With Europe on the brink of an energy crisis, the stakes have never been higher for Sam Fisher and the Splinter Cell agents. Death is imminent, and destroying Diana Shetland’s plot is vital to survival.

Be warned: spoilers ahead!

This episode begins with a flashback to Tokyo in 2007. We are in some sort of Yakuza or dingy Japanese lair, and a mysterious assassin wipes out the foot soldiers surrounding and inside the base. On the roof of the building, we see Douglas Shetland smoking a cigarette. A door opens, it’s Sam Fisher- the assassin. This is the face-off we’ve been waiting for all season. The two debate over whether Douglas is a warmonger or a peacemaker. Sam accuses Douglas of selling out the Splinter Cell agency. The two point their pistols at each other, it’s thundering out, and a train rushes by. Cinematic is an understatement. Douglas challenges Sam, throwing his pistol on the ground and saying, “You wouldn’t shoot an old friend.” After a brief moment of silence, Douglas pulls out a hidden pistol, but Sam outdraws him and kills Douglas first. Sam shoots Douglas in the neck, and Douglas falls to the ground. Then the credits roll.

After the credits, we are back in Diana’s office with Sam in the present day. It’s been 15 years since they last spoke. Diana confronts Sam about his murder of her father. Diana airs out all of her grievances- how betrayed she felt that her godfather killed her father and left her alone, and how she didn’t have anyone to go to. Sam cuts her off by pointing a gun at her, but Diana doesn’t falter. She takes up her father’s ideology by saying that they’re not different, both doing what it takes to survive. After Sam drops his gun, Diana walks out and gets into an elevator. Once alone, Diana lets her guard down and shakes in fear. She calls her brother, but her brother doesn’t pick up the phone.

Zinnia eventually meets up with Sam and the two head back to a safe place to make contact with their Denmark team. The women back at the base and Thunder continue to research the Green Gables files. They find blueprints to a high-security energy terminal in Germany supplied by Russian gas. Once Sam and Zinnia get back to the base and get themselves fixed up, their team informs them of their theory that Diana Shetland wants to destroy the energy terminal to control the supply of energy in Europe. Zinnia chimes in by saying that while she was in captivity, she remembers overhearing Gunther talking about a ship called “The Lazarev”. She theorizes that Diana hired Freya to use the ship to blow up the Energy terminal, so that Diana can avoid consequences. Zinnia and Sam suit up, as there’s only one way to save Europe- they have to stop the ship.

This episode was the penultimate of the season and part 1 of 2 of the finale arc. It felt very much like it could have been a part of either the prior or the next episode because more than 70% of it was exposition. That being said, a lot was revealed in very cinematic and creative ways. The opening flashback sequences, which took up about a third of the 20-minute episode, was satisfying to watch and very engaging. This part sets up the finale to be an action-packed thriller, similar to much of the third acts of Jack Ryan movies. There are clear similarities to the ending of The Hunt for Red October, in that the finale of this season will be a gunfight on a Russian boat. This episode does a great job of hyping up the finale, but ultimately felt unnecessary.

Rating: 5/10