True Lies (Season 1), Episode 2 Recap and Ending Explained: Episode 2 of CBS’ new spy-thriller True Lies is a real improvement on the first episode. One expected the makers to be a little apprehensive in the pilot as that serves as the basis for deciding the show’s future. But episode 2 does not come leaps and bounds ahead like expected. True Lies is a bonafide potboiler with no intention to amount to anything more than a sentimental throwback to classic spy film tropes and cliches.
One can easily spot the “inspiration” the makers have taken from movies like Mission Impossible and Mr. and Mrs. Jones in this episode. The visual cues are there for all to see and make their own calls about True Lies. Here we have recapped episode 2 of True Lies for you with an ending explainer and an explainer for all the plot points.
True Lies (Season 1), Episode 2 Recap
Public Secrets
Helen’s training at the company’s H Q. is reminiscent of Mission Impossible Part I. The Tom Cruise scene where he and his team steal the NOC list is referenced. Helen also falls through a web of lasers but taps out to Luther’s chokehold in her first attempt. Trilby feels she is ready for her first mission. The team has to go to Madrid and track down a cryptographer, Ximena Diaz. A terrorist outfit, International Liberation Front (ILF), is planning to launch a genetically engineered plague in Western Europe. The objective of the mission is to find the cryptographer, decode the files, locate the weapons, and stop the attack.
Ximena Diaz is an old contact of Harry’s based in Madrid. ILF knows that Ximena is the cryptographer and also knows that the CIA is out to get her. They will be going undercover selling Telonyx Computer systems at an academic conference. Helen will be a linguistics professor at Shoreton University, which happens to be her dream job. The couple lies to their children. Jake questions them, but Dana shuts him down to keep the pretense of innocence. Helen freaks out as part of her job is to lie to everyone, but Harry calms her down.
Gib talks about Ximena. Harry has a flirtatious history with her. But he is not ready to tell about it to Helen as Harry just got out of jail for the lie of being a spy. Operation Hackjob begins with the team’s touchdown at Madrid. Harry sends a message to Ximena, asking for an address through the dark web. She will then send an address using a one-time code key an hour before the meeting. Until then, the team will set up their conference cover. Helen asks Harry if Omega can help spy on Dana because Helen thinks she is up to something shady.
Harry says he had asked Mrs. Myers to spy on Dana once, and it did not go well. Once, Harry was in Lebanon, and he was worried that Dana was vaping. He asked Myers to check on her, but Dana got upset, which bothered Harry throughout the mission. Harry gives in and calls Mrs. Myers to initiate protocol Orange, which means that she will now be spying on Dana. Helen spots Harold, her old boyfriend from Columbia University, at the conference. But Harry is shocked because he does not know about it.
Ximena gives Gib the code, and they meet at The Rojo bar in Madrid. Gib says this is the perfect time for Harry to tell Helen about Ximena, as do Maria and Luther. But Harry is focused on the mission and prepares himself to meet Ximena, who walks in looking ravishing. As Harry tells her about the mission and is about to give her the encryption details, Gib tells him that four guys outside took like ILF. They are coming for them. Harry is able to smuggle Ximena out through a vent in the kitchen and asks her to meet him with the encrypted data the next day. Grozdan Ivanov is the guy from the ILF who came to kidnap Ximena.
Helen insists on seeing photos from the previous night and gets jealous when she sees Harry getting cozy with Ximena. Harry starts apologizing for not telling Helen about Ximena before, but she is upset. Myers reports that Dana is going to a party at the home of Barry Weems, who has previous criminal charges. Myers sees her getting into a muscle car with her boyfriend, who kisses Dana. Subsequently, The team reaches the meeting spot, and Ximena waits for them. But they notice that she is being followed by an armored car (probably the ILF), and Harry gets on a bike to Chase the car.
True Lies (Season 1), Episode 2 Recap and Ending Explained
Do Harry and Helen forgive each other for their past?
Harry crashes his bike into the car, and it goes up into flames. We see that the guy driving it is Ivanov, who tried to kidnap Ximena the last night. Ximena is able to escape, and Harry and the group come back to the hotel. Helen is still uncomfortable with Harry’s association with Ximena, but Myers’ call on the security line catches their attention. Dana is going to the party and has been picked up by a boy in a muscle car. Gib calls Harry urgently and tells him that the Bulgarians have reached the hotel and are talking about getting to him. Instead of abducting Harry, they get Harold, Helen’s ex-boyfriend, as they share the same name.
The Omega team chases the ILF team. Gib finds out that the ILF was tapping into Ximena’s phone, and that is how they got to the hotel and found her location before. Ximena has left a date in her messages – the nineteenth of October 2005. Harry recognizes that date as their first-ever meeting in a safe house. Gib says that they need to send a person to that safe house to get the location of the bioweapons. Sending Helen to the safe house is the best option for them. But is she ready?
Harry reluctantly agrees as he, too, sees the reason in it. But he is scared for his wife’s safety. Ximena and Helen duel when she reaches the safe house because the former thinks the latter is from the ILF. Helen can salvage the situation by targeting Ximena’s ears just like Harry said at the beginning of the episode.
Ximena concedes to Helen that she fell in love with Harry on their first date in that very safe house. Even though Helen initially panics, Ximena calms her down by saying that Harry broke off the relationship with her when he said that he met Helen. Gib hacks into the power grid and turns off the lights giving the team enough time to break into the warehouse and save Harold. Ivanov holds a gun to Harold’s head, and Gib is forced into using his drone to tackle Ivanov in the head. Then Harry is able to neutralize him. Harold also tells Harry that Helen broke up with him and said she needed someone who “spoke her language, not thirty other languages.” Harry and Helen make up as Helen reveals what Ximena told her.
The couple makes its way back to the house. The kids do not seem to mind their absence, and Dana lies about the party. Myers gives them the surveillance tape. Initially, they promise not to invade Dana’s privacy and refuse to watch the tape. But the next moment, they curiously look at it, indicating that they will watch it at some point.
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True Lies TV Series (2023- ) Links: IMDb, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes
True Lies TV Series (2023- ) Cast: Ginger Gonzaga, Steve Howey, Annabella Didion
