying a chess set who lives in Paris, four - husband and father in Cadiz).

The Jackal’s studied competence was up against multiple jurisdictions searching for him, and one talented but raw agent. Whilst the Jackal was always thinking several steps ahead, Bianca tended to only think of the puzzle in front of her. She was the one who figured out, based on the Jackal’s luggage size, that his weapon was bespoke, that the barrel came in two parts. A man named Norman Stoke has been trying to create this barrel; he has been on the run since his involvement in an assassination in Stockholm in 2018. He has a brother named Larry, who was married to Alison, Bianca’s asset code named Sparrow. 

Having young Emma arrested whilst she was at a peaceful protest was Bianca’s idea, as was telling her they had four witnesses that saw her throw a bottle at a police officer. It was targeted harassment to get to her mother, a deliberately disturbing portrait of policing, and an interesting narrative choice. This was Bianca’s first effort at trying to locate this particular sniper who just made a record-breaking shot, so there was no years long fruitless search level of frustration yet. But, one of her first decisions in the hunt for him was to illegally detain and traumatise a young woman to force her mother to play the spy. The ruthlessness in the search for the Jackal was first episode immediate, as was the tragedy that resulted from it. That was a choice, it would inform how we view the series as it goes on. 

The Day of the Jackal set itself up with this first episode not just as a sleek thriller, though it certainly is that, in spades, but also a layered character study where the line between hunter and hunted (who is also a hunter) often blurred. It is also a showcase of Eddie Redmayne’s incredible talent, a performance of precision and elegance that crafted an unforgettable character from the very first scene. Yes, The Day of the Jackal came out late last year, but I remain excited to recap it for those who are just discovering this great show. Thank you so much for joining me, and see you on the next episode! 

Rating: A

Strays

👓Because I was raised by CSI, I also noticed that the Jackal pulled down the fire alarm without gloves, leaving fingerprints. The fire alarm looked far enough away from his room to have possibly survived the blast. 

👓Locations in this episode: Germany (Munich, Nuremberg), France (Paris), Sweden (Lake Malaren), Spain (Cadiz), Northern Ireland (Belfast).

You can access Recap Lab’s full coverage of The Day of the Jackal via this link! 

Episode Writer: Ronan Bennett

Episode Director: Brian Kirk

Original Air Date: November 7, 2024

US Air Date: November 14, 2024

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