Dhruv Trivedi
Netflix’s action-drama series ‘Hit & Run’ follows Segev Azulai (Lior Raz of ‘Fauda‘ fame), a tour guide with a murky past whose life is thrown into limbo when his wife is unexpectedly killed in an accident. As he attempts to track down the men responsible for her death, Segev uncovers a serpentine conspiracy with major geopolitical consequences. On the run with dangerous state secrets, Segev’s own murky past is slowly revealed as he reconnects with contacts from his days as a ruthless mercenary.
The layered storyline and the shadowy figures tormenting our one-man-army hero always seem to be two steps ahead, keeping us guessing till the very end. Even now, at the close of season 1, we are left with a myriad of burning questions. Let’s take a closer look at ‘Hit & Run’ season 1 and make sure we’ve picked up all the clues along the way.
Hit & Run Season 1 Recap
The show opens with Segev getting assaulted in prison, where he is left injured and bleeding on the floor. The story then shifts to 3 weeks ago, in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he and his daughter watch his wife Danielle perform at a dance recital. The next day, she plans to leave for an audition in New York but looks troubled when she gets repeated messages from an unknown person asking to meet her urgently.
Danielle ignores them and heads to the airport with Segev’s friend. However, whilst picking up coffee on the way, she is fatally hit by a speeding car that drives away. A heartbroken Segev later calls her parents to inform them, and though they promise to come to Israel at once, they remain conspicuously missing from their daughter’s funeral.
Segev’s cousin Tali is a police officer and soon tracks down a local gangster to whom the car that killed Danielle belongs. However, the local don claims that the car was stolen, and it is soon discovered that the two men driving the car were small-time American criminals who have since returned to New York City. The grieving tour guide then realizes that the man behind the death of his wife is most likely Isaac, a former mercenary and arms dealer who Segev betrayed in the past and who is now most likely looking for revenge. Our hero heads to the United States, where he links up with his old friends Ron, a small-time criminal, and Naomi, an established journalist.
Segev then learns that Isaac and the men that killed his wife (who he tracks down and kills) were only working on the orders of a powerful and shadowy organization. It is then revealed that Danielle herself wasn’t just an American dancer but an undercover CIA agent posted in Israel to collect intelligence. The frantic messages she received on the day of her death are revealed to be from Assaf, an Israeli intelligence agent with whom she was having an affair to get inside information. Her father, Martin Wexler, is revealed to be her agency handler, who is actually named Reese Wakefield.
Hit and Run Ending: Who Killed Danielle Wexler Azulai?
Segev, realizing his late wife was holding explosive intel, finds pages of coded information in the diary she used to note down her dance routines. With the information in hand but unable to decipher it, he finds himself relentlessly chased by the CIA and the Mossad, both of who want to get their hands on the information. In a flashback, we see how Danielle stole this and a lot more information from Assaf and his boss whilst she was in Israel. After finally getting caught and imprisoned for the 2 murders (of his wife’s killers), Segev makes a deal with Reese, Danielle’s CIA handler, but then tricks him and escapes with the crucial diary.
Meanwhile, his friend Naomi, who is in the process of publishing a news story about how a CIA agent (Danielle) was killed in Isreal, finds out that the information Danielle uncovered implicates the Mossad for spying on the American President as well as revealing an active leak in the President’s inner circle. She is soon kidnapped by a Mossad agent and held captive. In the season’s breathless finale, Segev arrives to rescue Naomi and finds both CIA and Mossad agents there. The CIA agent, Reese, kills his Mossad counterpart but is then overpowered by Segev, who escapes with Naomi and the diary. On the run, Segev then receives a phone call from his cousin Tali telling him his ex-wife Shira is dead and his daughter Ella is missing.
Soon after arriving in the United States, Segev tracks down the two small-time criminals who were driving the car that killed his wife and brutally puts them to death. Moments before his neck is broken, one of the assassins reveals that he killed Danielle for a measly twenty thousand dollars. Therefore, Danielle’s real killers remain largely unknown even after the grieving husband has killed the men directly responsible for her death.
It is revealed that Assaf, the Israeli intelligence officer Danielle was having an affair with, unknowingly leaked many classified details to the undercover CIA agent while they were together. At one point, we see Segev dig up a stack of diaries that belonged to Danielle, essentially signifying the vast amount of information she has collected about Mossad’s covert operations. When this is finally revealed, she is killed by the Mossad. The Mossad official who interrogates Assaf and later attempts to make a deal with Segev for the diaries admits as much in the season finale.
Tragically, he also says that perhaps it was a mistake to kill her since the plot she uncovered is equally explosive for both the countries involved. Soon after this revelation, he is shot by the CIA agent Reese, preventing any further explanation of Danielle’s death. Therefore, at the moment, it looks like the Mossad is entirely to blame for Danielle’s death. However, considering the conspiracy has still not completely unraveled, there might have been other forces at play that will eventually be revealed. It is possible the CIA was also somehow involved in the death of their agent, considering Reese and the Mossad official seemed to be on speaking terms before the former shot the latter.
