Fragments Of The Past
With next week’s finale looming on the horizon, The Rook returns for an episode that dives into the past and shows exactly what happened in the events leading up to the bridge incident. Whilst interesting, the episode does little other than to serve as a missing page, filling in the intricate details over what really took place and who was involved. We begin one month before the events that take place on the bridge. Myfanwy is at the office and introduces the others to Dora, a woman diagnosed with autism. After discussing the possibility of an EVA being able to travel through time, Dora approaches Myfanwy after the meeting and gives her an ominous message that she’s going to be attacked on the bridge some time in the future. This prompts Myfanwy to approach Farrier with what she’s learnt, who brushes off the evidence as paranoia. However, Linda comes under fire too in a meeting where she learns the fate of the agency is at stake, with the Home Secretary wanting to merge them with other units like MI6. Not long after the meeting, and following on from a scene depicting Conrad and the Home Secretary in their affair, Farrier kidnaps Myfanwy’s sister Bronwyn and holds her captive, ruffling her up before letting her go. She immediately phones through to her contacts before returning to her with a proposed trade – Nazim for Myfanwy. Interestingly, we find out here that it was Bronwyn who suggested Nazim wipe her memory – selectively – to make sure the trade is free of leaks. Myfanwy tries to convince the Twins to her way of thinking but instead they change the subject, having been told by Farrier to do so earlier in the day. Sensing the predictions are going to come true, it’s here where we see her planning for the bridge incident, convinced more than ever that this prophetic message is a warning. All of this includes the proposed smuggling deal for getting Myfanwy out of the country. We then jump forward to a big night of celebrations for the agency as they host a ball, with Farrier in particular rousing the crowd up with a motivational speech. This leads to her saying goodbye to Myfanwy personally before Robert hooks up with her in a passionate encounter. From here, the events leading up to the bridge play out, with Nazim’s powers not going to plan and armed guards ambushing Myfanwy in the parking lot midway through the trade. Running from the scene, Myfanwy tries in vain to hang on to her memories of past events, before we see her launch an EMP that kills everyone, leaving Farrier to hear about the incident on the phone from Conrad. Acting as a prologue to the events that have transpired thus far, The Rook’s flashback episode is an interesting one, even if it is devoid of any real tension. While the events leading up to the bridge do help shed light on what’s happened, I’m not quite sure it needed a full 50 minute episode to do so. The Rook’s episodes thus far have been pretty slow and this one is no exception. Aside from a few surprising plot developments, this episode doesn’t do very much to fill in the pieces. Most of the information here we’ve already been told about in previous episodes so what’s left is for these events to take place in chronological order. Despite all this, the episode is certainly enjoyable but whether The Rook will finish on a high or leaves things unresolved for a second season remains to be seen. For now though, The Rook’s penultimate episode dives into the past but doesn’t do a whole lot to set up the events taking place in the present.
