Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s spy thriller series, ‘Citadel,’ follows the story of two secret agents whose lives are changed after the agency they work for falls. Starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the lead roles, the show takes the audience on an adventure that spans several countries and delves deep into the mythology of Citadel. The first two episodes set the story’s tone, building the story’s foundation by introducing the central mystery. We also get to meet the antagonists while questioning the true motives of the protagonists. Here’s a look at everything that happens in the premiere episodes of the six-part series. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Citadel Episode 1 and 2 Recap
The story begins with Nadia Sinh and Mason Kane aboard a train in the Italian Alps. They are on a mission to retrieve uranium from a Russian. They are assisted by Beranrd, the self-proclaimed tech genius who makes weapons for them and guides them through their missions. A little banter between Nadia and Mason reveals that they have a romantic past, but they had a fallout. Whatever differences they have are kept aside as they focus on the mission.
It turns out that their mission was a trap to get to them. Someone has been working from the inside to bring down Citadel, and with Nadia and Mason’s death, they will have finished the task. An explosion in the train leads to its derailing, with Mason and Nadia falling to their death. Or so, Manticore, the enemy organization that orchestrated the attack, thinks.
Mason survived, but he has lost his memories. He has no idea who he was and what happened to him. For the next eight years, he lives as Kyle, the name on the passport that was in his possession when he woke up with amnesia. Now, he lives a quiet life with his wife and daughter. However, the fractured memory of the train still haunts him, and Nadia’s face flashes in front of his eyes.
Mason takes a DNA test to find out about himself, which alerts Bernard of his presence. It turns out the tech support guy is the only one keeping Citadel alive. He tells Mason about his past and leads him on a new mission to retrieve a case from Manticore that holds all the answers to Mason’s questions.
Citadel Episode 2 Ending: What Happens to Bernard?
After a break of eight years, Mason Kane returns to the world of espionage with his first mission: retrieving the Citadel X case. Manticore had been looking for this case all these years. Even though they burned Citadel to the ground, they couldn’t get their hands on its innermost secrets. The case has all that Manticore needs, from Bernard’s tech to the identity of every Citadel agent, including the memories that were wiped from their heads.
A flashback reveals that the memory wiping was a deliberate procedure carried out by Bernard to save Citadel’s secret. Those memories were stored in a cloud that can be accessed via a vial stored in the Citadel X case. Manticore stole the case from the CIA, and Mason steals it from them. While he and Bernard run away with the case, they don’t realize it has a tracker, and the Manticore agents find them using it. While Mason escapes, Bernard is shot. Mason decides to inject the vial into himself but is sorely disappointed that it broke while fighting Manticore agents.
In the final scene, we find Bernard in captivity. He has been taken to Dahlia Archer, who reveals that she is the one who turned a Citadel agent, the same who helped Manticore bring down the entire organization. While her men look for the case, she focuses on torturing the secrets of Citadel out of Bernard. After all, he was the tech guy, which means he knows more about the organization than its agents.
Because Mason might think that Bernard is dead, there is a minimal chance of him returning to find Bernard and saving him from the torture Dahlia intends to put him through. It remains to be seen how much of it Bernard can endure before breaking down and giving Dahlia what she wants. This could also be an opportunity for him to figure out what she and Manticoplaning to do and what they want from the case.
Who Betrayed Citadel?
Knowing that he will be followed, Mason cannot go back to his family, who are under the protection of Bernard’s ex. The only way to protect them is by removing the danger once and for all. With Bernard gone, another option appears for Mason in Spain, where Nadia has been hiding out all this while. When he meets her, she, as expected, doesn’t remember anything about her previous life. Mason tries to make her remember, but their conversation is interrupted when one of the Silje twins, the Manticore agents sent to retrieve the case, finds them.
A scuffle ensues, and Nadia injects herself with the vial that brings back her memories. She overpowers Silje, and she and Mason run away. This is an excellent opportunity for Mason to learn more about himself, considering that he and Nadia used to be partners before everything went haywire. However, a flashback in her memory makes us wonder if he can really trust her.
Considering that both of them were spies, it isn’t surprising that they kept secrets from each other. As soon as her memories come back, we see a look on Nadia’s face paired with the memory of her telling someone that Mason can never find out about something. What is that something? What was Nadia hiding from Mason? Could it be that she was the mole that brought down Citadel? While she was definitely keeping some secrets, it is unlikely that she ratted out Citadel to Manticore. In the train scene, she was shocked when she discovered she’d been led into a trap.
There must have been some secrets that Mason was keeping from Nadia, and that’s where things get tricky. He doesn’t remember anything about his past life, which means he doesn’t remember if he cheated or betrayed anyone. The reason Nadia might be keeping secrets from him might be because she doesn’t trust him completely. In the train, before it exploded, they confessed that they’d lied to each other. Before they could come clean, they were thrown off the train, and their lives diverged.
Considering that Nadia didn’t know about the ambush, we can assume that she is not the one who betrayed Citadel. However, the same cannot be said about Mason. What was he about to confess to Nadia? Another detail that raises suspicion is his presence on the train. It was supposed to be Nadia’s mission. She is surprised to find him there but goes along with him as long as it means the job will be done. Could it be that Mason already knew what was about to happen on the train, and his surprise visit was to get Nadia out of there alive? Could he be the Citadel agent that Dahlia turned? It would explain why she wanted Silje to bring Mason alive but not Nadia. If this is true, then it puts Nadia in a very difficult situation.
Read More: Is Citadel Based on a True Story?