Who is Sophie Dreyer?
Sophie Dreyer is revealed to be the name Danielle used whilst she lived in New York. Her name Danielle Wexler is found to be an alias, as is the name of her father, Martin Wexler, who turns out to be Reese Wakefield of the CIA instead. Segev notices a picture of his wife in the window of a dance school with the name Sophie Dreyer under it, and even visits the Dreyer household where he finds his late wife’s childhood pictures. Danielle’s landlady, to whom the now dead CIA agent had been sending her diaries, also knows her as Sophie.
Therefore, Sophie Dreyer is Danielle Wexler’s real name. However, considering Segev then finds a stack of passports in her New York apartment, all sporting different names, we can’t be completely certain of how long it has been since she’s used her real name. As is the case with the show, and to avoid confusion, we will continue to refer to Segev’s late wife as Danielle.
Where is Segev Now? What Happened to His Family?
We last see Segev on foot, running down a bridge in New York City after getting a call from his cousin Tali. His ex-wife Shira has just been found dead, and his daughter Ella is missing and likely kidnapped. The mother and daughter were hiding in a cabin outside Tel Aviv, where they were joined by Tali, whom the Mossad was tracking. Though not expressly stated, the men that attack the cabin at night and kill Shira are likely from the Israeli secret agency. Ella is not shown getting kidnapped, so there is still a glimmer of hope that perhaps she got away. However, considering the ruthless nature of the men that attacked the cabin, it is most likely that Segev’s young daughter has been kidnapped.
Though it most likely seems like the work of the Mossad, we cannot rule out the possibility that the cabin was attacked by another group. This is because we see one of the Mossad bosses ask for Tali to be brought in because she knows too much. Therefore, if Mossad agents attacked the cabin, they should’ve dealt with Tali too. They are tracking her phone and so knew she was there as well. Again, all fingers point to Mossad, but we shouldn’t discount the involvement of other parties.
As far as Segev’s next move is concerned, it seems very likely that he will attempt to get back to Israel to find his daughter. Ella’s safety has always been his biggest concern, and now that the unthinkable has happened, there is little that will stop the rampaging ex-mercenary from doing all he can to locate his daughter. Considering he is still being hunted by the police and the CIA, catching a flight back home seems out of the question. With his daughter’s safety at stake, Segev could very well use the diary (with explosive state secrets) that he has in his possession as a bargaining chip.
What is “Chronos, Cheetah, Cobra, Rat”?
“Chronos, Cheetah, Cobra, Rat” is the first string of words deciphered from Danielle’s diary that she was recording explosive state secrets in. Its meaning remains opaque until one of Naomi’s contacts tells her that the first three words are, in fact, codes that refer to the President of the United States and his family. As he explains, the President has received so many threats in recent times that his call sign is changed often. Chronos refers to the POTUS, Cheetah refers to his daughter, and Cobra refers to his son-in-law (who, it is revealed, has been leaking state secrets). However, no further information on the matter is brought forward.
Rat turns out to be the acronym R.A.T. which stands for “Remote Access Trojan,” a deadly computer virus that hands over control of the infected computer systems to outside hackers. Though the role of this computer virus is also not elaborated, it is most likely connected to the information leaks in the White House that Mossad uncovered whilst spying on the American President.
What is in Segev’s Past? How Does He Know Ron, Isaac, and Naomi?
Over the course of season 1, we get to know Segev’s chequered and violent history over time. We only see him as a tour guide, but his combat skills, tattoos, and general demeanor speak of a very different past. Segev first started as part of the Israeli army and border police, after which he was enlisted with the Yamam, Israel’s National Counter Terrorism Unit. The man tasked with digging up information about Segev describes Yamam as “SWAT for terrorists.”
Segev then went off the radar and became a mercenary in Mexico, where he trained Mexican forces to fight drug gangs. Around this time, he got recruited by Isaac and also met his friend Ron (who hosts Segev in New York before getting fatally shot by a Mossad operative). Both Ron and Segev were lieutenants under Isaac but eventually abandoned him when the latter’s crimes became too brutal. Sometime after this, Segev incriminated his former leader and got Isaac thrown into prison for 9 years, which is why he first suspects Isaac of killing Danielle to avenge his betrayal.
Though not specified, Segev and Ron also met Naomi at some point around then, and the three spent a significant amount of time closely living together (and sharing toothbrushes, as Ron recollects). When the credibility of her reporting on Danielle’s death is called into question by her boss, Naomi also mentions that she and Segev had a brief affair 20 years ago.
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