The Screen Scribe

The second episode of The Day of the Jackal begins with an examination of the fallout from the Munich assassination. The political landscape in Germany has been utterly devastated by the killing of Chancellor candidate Manfred Fest. The elections that were alluded to in the background of episode 1 are now up in the air, with many calling for them to be suspended in light of the assassination.

MI6 are pursuing leads pertaining to Norman Stokes, a gunsmith from Northern Ireland whom they believe crafted the bespoke sniper rifle that killed Fest, from an apparently unheard-of distance that leave much of MI6 in disbelief of its credibility. Norman, however, has been on the run for years and Bianca’s pursuit of him finds itself in cold water when her contacts daughter suddenly dies in custody due to a heart condition.

We find the Jackal living in domestic paradise in Cadiz, Spain, with his family celebrating the birthday of his infant son, all while he is attempting to ascertain who is withholding the funds he is due from the Munich assassination, while simultaneously intrigued at the offer from the shadowy New York group regarding a hit job on the tech mogul Ulle Dag Charles.

This is obviously going to be the big Hit of the series, as Charles de Gaulle was in the novel, and original film. UDC (as he likes to be called apparently) is on the verge of releasing a propriety software app called River, which will allow the public access to the spending patterns of the world’s  financial elite 1%. This continues the development of two themes from the opening episode, greed and the abuse of governmental authority. But while those are evident in episode 2, and lay groundwork for later, the episode is very clearly dominated by a different and very relevant theme: do the ends justify the means?

We see this play out across all three storylines as each character grapples with the moral implications of the actions they have either taken or are about to take. For Bianca, she justifies her actions as being in the service of the greater good and her duty to her country but is clearly struggling internally to resolve feelings of guilt and shame in light of her treatment of her contact Sparrow, her daughters death, her neglect of her own family, and the botched raid in Belarus.

The Jackal is slightly more difficult to discern. While it appears he cares for his family, and the audience are given the impression he does what he does for them, it is difficult to ascertain the truth from the fiction he has created around himself. He kills for money to support his family in the comfortable lifestyle he has created, whether this is solely a cover or actual fact, it still remains the case. The covert New York group on the other hand are more straight forward. They certainly will justify the means, any means necessary, if it brings about the demise of UDC and his River software and the protection of their wealth. In a modern era where the financial elite remain on top, while the middle class and working class fall further and further down the financial ladder, this becomes an increasingly relevant plotline, and I’m interested in seeing how it will proceed.

Eddie Redmayne again does an excellent job of portraying the cold, calculating assassin beneath layers of cover, false passports and superb disguises that would be at home in the Mission Impossible franchise, as he navigates a myriad of leads to finally uncover who stiffed him for the payment in Munich. It’s an unexpected reveal to say the least, with fascinating implications. Lashana Lynch is given more to sink her teeth into in this episode, doggedly pursuing various leads, dealing with her uppers in MI6, and climaxing in the tightly choreographed raid in Belarus that is faced paced, tense and brutal despite its brief run time.

While episode one establishes the world of The Day of the Jackal i.e assassinations, political machinations and government intelligence, episode two takes a slower approach and spends time with the characters, peeling back the layers of their motivations, personal lives, and posing the question that each character is seen to contemplate at various points: do the ends justify the means?

4 / 5 ✨ from the Screen Scribe.

The Day of the Jackal airs every Thursday on Sky Atlantic.

Episodes 1 – 5 are available to view now.