'COBRA' Takes Us To The Red Wall in Episode 3

In this episode of COBRA, the focus turns on Britain’s Red Zone: Northumberland, which is currently without power and awaiting the arrival of a new transformer. Major cities (Newcastle, Sunderland) are uninhabitable. At the university, which was invaded by escapees from the Immigrant Holding facility, a shocked young woman (Laura Meredith) tells Stuart Collier that, at first, everything was friendly. But a man with blotched skin became violent with the women, resulting in two rapes, and stabbed another man who tried to protect them.

Known to the authorities, he’s a Lithuanian criminal nicknamed Freckles, who received the distinctive markings in an acid attack on his girlfriend and was awaiting deportation. Now, SWAT teams roam the empty buildings. The students are bussed to a Relief Center, a considerable collection of tents next to the same hospital where the plane crash victims were taken. Collier and his team have a command center in the hospital's basement, sharing its emergency power.

Back in London, Prime Minister Robert Sutherland told his cabinet that it was his duty to visit the Red Zone, taking press members on a bus to see him in action. He and Anna bicker—she doesn't think it’s safe, and ironically, for once, she agrees with Archie, who does not plan to go with them. When Press Secretary Peter Mott invites the press onto the bus, he deflects a surprise question about the PM’s daughter from journalist Cressida McGuire (Katherine Jack) — “There is no situation with his daughter.” However, it turns out that another guest at that fateful party has leaked a story to the press, and a significant story is about to be published.

Just as the entourage is about to leave, Fraser, popping pills to stay awake, tells Robert that a truckload of water has been hijacked and tells him there is no water supply (because, you know, there’s no electricity to pump it). Robert tells him brusquely to fix it. On his way back to the command center, Collier passes a corpse at the side of the road displayed with a hand-lettered sign warning off other looters. The place teems with stressed, frightened people, many of whom have walked miles to get here from their homes, and who face an indefinite future without electricity, living in primitive conditions under military and police rule. Simply put, it's a powder keg.

A dark-skinned man, Kemal Hussain (Zar Demani), waiting in line, is told to let a woman take the last bottles of water—“In this country, it’s ladies first,” the official snaps at him. But the woman sees he’s with a small child and hands the water to him, apologizing. It’s enough to bring him to the crowd's attention. People notice his skin color and that he suffers from vitiligo, and they conclude that he must be Freckles, who is still at large. Things turn violent, and a beating turns into a possible lynching when a motorcyclist turns up. Collier rushes through the crowd and saves Hussain’s life seconds before he's dragged off to his death.

Meanwhile, Robert, his entourage, and the press are heading north to the checkpoint outside London. Anna has invited Francine Bridges, who has not yet been officially hired, to accompany them, and she’s accepted, even though she once defined Robert publicly as “a monument to unconscious sexism.” He lets her know he hasn’t forgotten either. Francine finds Fraser on the point of collapse from his drug use, and the two form a tentative friendship — they’re both old Labour supporters who’ve found themselves on the other side. But even their slight pheromone exchange doesn’t eclipse Anna, who’s texting Edin about meeting up when she returns to London.

Given the violence and uncertainty of the Red Zone, it’s been pretty much decided that they’ll turn around. But a couple of things fire Robert up. One is that Archie, back in London, has given an incendiary radio speech, putting his trust in the “people’s judgment,” which in this case means white people’s judgment. And we know that Archie has welcomed another conspirator aboard, no less than the head of the FBI, Eleanor James, with whom he seems to enjoy sparring just a bit too much, and he’s in cahoots with journalist Cressida McGuire. The information they’ve gathered about Ellie will almost certainly bring down the government. 

The other inspiration—if that’s the right word—is a statement issued by the head of the left-wing lorry drivers’ union (ALDU), Harry Rountree (Con O’Neill), deploring the dangers into which truck drivers are placed. This acts like a red rag to a bull on Robert, and they resume their northward journey. When they arrive at the hospital, Robert has agreed not to make contact with the crowd outside but only to visit the victims of the plane crash and their families. He meets the woman and baby Stuart Collier rescued in the first episode — she’ll walk again, but we don’t know if her husband survived. 

Then Robert insists on seeing the severely injured Hussain and speaks to his wife and his daughter.  After that, he insists, against everyone’s advice, that he will speak to the crowd. He knows the importance of a politician showing his face, leading the way outside into a hostile crowd who let loose the occasional missile. One hits Anna. A minute or so in, as he tells the crowd Hussain’s daughter wanted to know why her daddy was hurt, a thrown bottle smashes close to him.

It’s not an overwhelming success, but the crowd is friendlier at the end; more importantly, they’ve stopped throwing things. Robert tells a woman as he leaves that he can’t predict when the transformer will arrive, only that it’s on its way, and she appreciates his honesty. And it was a good speech, although I think we viewers would have liked it, and Robert, more if we hadn’t seen him rehearse it in front of a mirror with Anna as his coach before they left London.

On the way back to their vehicles, another reporter asks about Robert’s daughter, who has had another police interview, and he makes a vaguely statesman-like statement about justice taking its course. Robert insists Anna go home by helicopter since she has a head injury, not to mention exhausted thumbs, but as we know, she doesn’t intend to go home. We’ve seen her kids, teenagers who adopt left-wing causes and views to annoy her, and her husband Sam (Mark Bazely) tend to side with them. Now, she is apparently spending the night at a friend’s apartment, and he’s suspicious.

Edin tells Anna about an idyllic house on a hillside with fig trees, wine, and books, but she laughs it off as a fantasy. She seems perturbed, however, to discover that Toni Lulin has left a message on Edin’s phone, and it’s a name that appears to hold some significance for her. Meanwhile, Sam has discovered a photograph of Anna and Edin together outside the hotel.