Netflix The Night Agent season 1 recap guide: All 10 episodes explained

The Night Agent episode 5 recap: The Marionette

Fresh off the intel that Chelsea Arrington, the Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President Redfield’s daughter Maddie, was in the café the day of the metro bombing, The Night Agent episode 5 opens with a look at Chelsea being sworn in as a Secret Service agent four years prior. Almora delivers a speech about the zero-fail policy and how an agent’s mistake could change the course of history.

Now on the job, Chelsea overhears Maddie arguing with VP Redfield about taking a semester to study art in Italy. She’s upset that her father turns down her interests, but she turns on the charm when her fellow students want a photo op with the veep. Back in her dorm, Maddie opens up to Chelsea. It’s clear that they have a close bond.

Peter and Rose show up on the Georgetown campus to talk with Chelsea. They tell her they suspect Maddie could be a possible target of an assassination attempt. She won’t tell them who she was assigned to protect on the day of the metro bombing.

Chelsea checks in with Almora, who’s tensed at Peter’s mention of Farr and instructs Chelsea to shut down Maddie’s involvement in the so-called assassination attempt. Almora confronts Farr, and they lock horns over Peter sniffing around Georgetown without anyone’s knowledge. Farr tries to contact Peter, but she doesn’t have his newest burner number. The president wants Peter and Rose back at the White House.

After Chelsea shuts them down, Peter and Rose head to the library where they research the ring and discuss retracing Hawkins’ steps back to the White House. They agree to divide and conquer, with Rose staying put at the library to research and Peter visiting Hawkins’ widow. Before he leaves, Peter receives a call from Chelsea again shutting down Maddie’s involvement. Peter’s mentions of “coffee shop” and “Osprey” appear to trip her up.

Peter visits Mrs. Hawkins, and even though she initially refuses to open up to him about Hawkins, she cools when Peter shares the story of how his father’s accusation has left a shadow on his life. She says Hawkins was close with Rose’s aunt and uncle as their handlers. He had picked up on inconsistencies while working on the metro bombing case and believe someone interfered with the FBI’s investigation. When he looked back at the case files, he found they pointed back to a government contractor called Turn Lake Industries. Hawkins met with them the day of his disappearance.

Rose’s research in the library sends her to the spooky stacks, and she fears the assassins have found her. (They haven’t… yet.) She cracks one mystery and discovers the Pavelić family crest on the ring. There’s a connection with the disappearance of the Serbian assemblyman and a police sketch of the suspect: Dale, the male assassin.

Earlier in the episode, Maddie leaves Paulo a note in art class. He brings it home and tells Matteo that she’s coming over tonight without her protective service. Paulo has doubts, but Matteo assures him it’s “for the greater good.” (There’s also something romantic happening between Matteo and Paulo.) Chelsea helps Maddie get ready for the art show, giving her the necklace she holds dear to wear (the one she wore the day of her swearing in) with the dress. Chelsea gives Erik the night off, making Maddie’s plan to escape with a lipstick note on the bathroom mirror and a ditched cell phone all the more morally compromising.

When Peter and Rose reunite, they compare notes. Turn Lake Industries is the obvious overlap, as Rose’s research into Andrej Pavelić’s disappearance unearthed details of him (prior to his disappearance) talking about an American defense contractor “conducting shadow ops in the Balkans.” Turn Lake Industries! Peter checks in with Farr and delivers their latest findings. Meanwhile, Rose discovers a lot of Turn Lake’s money went to VP Redfield and he was tight with CEO Gordon Wick.

The assassins tracked Peter and Rose to Georgetown, and they talk about the prospect of kidnapping another baby. (That’s really unimportant to the plot of this episode, but wishing them the best with their family!) There’s a tracker on the back of Peter and Rose’s car, meaning they will be following them all the way to the White House.

As Erik and Chelsea connect the dots to the art professor, Maddie shows up to Paulo’s apartment without Chelsea and without any device tracking her whereabouts whatsoever. They start making out and taking off their clothes. He tries to slow down and talk to her, but Matteo enters. Paulo insists “she’ll say what we need her to say” just before Matteo shoots him dead. He drags Maddie out of the apartment kicking and screaming. Erik and Chelsea arrive at the apartment, but they’re too late.

Written by Reed Gaudens