Tamal Kundu
In the action thriller series’ Trigger Point,’ Lana “Wash” Washington (Vicky McClure) is a bomb squad officer dealing with an unprecedented situation. A series of bombings and attacks on the police department have rocked London. Lana, who works at Metropolitan Police, realizes the magnitude of it after losing her boss and friend Joel Nutkins in the very first blast. She is subsequently made the Senior Expo and placed in charge of all the explosive-related issues regarding the case. The authorities believe that a far-right outfit known as the Crusaders is responsible for the bombings, but when the truth is revealed, it becomes a lot more complicated. Lana realizes that two numbers, 1912 and 661142, hold the key to solving the case. Here is everything you need to know about them. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Meaning of 1912 and 661142
Lana spots the first number, 1912, while looking for explosives in the home belonging to the Phelan family. As for 661142, Sonya Reeves (Kerry Godliman) of the bomb data helps Lana find the truth about it. Both numbers play important roles in Lana finding out that Karl Maguire (Warren Brown), a man she has been dating until recently, is the mastermind behind the series of attacks.
Karl used to be a military officer. In July 2009, he and seven other British soldiers were tasked to transport the HMX-319 explosive to a special forces forward operating base in Afghanistan. This was called Operation Dynamo. While they were on their way, the convoy hit an IED outside a village. An RPG subsequently destroyed the truck carrying the explosives. The resulting explosion destroyed the local school, turning the villagers against the English soldiers. Facing attacks from both the enemy and the villagers, Karl managed to run away from the battlefield, but the other seven perished.
After Karl reached the forward operating base, the Ministry of Defense decided to keep the disastrous Operation Dynamo under wraps. When Karl threatened to go public, they court-martialled him. He subsequently worked with the families of those seven soldiers to get an inquiry started on Dynamo, but the Defence select committee, headed by Ayesha Campbell-Khan, put a stop to that so the public faith in England’s mission overseas could be maintained.
After exhausting all the legal methods, Karl became the monster we see in the show. His main target was always Campbell-Khan, but he killed several people to get to her. Even in the climactic scene, he was prepared to kill a roomful of people so he could take revenge on Campbell-Khan. With Sonya’s help, Lana figures out what is really happening. Both 1912 and 661142 are codes representing the positions of various elements on the Periodic Table. 66 11 42 stands for Dysprosium (Dy), Sodium (Na), and Molybdenum (Mo), spelling out Dynamo, as in Operation Dynamo. 19 12 indicates Potassium (K) and Magnesium (Mg), referring to Karl Maguire.
Karl himself leaves both of these clues for Lana to discover. He messages the number 661142 from John Hudson’s phone, making Lana believe that the other man has sent it. At the time, the authorities still believe that Hudson is the mastermind, but in reality, he is used as a decoy by Karl to set up his plans of confronting Campbell-Khan just as she wins the by-election.
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