War Recap Season 1 Episode 1 ‘It’s Done’
This is a full recap of the first episode in the first season of War. If you would simply like to read a short episode summary, please scroll down.
Near the end of the first episode of what looks to be a very promising season, the music shifted as scenes between the two clients and two law offices were interspersed. It was the signal that the war between movie star Carla Duval (Sienna Miller, looking very much like a movie star) and her tech mogul husband Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) had begun in earnest. Carla may have fired the first shot by sending a young actress to seduce and entrap her husband, but Morgan’s representation, as soon as they figured out that their client cheated, recently, and that his wife meant to break the prenup, decided to play dirty immediately. Rich people drama, let’s go.
The rival representations were old school firm Cathcarts – St. John Smallwood (Pip Torrens), Beatrice Ubosi (Nina Sosanya), and David Schill (Miles Jupp) – and up and coming operation Taylor & Byrne – husband and wife team Nicholas Taylor (James McArdle) and Serena Byrne (Phoebe Fox), along with experienced barrister Budgie Budge (Celia Imrie). Morgan had Cathcarts on retainer, which was why alarm bells rang when his wife Carla was photographed in Paris with Nick and Serena. Nick just happened to be Carla’s lawyer when the prenup was signed a decade ago, when the couple agreed that they would walk away with what they brought into the marriage. That was before Morgan’s startup Zephyr became the massive conglomerate that it now was. When they married, Carla was the big earner. The tables had now turned.
Morgan told his lawyers he has not been unfaithful recently, but they proceeded as though he had been, because they knew their client. Even before they extracted the name Flora Monroe (Rose Williams, Princess Claude in Reign and Charlotte Heywood in Sanditon) from Morgan, they had already set up their plan. Morgan, one lonely night in London, walked back to his hotel after receiving an award. A beautiful young woman in a gold dress joined him at the elevator. She had already caught his eye back at the awards ceremony. Now, it turned out they were on the same floor at the hotel. He told her he did not do this; she challenged him to say goodnight. He walked away, but he left his hotel room door open, an unspoken invitation. They ended up in bed together. The next morning, Flora woke first and took a photo of the two of them in bed naked together. Then, she called Carla and told her, ‘It’s done’.
Carla had told Nick and Serena what she planned to do with Flora, and whilst they disapproved, at least legally, the resulting image did prove that Morgan lied about his supposed faithfulness in the marriage. Budgie advised Nick and Serena to delete the whole conversation with Carla about Flora. Afterwards, Carla should send the image again, so they could create a paper trail that showed her lawyers disapproved of what she did immediately. Carla must also never contact Flora again, at least until the divorce was done. The story from their side would be that Morgan denied cheating for a decade, he claimed that Carla was mad for even suggesting it, which made her paranoid and caused her to commission a honeytrap.
Whilst Cathcarts did not yet know that Flora was a honeytrap, they had their own underhanded tactic ready. Johnny Warren (Archie Renaux) was a young lawyer with a working class background who, for the past three years, had worked in the New York firm Wyatt Wren. He returned to London due to yet to be revealed circumstances and had been working at a posh bar whilst he struggled to get a job as a lawyer. He spoke to David when he applied for a job at Cathcarts, and David decided to recruit him for something else. David called his friend Elliot Wyatt for a reference, which was decent enough; David asked that Elliot give a much better reference should anyone else reach out about Johnny. Taylor & Byrne, who were looking to hire a new junior associate for a high profile divorce case, did call. Johnny’s interview with Nick and Serena went well, and they hired him on the spot. Once he was in, he texted David, ‘It’s done’, mimicking what Flora told Carla.
At first glance, War appears to be a glossy, relatively low stakes drama, so that when it sneaks in its soul, the hits are all the more effective. Rich cheater Morgan, walking back to his hotel alone with yet another trophy, shot with melancholy lighting. Working class Johnny, listening to Bella’s mother tell him, as though to comfort him, that their sort of people did not have expectations when it came to jobs. Movie star Carla, accepting an envelope at the red carpet premiere of her new film, thinking it was something from a fan, only to realise that they were divorce papers, then having to maintain her smile and pose with her husband who just outmanoeuvred her. This is a very good beginning, and I look forward to the weekly releases. Till next episode!
Rating: B+
Strays
💼Morgan’s assistant Eric (Patrick Fabian) kept bugging him about a possible offer from Michael Ancker about buying Zephyr.
💼Johnny was a South London kid who went to the University of Michigan on a scholarship. His codename in David’s phone was Michigan. He has been back in London and struggling to find a job as a lawyer for three months until Cathcarts picked him.
💼Nick: ‘We need the moral high ground.’ Serena: ‘Oh Nick. We’re lawyers. We need no such thing.’
💼Johnny’s girlfriend Bella came from a far wealthier background. When she finally took him to meet some of her friends, Angus in particular was a jerk. Later, Johnny was forced to serve Angus and his friends at the bar where he worked. Angus was his particular jerk self, and Johnny ended up punching him on the face and breaking his nose. Johnny lost his job so that his new job(s) came at the right time.
💼Nick and Serena did not really have the money to expand their team as was necessary to represent Carla, and her retainer was not enough to cover the war room Serena had already set up. But Serena, who used to work at Cathcarts, insisted that the only way to beat Cathcarts was to spend.
💼One of Morgan’s people found Flora’s earring on his hotel bed.
💼Carla insisted that Flora was not paid, she was a friend who offered to help her.
💼Both firms told both clients that they were the wronged party, and that they were willing to play dirty.
💼Carla received a good luck card from her son.
💼Carla’s new film was The Milliner, where she played a spy in the war.
💼Nick and Serena’s plan to ambush Morgan and his lawyers with a midnight email failed when Cathcarts sent Susie (Kartanya Maynard) to the red carpet to serve Carla with divorce papers. Cathcarts: 1 Taylor & Byrne: 0
What happened in War Season 1 Episode 1?
Movie star Carla Duval asked a young actress, Flora Monroe, to sleep with her husband, tech mogul Morgan Henderson, and get proof of his infidelity. That set in motion a high profile divorce battle that pitied posh law firm Cathcarts and the up and coming husband and wife tandem at Taylor & Byrne. Meanwhile, young lawyer Johnny Warren was recruited to serve as Cathcarts’ spy within Taylor & Byrne, where he got a job as a junior associate.
Episode Title: It’s Done
Episode Writer: George Kay
Episode Director: Ben Taylor
Original Release Date: October 1, 2026