War Recap Season 1 Episode 5 ‘Every Little Thing She Does’
The legal war between Cathcarts and Taylor & Byrne has turned into a PR war, with neither Morgan nor Carla ahead at the end of it all. Husband and wife were both warned at the beginning of their de-coupling process how messy this could get. Both parties came very close to a settlement which was scuppered at the final few moments after Cathcarts found out Flora was a setup arranged by Carla. An agreement necessitated some level of trust, and that trust was broken early in the process. They came very close again, when St. John offered 110 million (higher than the 80 million they were going to offer at mediation) but Nick prioritised his bruised ego and decided to head to court, financial practicalities notwithstanding. Now, Nick and Serena found the detail they needed to convince Carla to go to court and fight for half of Morgan’s assets — Carla’s claim that she named Zephyr. If Carla and Morgan created Zephyr together, then the company was a fruit of their marriage. Did anyone point out that Nick and Serena already dangled the possibility of a half a billion payout to Carla even before this latest revelation? No? We’re moving on from that? All right.
War is an entertaining series. I am genuinely enjoying it. There is also a hollowness to it, so that even now, more than halfway through the season, I don’t really have a good read on the main characters of the drama. The show has spent time establishing the complex feelings Morgan had for Carla; I’m just not at a point where I could trust it yet, given how it was Morgan who cheated in the first place. But what about Carla? How did she feel about Morgan? There were glimpses early on of a more fun character (the one who could not quite remember how old her son was) but that hasn’t really been consistently shown. I don’t know if the emotions I’m seeing are genuine or if something major about the characters will be revealed later on. The only one from their family who seemed genuine in his reactions was Gabe. Is this by design, so we don’t know whom to root for?
Sympathy was what Carla lost, then regained, in this episode, after she lost her careful temper when a tv show host showed a photo of her and Morgan at the same red carpet where he had her served with divorce papers. Reporters and paparazzi camped outside her house, so much so she could not even leave to go to rehearsals of her play. Members of the public were firmly on Morgan’s side, saying on talk shows and social media that they understood why Morgan would want to leave her. Though the public reaction had no legal bearing, Cathcarts was so happy that someone sent Nick and Serena a funeral wreath with RIP.
They hired a crisis PR lady who immediately got to work. Grace got one of her clients who was a guest at a popular podcast Every Little Thing She Does to defend Carla. Carla then agreed to guest herself, and explained why the photo angered her in the first place — because it was taken 60 seconds after Morgan had her served with divorce papers at her own premiere. The public turned immediately again, so much so that Carla trended on Zephyr itself.
Morgan yelled at St. John to do something. From his point of view, serving Carla at the red carpet was Cathcarts’ idea, and it was Carla who honeytrapped him, but she was making him look like a villain. St. John told Morgan to make up with Gabe over dinner, which Morgan did. Unknown to him, St. John sent a paparazzo to take a photo of Morgan and Gabe hugging outside the restaurant. Gabe understood it was a setup and thought it was Morgan who set it up. One photo and a sympathetic story later, and the advantage swung back to Morgan.
Carla was tired. She told Serena and Nick she did not want to go to court. She could not do that to Gabe. But when Carla mentioned how she named Zephyr, how the name came from a poem she read to Morgan on that blissful month they spent in Normandy, things changed. Serena and Nick convinced her to go to court.
It turned out that Morgan’s business rival Michael Ancker was right. Gillian and Eric ambushed Morgan with a meeting with Ancker. Did they feel comfortable doing this to their boss since Morgan did not currently have controlling interest over the company? Perhaps. Ancker told Morgan that either his wife would go after his business, or he would. Ancker offered two billion, double the current market valuation of Zephyr. He also offered to keep the money in a safe place that Carla’s lawyers could not touch. Morgan still said no, a decision that at this stage, tilted the balance of power toward Carla.
More trouble was coming, and not because Carla had decided to sleep with Johnny. Saeed was tasked to take notes on the meeting discussing Carla’s personal assets with Michael and Cleo. They were joking about Carla owning a Ferrari Testarossa, which Saeed distractedly wrote down. He then asked Molly to type it up, and when Molly gave the paperwork to Serena, Serena immediately called out the error about the Ferrari. Serena, however, did not discard the incorrect file; she tossed it on her document tray. It was this document that Johnny, in his role as Cathcarts spy, later photographed and sent to David.
Now why would a document from a very secret mole end up in the computer accessible to junior members of Cathcarts, so that when David asked for Carla’s personal asset list to be printed, it was this document, with the Ferrari, that was printed, and not what Taylor & Byrne sent out? Sloppy work, David.
Let me end this on my unofficial scorecard for both firms. Cathcarts stood at 2 1/2 by Episode 4. For the massive document screwup that could expose their mole, I’m docking a point. For not warning Morgan against giving Gillian his Zephyr shares and seeing the results of that in this episode, I’m taking off another point. St. John’s move with the paparazzo was a jerk move and exactly what we could expect from St. John, but it was effective so that gets half a point. So now Cathcarts stands at 1. Taylor & Byrne finally has a leg to stand on in their quest to win their client half a billion pounds so they get a half a point for that. Their PR fight back was also effective so half a point there too. For now, the law firms stand with a point each.
Rating: B
Strays
💼Since Taylor & Byrne were struggling financially, they wanted to get to court as quickly as possible. Cathcarts response was to try and slow them down by drowning them in documents.
💼Gillian’s tone toward Morgan sure changed a lot since she now held his Zephyr shares.
💼In an effort to get a rise out of her, one of the photographers outside Carla’s house yelled through the closed door asking when was the last time she saw her son. Her assistant had to physically stop her from going out again to confront the photographer.
💼Johnny’s girlfriend Bella called Carla’s talk show appearance bad acting. Johnny, who has been secretly working against her, defended Carla.
💼Morgan wanted to get the information about how Carla honeytrapped him with Flora out but St. John said no to that.
💼Cathcarts: 1 Taylor & Byrne: 1
Episode Title: Every Little Thing She Does
Episode Writer: Toby Finlay
Episode Director: China Moo-Young
Original Release Date: October 29, 2026