Pratik Handore
Paramount+’s ‘Rabbit Hole‘ is a conspiracy thriller that sees John Weir attempting to clear his name from a murder case while he tries to take down Crowley, an all-seeing and nefarious power broker. In the fifth episode, titled ‘Tom,’ John tries to get reinforcement in his fight against Crowley. However, he learns a disturbing truth from Ben that completely changes his approach to fighting Crowley’s machinations. As a result, the ending of ‘Rabbit Hole’ episode 5 leaves John in a dark place. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Rabbit Hole Episode 5 Recap
The fifth episode, titled ‘Tom,’ opens eleven days before Miles Valence’s death. In the flashback sequence, we see John explaining to his team that they will follow “Tom,” a protocol for them to fake their deaths and go off the grid. John also reveals that he thinks The Intern is a plant. However, he is unsure if The Intern is working for the FBI or his enemy, Crowley. After the team argues with John, he explains that their lives might be in danger. As a result, the team plans to fake their deaths and capture John’s reaction to it before going undercover. Later, John discusses the situation with his father. Dr. Ben Wilson.
Ben suggests killing The Intern since they doubt his true motives. However, John insists on using him as a pawn in their scheme. In the present day, John uses Valence’s comms data and manually calls all the numbers to deduce who was the last person to call his best friend. Hailey apologizes for lying to John and jeopardizing their plan. However, she convinces John to show more faith in her. Later, Edward Homm investigates the accounts of Interverse Media. He reveals that the company and its subsets are transferring money to several politicians with Presidential ambitions.
John wants to bring his team back in the picture, but Ben refuses as it could jeopardize their lives. Nonetheless, John tries to contact his team but to no avail. Elsewhere, FBI Agent Josephine “Jo” Madi searches for John’s associates and gets a lead after visiting Cara Spader’s address. As John works on deducing the truth behind Valence’s death, Ben insists that Valence betrayed them and asks him to stick to the plan. However, it leads to an argument between the father and son.
Later, Homm reveals that most of the individual donations from Interverse Media’s accounts were made to Senator Nora Evers. However, the revelation puzzles John since she hasn’t announced her Presidential candidacy yet. However, the group is forced to escape from their safe house after a group of assassins opens fire on them. In the process, Homm is shot in the shoulder while John finds a safe place for the group to hide. Ben and Hailey treat Homm’s wound while John continues trying to contact his team.
After the assassins continue hunting down the group, John deduces that a tracking device is planted on their whisky bottle. As a result, John misdirects the assassins, and the group safely escapes once again. However, John discovers that Ben was the last person who talked to Valence before his death. Moreover, John admits to Hailey that Valence’s death is psychologically affecting him as he cannot come to terms with his friend’s betrayal. Nonetheless, John is forced to reassess his beliefs after Ben reveals the secret he has been hiding all along.
Rabbit Hole Episode 5 Ending: What Is Ben Hiding?
In the episode’s final act, John confronts Ben after learning that his father spoke to Valence moments before the latter jumped from his office building. However, their interaction is cut short when the assassins attack the group. After the group gets to safety, Ben is forced to reveal the truth he has been hiding all this time. Ben explains that he did not trust The Intern and believed him to be an agent working for Crowley. Therefore, he tried to kill The Intern shortly before John’s team executed their plan to fake their deaths. However, The Intern overpowered Ben, proving his suspicion that the former is not some FBI intern but a trained and skilled assassin for hire.
A flashback reveals that Ben followed The Intern and witnessed him return to the office moments before the team was about to execute a fake blast and take their deaths by leaving DNA samples behind. However, The Intern personally shot John’s team and killed them. Later, he buried their bodies in the elevator shaft and pretended to be stuck in the staircase during the explosion. Meanwhile, Ben’s story is corroborated by Agent Jo as she discovers the bodies of John’s team members in the elevator shaft. Agent Rash arrives at the crime scene and accepts his negligence of Jo’s inputs might have been a mistake.
Meanwhile, Ben explains that he called Valence to question his allegiance. However, Valence’s words confirmed that he was compromised and effectively betrayed John. Although John is devastated to learn the truth, he finally accepts Valence’s fate. On the other hand, John hoped to recall his team to get a tactical advantage over Crowley. However, with his team dead, John is left with no backup and must rely on himself to take down his nemesis. In the final moments, we see Senator Evers announcing her Presidential election campaign, reiterating that Crowley is always three steps ahead of John. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how John copes with Valence’s betrayal and his team’s death to mount a counterattack on Crowley.
Read More: Rabbit Hole Episode 4 Recap and Ending, Explained
