"Holborn" Probes the Shadow Self in 'Get Millie Black's Third Episode

The narration baton is handed to Holborn for Get Millie Black’s third installment* in what is now clearly a pattern. Holborn tells us he grew up with nothing and remarks how that upbringing makes you hungry for everything you don’t have. Now, he is accomplished professionally and personally: respected at work, with a loving wife and young daughter. He has everything – but wants more. In the same breath as mentioning the prestige of taking the Somerville case, he speaks almost reverently about meeting Millie.

(*Will every episode have a new voice? Each installment has been named after its narrator, so time will tell.)

Following the Somerville massacre, Millie reports to Barracat about the photos of Romeo on Leddick Somerville’s phone. Holborn suggests he and Millie partner up to seek out Freddie, who offered evidence on his family’s money laundering for the Sanguis Meridian crime syndicate. Meanwhile, Millie’s former partner gets back to her and reports there’s no dirt on Holborn.

Across town, Hit Girl takes Freddie and Janet to a rundown hotel to hide. She agrees to arrange a boat to Cuba if Freddie signs over the deed to the Hot Pinky Club. Meanwhile, Millie and Holborn seek out Heywood, the Somervilles’ lawyer. They race to his office only to find it ablaze. The building is thick with smoke and flames, but Millie enters Heywood’s office to seek evidence before it burns. She succumbs to the smoke before she can even grab the hard drive on his desk.

Millie wakes on a gurney wearing an oxygen mask and learns Holborn pulled her out just in time. There’s an APB out on Heywood, and Holborn asks a woozy Millie if she needs the hospital. She ignores the suggestion; so they go for lunch instead. Holborn thinks he and Millie would have been friends “in another life.” Curtis asks an irritated Daniel to retrieve Heywood’s hard drive as a favor to Millie. Daniel’s researching Canada as a potential relocation for them: he’s tired of hiding and wants to live in the open. Curtis notes he doesn’t need to wave a rainbow flag, and Daniel says that’s because he can pass for “normal.” 

Millie arrives home looking smoky and exhausted. This time, Hibiscus cleans Millie up, and Millie lets herself be taken care of. Hibiscus must return to the Gully: Deltreece’s memorial send-off is that evening, and she has little sisters to care for. Millie drops her sister off with some food for the gathering. When Hibiscus is welcomed back by her Gully sisters, Millie looks sad; she also wants that relationship with her sister.

The next day, Millie is in trouble again. Barracat is angry that she entered the building and broke protocol in front of Holborn, jeopardizing her and Barracat’s careers. Millie says Curtis came through and found evidence of flights and shell companies on the hard drive. However, this only upsets Barracat further: Curtis should be resting and not working on evidence stolen from salvage. Millie promises she can find Romeo.

At the airport, Millie and Holborn find evidence of flights to London purchased through companies associated with the Somervilles. An employee provides passport printouts of the people who took those flights. Millie searches for Heywood, Janet, or Freddie but instead finds a passport for Romeo under a new name: Anthony Mantel. They report back to Barracat: Romeo was flown to London ten days ago under the new name. 

Millie lays out info about each person in the stack of passports they were given. Two years ago, Sharon Ortez, a girl who went missing from the same parish as Romeo, turned up dead in London. Joy Applegate, in prison for theft in England, told her arresting officers she was held against her will with her passport stolen; without hard evidence, she’s awaiting deportation to Jamaica. Her brother, Leon Douglas, is still missing. Remi Tavares, whose father reported him missing every day for six months, was found beaten to death in London. They thought they were just tracking dirty money but instead uncovered human trafficking.

Millie breaks the news to Romeo’s parents. Mr. Lawrence angrily insists she fly to London immediately; Mrs. Lawrence is wracked with guilt. Later, Holborn comes clean with Millie: He read the report about Victor before working with her. He’s sorry that happened and insists she did everything right. Millie tells him she thinks about Victor every day and is determined not to lose Romeo.

At Curtis’ apartment, Millie informs him that the Somervilles are trafficking people just as Hit Girl calls to tell Millie that Janet and Freddie are heading to the harbor, to Cuba. Once in the car, Millie’s about to call it in, but Holborn says no – if they go in guns blazing, they’ll lose both Freddie and their chance of finding Romeo. Once again, Millie moves forward without backup. Curtis impatiently waits for chatter on the police radio but discovers HQ knows nothing about the “find Freddie” operation. He’s angry, but Daniel is angrier, warning Curtis never to return if he follows her. Defeated, Curtis calls Stennet. 

Millie and Holborn split up at the harbor, and she finds Freddie and Janet on a boat. Freddie pulls a gun on Millie, so she holsters hers to defuse the tension. She asks about Romeo, and Janet insists they don’t know where he is. Freddie claims he’s the good guy, the only one who said “no” to Romeo. Meanwhile, Stennet arrives at the harbor with a giant assault rifle and joins Holborn. They see Freddie has a gun on Millie, and Stennet aims his rifle from yards away.

Janet tells Freddie to shoot Millie, who again says she just wants to know where Romeo is. She offers to call Holborn since Freddie’s deal with him still stands. Freddie is apoplectic, claiming Holborn’s a part of Sanguis Meridian. “Who the f*ck do you think I’m running from?”

The tension builds as Holborn pressures Stennet to fire, but he doesn’t have a clear shot of Freddie. Holborn pushes harder – if Millie gets hurt, he’ll tell the force Stennet had a shot and didn’t take it. Millie presses on about Romeo, and Janet once again demands that Freddie just shoot her already. Holborn yells at Stennet, who finally pulls the trigger: Millie, Freddie, and Janet all drop.

The episode suddenly flashes back to the Somerville massacre, this time from Holborn’s perspective, revealing his true self. He calls himself “a shadow Millie never saw coming” as he searches for Mr. Somerville’s phone when the patriarch suddenly fights back, still alive. Holborn chokes Somerville to death with his bare hands. Millie arrives on the scene moments later, unaware Holborn is a murderer.

Get Millie Black continues with weekly episodes on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streaming on Max.