The Day of the Jackal Episode 2 Explained: The Brand

Several times in this episode, the Jackal’s wife Nuria spoke of him, or part of him, in the other place. It was a place she could not follow him, a place where his mind would turn to every time he thought of work, work that she did not know much of but which paid very well, well enough to afford them the luxurious life they lived in Cadiz. When he received a message in the middle of their son’s birthday party, she immediately read ‘work’ on his face. When she insisted on driving him to the airport, because of course he just had to leave right then and there, it was her trying to be part just a little bit longer of her husband’s world. The moment they reached the airport, her husband was gone, in mind if not in body just yet. Without her knowing, Nuria has been getting a firsthand look at the chameleonic assassin on perhaps his most important disguise, Charles Calthrop, busy businessman, husband and father.

It was a testament to the Jackal’s chilling professionalism that when something needed to be done in business, it needed to be done now. Did he need to leave his son’s birthday party to trace the sender of the down payment for the Manfred Fest job, so he would know who had refused to pay him after the job was completed? Of course not. Did he need to rush to a taxi after his wife dropped him off at the airport, so he could head to the bank and retrieve some passports and money for his latest travel plan? Also no, he could have waited a bit. But there was unfinished work and his mind was already on it. He could not have anticipated that his wife would stop by the flower market and catch a glimpse of him as his taxi passed by.

The money was clearly important to the Jackal, but so was the principle. They had a deal. He delivered on his end of the deal. As he explained to Nuria, if it got out that a client did not pay him, it could hurt the brand. And so he returned to Munich, where he was able to get the name of the company that paid the deposit into his account. It took more patient research online before he ascertained that the client, the man who paid to have Manfred Fest assassinated, was his son Elias, the same man whom the Jackal wounded to bait Manfred into coming to the hospital. 

At the same time that the Jackal was trying to close this annoying loose end, the liaison to his latest potential client, Zina, reached out once more and asked for another meet. The Jackal again tried to refuse, but Zina pointed out that they had already showed one million dollars in good faith. If the Jackal refused to meet, they would move on to another assassin. For a contract potentially worth one hundred million dollars, the Jackal agreed.

It was fun to watch the Jackal and Zina go Moscow Rules before they met, to the sound of street violinists that were incorporated into the scene. On a park bench they negotiated further – 20 million as commencement fee, down from the 50 million down payment that the Jackal initially wanted. Zina’s employers also wanted UDC dead on or before the date he announced that he would release his software River. The Jackal initially did not want to be pinned on a date, but once more, he agreed. Based on the amount he was not able to collect from Elias Fest, the UDC assassination would, by far, be his biggest payday. When Zina asked him why he was still in Munich, out of concern that he had another job distracting him from the one she was trying to hire him for, the Jackal assured him there were no loose ends. They agreed on code names, Rodin for the target, and Jackal for the assassin.

Meanwhile, Bianca had gotten far in her investigation, especially for such a short time. She had already assessed that the assassin was British, based on the backpack he carried for the Fest job and the type of weapon he used to shoot Elias and his bodyguards, a gun typically used by British soldiers. Because they could not keep young Emma’s death a secret for too long, Bianca pushed Alison to get Norman Stoke’s phone number from her husband Larry that same day. Alison did, and Bianca headed a team of four into Belarus to arrest him.

Bianca would later tell her superiors that it was a setup. Norman had been waiting for them. Two of Bianca’s team of four were killed. The only evidence of note Bianca retrieved so far was what appeared to be a prototype of the gun as a suitcase that the Jackal used in  Munich.

So far on the British side, there have been three deaths.  Perhaps the career of a policeman who helped Bianca, Gillespie, could become a casualty as well, as the MI6 moved to cover their behinds over the death of young Emma in an operation that Bianca suggested and supervised. The assassination that started all this did not even happen on British soil; British involvement occurred because German intelligence asked for their help, and Bianca burst into the meeting and gave Norman Stoke as a lead. There was surgical precision in the way the Jackal ended lives which was a jarring contrast to Bianca accidentally getting people killed. 

The cracks in Bianca's home life appeared as early as the first episode. The same cracks were now appearing in the Jackal’s carefully curated home life, with his wife, his mother in law, and his brother in law all suspecting that he was having an affair. On the job front, both these characters were still laser focused on their work. It seemed like only a matter of time before their home and work lives collided.

Rating: B+

Strays

👓Nuria’s extended family knew, and her mother had to be reminded, of the Jackal’s no posting of his photo rule.

👓Nuria’s deadbeat brother Alvaro wanted money from the Jackal to invest in a restaurant. The Jackal agreed to a meet once he finished his latest business deal.

👓Bianca’s bosses were Osita Halcrow and Isabel Kirby, the MI6 Deputy Chief of Staff.

👓Osi seemed to have a better understanding of the gravity of what happened to young Emma than Bianca. He wanted to shut down the operation immediately, but Isabel backed Bianca. 

👓Mr. Carver was the MI6 fixer. 

👓Zina worked for Mr. Winthrop (Charles Dance), who toyed with some Thanos-esque ideas. 

👓To Nuria and her family, the Jackal pretended that he could barely speak Spanish. The truth was, he spoke it fluently. Bianca surmised that he was a mimic and that he had a gift with languages.

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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