Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘The Tourist,’ a man’s quest to figure out who he is and where he comes from leads him down a dark path. He wakes up in the hospital with no memories but soon discovers that his past is on the brink of catching up to him. He discovers a connection with the leader of a crime syndicate, which means that he himself lands in a grey area, not knowing whether he is a good guy or a bad guy in this situation. His point of reference in this context is the Greek drug kingpin named Kosta. What happens to him at the end of Season 1, and what does it mean for Jamie Dornan’s characters? SPOILERS AHEAD
Kosta Meets a Tragic But Fitting End
The mess that Jamie Dornan’s Elliot Stanley wakes up to in a hospital in the Australian Outback turns out to be connected to Kosta Panigiris. He is a troubled man who has been hallucinating his brother, Dimitri, his entire life. He grew up feeling lonely, and this feeling didn’t change even as he grew up and became the head of a criminal empire. He only trusts his brother, who lives only in his mind.
Running a business like his required Kosta to have an accountant, and that’s where Elliot Stanley came into the picture. A meeting between them was arranged in Bali, where Elliot unintentionally slept with Kosta’s fiancee, Victoria. Despite knowing that Kosta would have his head for this betrayal, Elliot couldn’t stop himself when Victoria showed up at his door with one million dollars, asking him to run away with her.
For Kosta, Victoria and Elliot’s betrayal meant nothing in comparison to losing the million dollars, which had more sentimental than monetary value. It was the first million dollars he’d made, and he didn’t intend to spend that money, much less have his fiancee and accountant spend it on themselves. He sent Billy Nixon to do the job for him, but when the assassin proved useless, Kosta himself went to Australia to see it through.
While Kosta might have had connections in Greece, he doesn’t have them in Australia. He knows that he will need a local’s help, and to ensure he gets it from the best man, he plays a card he knows will work. He kidnaps DI Lachlan Rogers’ wife, forcing the detective to get Elliot for him. The trio ends up at Nala Stone Men, where Kosta knows Elliot hid the money, but Elliot ends up drinking Kosta’s water, which was laced with LSD, and is unable to tell him where he hid the money.
Even if Elliot gave him the money, Victoria/Luci knew that Kosta would kill the man. So, she gives Kosta what he never even thought about. She reunites him with his long-lost brother, Dimitri, the one he’d been hallucinating all these years. She fails to gauge the damage to his mind, emotional and otherwise, as Kosta refuses to let go of his hallucination. Meanwhile, both Rogers and Elliot become desperate to get out of the situation, which leads to a shootout that ends with Kosta getting shot to death.
Alex Dimitriades’s Return to The Tourist is Not in the Cards
Kosta Panigiris is certainly dead in ‘The Tourist,’ which leaves little to no room for his return in the show’s next season, which will continue to focus on Elliot’s backstory, especially the time before he started working for Kosta. While Elliot might not have his memories back, it’s clear that this chapter of the story, which included Kosta and Luci, is done with. They were a very small part of his long life that still remains a mystery to him. So, as the show further explores his past, it seems unlikely that we will see Kosta again. The only way that he will be seen again is if the show indulges in flashbacks relating to that time of Elliot’s life.
Considering how much is still left to explore, it would seem unwise on the part of the writers to bring back Kosta just for the sake of it. Moreover, actor Alex Dimitriades has moved on from his part in ‘The Tourist’ and is working on several new projects. The requirement of the plot and Dimitriades’s busy schedule means we won’t be seeing the drug kingpin in Elliot’s story again.
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