Treason (2022) Netflix Mini-Series: After playing one of the grittiest and rooted on-screen superhero iterations in Netflix’s “Daredevil,” Charlie Cox is back in a limited series on the same platform. However, this time, the job requires him to pull off punches and use his other skills to protect himself during the daytime. “Treason” follows the story of a spy thrown into an increasingly personal scenario where the pride and reputation of his entire nation are at stake. The first scene takes place in a school library where our protagonist cheerfully tells a bunch of young kids what it’s like to be a spy. You instantly learn of the show’s tone and the pulpy nature of its setting. What keeps you hooked along the five episodes is the conviction with which Charlie Cox plays spy Adam Lawrence. The performance first starts to make you feel like it’s a pitch for who would play the next 007, a reference that the show knowingly throws at you in its opening few minutes. Adam is the, um, deputy to the head of MI6. His boss is Martin Angelis (Ciaran Hinds), the head of the agency.
With each episode running well within the 50-minute mark for a limited series, “Treason” moves quite at a breakneck speed. Martin is quickly poisoned by a mysterious Russian woman whose initial motivations are left unclear (Olga Kurylenko). We soon learn that Kara pulls off the task due to her personal history with Adam. Apparently, the two used to work together at a time, and now after making Adam’s swift ascension all the way to the top of MI6 possible, she wants him to make things even after all these years. Now, it’s up to Adam to determine Kara’s true motivations and whether she’s the only overseas agent targeting him. The events soon take a more dramatic turn, as Adam’s professional life soon starts conflating his personal life and our main characters learn that things might not be as black or white as they think they appear.
One of the more interesting choices from a writing perspective is how the show treats Adam’s wife, Maddy (Oona Chaplin), who is concerned about the risks of her husband’s new job but also understands how things function. There’s also Adam’s son, Callum (Simon Leakey), and his teenage daughter Ella (Beau Gadsdon). The abduction of the latter leads to a change in the status quo, throwing the Lawrence family on a run (and soon in hiding).
The show, written by the Oscar-nominated co-writer of Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies,” manages to be engaging enough without overstepping its underlying silliness; by throwing you right in the middle of the action with each episode, the show constantly remains intriguing despite its labyrinthine plot. By the time you start asking logical questions, the auto-play button at the corner does its thing, thus, throwing you right in the middle of the bonkers setting. There’s the usual mix of shady Russian lords, gun fights, and abductions, alongside a conservative leadership campaign in the background. The usual mix of shady Russian lords, gun fights, and abductions take place alongside a conservative leadership campaign in the background. One of the more noteworthy aspects also remains the responsibility with which the show uses its high-stakes geopolitical drama, as at the beginning, you keep wondering if it would play out like the usual 80s spy thriller. Well, there’s plenty of drama that goes down over the course of the five episodes. Let’s take a detailed look at that rather unexpected ending.
Treason Ending Explained
The final episode of Treason opens up with Adam Lawrence calling Malik to arrange a meeting. After the events of the previous episodes, things look a bit hopeless for not just Adam but also for his entire family. Now, Maddy sends a message to Audrey informing them how Adam has been set up. The two finally meet, and we see a mutual understanding between the two finally erupt. It’s here where Maddy reveals how Adam had given the secret files on Audrey’s family and then explains that everything comes down to Angelis – the head of the MI6. We learn from her that he has secret files on everyone in the government, including one involving a Russian plot to install Audrey’s rival Kirby as the next Prime Minister. In fact, Martin Angelis made Adam his deputy at MI6 to blackmail him. But Adam didn’t defect, nor did he ever commit any act of treason. Yes, he did keep some secrets from the government, but he was never out to betray his country well intentionally. However, that still hasn’t stopped Angelis from gunning for Adam and his family now that everything’s come out.
Meanwhile, the future PM reluctantly grants Maddy – a CIA agent – immunity but only if she can obtain files that prove everything she’s said about Adam Lawrence. On the other hand, Adam finally gets an opportunity after so many years to apologize to his ex – Kara – for failing to help her 15 years back when the whole business in Baku went down.
How does Adam retrieve the secret files?
Adam now knows that he must get Martin’s secret files, as that seemed like the only way through which he could save his family. On top of this, he also must know if Audrey Gratz would be willing to help him to carry out this final plan. But surprisingly, Adam ends up asking Malik, rather than his own best friend Patrick, to help him in locating the files. He tells Malik everything about Martin and how his wholly corrupt practices destroyed the respected service’s soul. Through the emergency location flag technology, Malik finds Olamide, as he thought Martin would have trusted him to shift the files to a safe place.
