Monsieur Spade Episode 2: Scott Frank’s (“The Queen’s Gambit”) latest TV series, “Monsieur Spade,” witnesses iconic gumshoe Samuel Spade’s return on screen. In last week’s premiere episode, we saw Clive Owen making Spade (immortalized by Humphrey Bogart in “The Maltese Falcon”) his own as he wanders around the lush French countryside. The premier episode culminated with a violent ending that would keep the audience thoroughly engaged. The sophomore episode builds on that. However, it has started to show minute signs of being jumbled. The number of mysterious events and characters is starting to become alarmingly high. One would hope that Frank does not get deeply entangled in the web created by him and fellow writer Tom Fontana. Clive Owen is still enigmatically good, though.
Monsieur Spade Episode 2 Recap:
After recovering from the shock of the violent crime scene at the local convent’s church, Spade (Clive Owen) and the local Police, led by Patrice (Denis Menochet), start their investigation of the murder of the six nuns. Patrice warns Spade that he should carry a gun now, as there is a killer on the loose. Spade returns to the house where Helena (Clotilde Mollet) informs him that Teresa (Cara Bossom) is sleeping now. Spade decides not to wake her with the news of the massacre.
The next morning, however, Teresa seems to be missing. And the car Spade usually uses has its tires slashed. Spade takes his old car out to look for Teresa. On his way, he meets George Fitzsimmons (Matthew Beard), the painter he allowed to stay on his estate. From George, he learns that Teresa has learned about the Church’s massacre. He figures that Teresa must have gone to her convent.
In the convent, Spade looks for Teresa, but he stumbles upon the files of the killed nuns. He takes those files and sees smoke coming out of the bell tower. He climbs the tower, knowing he will see Teresa there. In the tower, on a wall, he sees numerous scribbles that are seemingly undecipherable. He asks Teresa to come out and not smoke cigarettes. He tells Teresa to come down as he doesn’t think her father, the notorious Phillippe, is coming back.
Eventually, Teresa decides to go back with Spade. While they are coming back in his car, reminiscing and talking about Gabrielle (Chiara Mastroianni), Spade’s ex-wife, someone shoots at them, narrowly missing Spade. Looking back from the driver’s seat, Spade sees the shooter, all dressed in black, helmet adorned. He puts the car in reverse and drives towards the shooter, asking Teresa to keep her head down. The baffled shooter shoots one more time, again missing, then swerves out of Spade’s car’s way. Before Spade could do anything, the shooter scampers on a bike.
Back at the villa, Henri visits Spade. Spade has asked Henri to look into Philippe’s army files. Henri confirms that Phillippe’s data are struck out, making Spade theorize that Philippe might have become a spy. Henri also tells him that there were rumors of Philippe hiding a young Algerian woman. Spade’s investigation further reveals that one of the nuns, the youngest and newest one, is not probably a nun. The police doctor shows him the locket that has been found on that nun’s body. A locket containing pictures of her and a very young boy.
Monsieur Spade Episode 2 Ending Explained:
Who is the Young Boy with the Gun?
Spade comes back to have a chat with Teresa at the place where the shooter hid the bike. After pretending to be unaware, Teresa eventually reveals what she knows. She previously said that her father, Philippe, came to meet her. She now admits that Philippe came to meet with the young nun. Spade shows her the locket with the picture of the young boy. Teresa recognizes him and calls him ‘Zayd.’ It becomes clear that Philippe’s mysterious Algerian woman is the newest recruit in the convent. Philippe had her enrolled as a nun and asked Teresa to hide Zayd. Nobody has seen the boy since the massacre. The last scene of the episode reveals Zayd hiding in the basement of Marguerite’s bar with a gun in his hand.
Who is the Monk?
Teresa also tells Spade that it was the Monk who carried out the massacre. She saw him killing all the nuns, including the Mother Superior. The Monk was looking to find the young boy, Zayd. The nuns refused to tell about the boy, and the Monk killed them in rage. He also saw Teresa and tried to kill her, but Teresa, who had a knife hidden in her doll, stabbed the Monk. Then Teresa went to the bell tower, but she could not find the boy, whom we would see later in Marguerite’s bar.
Teresa also informs that when the Monk had his gun pointed toward the young nun, probably Zayd’s mother, she said, “The Mahdi waits for us.” “The Mahdi” is a reference to Islam. This confirms that the young nun was indeed the Algerian woman Philippe was associated with, Gazala (Ines Melab). The Monk seems to be hell-bent on finding these Algerian associations of Philippe. It is clear that despite being called ‘Monk,’ the character is not shying away from killing people.
Who was the biker? Who is George Fitzsimmons?
George Fitzsimmons is proving to be another mysterious character. In this episode, he makes another appearance, accompanied by his mother, Cynthia. Cynthia and George request Spade to allow them to see George’s father’s painting, which was gifted to Gabrielle. Spade obliges. During the conversation, Cynthia casually drops Phillippe’s name, saying he purchased one of her husband’s old paintings.
George has been a mysterious addition to this already overloaded mysterious cocktail. In one scene, director Frank has George appear the moment Spade is discussing the identity of the biker-shooter with Patrice. Could George be the shooter? Spade does not think that it is Philippe. Because Philippe is injured himself. And shooting in the direction of his own daughter is something even Philippe will not do. We would get to know more about the biker and George in subsequent episodes.
What do Jean-Pierre and Marguerite want?
It is shown that playing his part in the War has messed up Jean-Pierre’s (Stanley Weber) head for good. His constant suspicion of Marguerite’s (his wife) infidelity has been annoying for both Marguerite and Spade, whom Jean-Pierre suspects is the person Marguerite is having an affair with. It is also shown that Marguerite is looking for a loan and does not want to take money from Spade. When news about Spade getting shot at spreads, Marguerite suspects Jean-Pierre. But Spade tells her that he does not think Jean-Pierre has it in him to kill someone in cold blood. Marguerite asks Spade not to underestimate Jean-Pierre.