How does Adam die?
Finally, after getting the location of Olamide, Adam and Kara decide to go there to retrieve the secret files. Soon, Maddy also decides to come to the scene and help in whatever way she can. Right when everything seems to be going well, Dede arrives on the scene and takes Adam into custody. The CIA agent asks Maddy to come out of hiding and give her the portable drive carrying important information, but she doesn’t flinch. However, Kara comes out and tries to stop her from doing anything, but it’s all too late. Dede shoots Adam out of impulse but without a second thought regarding the implications of the action. In a heartbreaking scene, Maddy watches her husband die right before her eyes. Both Kara and Maddy escape the area around the docks and, thus, reach a safe house where they establish contact with Audrey Gratz. On reaching out to her, they told her about what had transpired. On the other hand, Gratz had been called to attend the Commons Intelligence Committee meeting that same evening, where she was told that Angelis was going to make an important statement. Maddy informs Gratz that Adam had indeed been killed by the CIA under orders from the head of MI6, Sir Martin Angelis. But Gratz decides to back out at the very last moment, as she knew that Kirby was anyhow going to get exposed. She didn’t want any leverage over Martin, as she was afraid of indulging in any such affairs before the election. Maddy, meanwhile, begs Gratz not to do so, as it was the only way to prove that Adam was not a traitor to the country he so much loved. Gratz didn’t listen to her, leaving Maddy abandoned.
Is Martin Angelis finally proved wrong?
Kara had already accepted the defeat and knew that she might never find Dorian’s true identity. But Maddy hadn’t given up, not yet. She realized that if Dorian was really in hiding, then they must do something to get him panicked and, thus, in doing so, blow his cover. Kara then calls Belova, the Russian diplomat, and makes her an offer. By creating a fake narrative, she tells her that Maddy was trying to kill her and even that she was in possession of Martin’s secret stash. She knew all too well that the Kremlin would only contact Dorian, as other SVR agents would be too afraid to get involved in a matter like this. She asks Maddy to go directly to the state building where Angelis was going to make that crucial statement in front of the entire Commons Intelligence Committee. The two knew all too well how they could be ambushed by Dorian if the Kremlin were to contact him first. But it was too late to come up with any other way if there was any.
Who is Dorian?
Maddy, upon reaching, goes inside the government building, but before she can enter the committee chamber where the meeting was happening, Patrick Hamilton bumps into her. Patrick sees that Maddy was holding the portable disk with the compromising information. Just by carefully assessing the moment, Maddy instantly realizes it was her husband’s best friend, i.e., Patrick Hamilton, who was Dorian. He was the double agent and the only man who had killed Kara’s men in Baku all those years back. She does manage to reach the chambers where Martin is giving her speech, and even Gratz sees her entering the room. At this moment, she gets the courage to stand in the face of corruption unleashed by Martin Angelis, as she finally takes the disc and reveals it in front of the entire committee. Everything is revealed now, including how Martin had used the sensitive information to blackmail the topmost government officials. Martin knew that this was the end, so he left the room.
Maddy finally confronts Martin in the lobby area of the building and tells him how wrong he was to accuse her husband of being a double agent and a traitor. She also tells him who Patrick Hamilton was – a Russian informer. I mean Dorian, Patrick exits the building, but Kara subtly puts a photograph inside his pocket as he sits in the car without noticing. He calls his Russian counterpart to inform them about what had happened but soon notices the photograph in his pocket. In the picture, we see Kara sitting with the locals who worked along with her in Baku.
What happens to Maddy and her kids?
Before he could process anything further, Kara’s poisonous powder on the photograph’s surface killed him. Maddy can also rightfully prove that her husband hadn’t committed any act of treason and ended up saving her family’s reputation. In the last scene, we see her call Dede in rage, as she informs her that no matter where she was hiding, she would find her and kill her. Very Taken-esque. It’s a bittersweet ending, despite most of our heroes settling scores. Well, I guess after the last Bond film, the writers somehow knew that working for MI6 comes at a necessary cost. “Treason” might not deliver on the high-octane drama the scale of the plot demands, but it still is a fairly entertaining and fun miniseries to binge.
