Warning: Major spoilers ahead

Eight weeks before the current timeline of events, in an office block largely abandoned after a staff Christmas party, Lale is panicked and taking cover. As she moves to a stairwell, she is seen struggling and short of breath, before turning and revealing she is heavily pregnant. And her waters have just broken.

Here’s how the fifth episode of season three broke down.

Flashing back to the moment Sean betrayed her, a beaten and bruised Lale is moments away from being killed by Asif and his lackeys. She declares she’s pregnant and it’s Sean’s baby, and he should use that to his advantage rather than kill her.

Asif sees the benefit, and transports her to Lahore, where she is kept locked in a room and looked after by a nurse. Despite expecting a baby, Lale continues to smoke, knowing Asif plans on killing her as soon as the baby is born as revenge for her killing his son, Nasif.

Marian arrives in Lahore, demanding she see Lale. Marian asks her if Sean knows, which he doesn’t, and says they’ll need a DNA test. Lale makes a point of showing off bruises and marks on her wrist to Marian, hinting at the treatment she’s been under since being in Lahore and begs to be taken back to London. Asif will only hand over the baby in exchange for access to the Wallace ports in and out of the city.

But Marian knows Asif’s assets are frozen, and she’s all he has in terms of leverage. She demands Lale come with her, or the deal is off. That evening, a drunken Asif scolds and attacks Lale but is prevented from causing further damage to the child by the nurse. While her belly is bruised, Lale’s baby is OK, with an examination revealing a heartbeat.

As Lale is prepared to be moved to London, Asif receives a call, and Lale is dragged back to her room at gunpoint. Asif then calls Marian and tells her that the baby has died, prompting Marian to call off the deal completely. Asif has Lale join him at dinner, asking what her plan was once in London – surmising that she would have found it easier to escape. He then reveals he has brokered a better deal, wanting her to arrange transport for a “precious piece of cargo” into London for him. He also shares his intent to keep the baby as collateral. She scoffs at this, saying she has no love for the baby, and he could drown it for all she cares. However, he warns her that a love for a child is all-consuming, whether she wants to believe it yet or not.

Arriving back in London, Lale is driving with the nurse, but refuses to speak to her. She then flies into a panic, demanding air, saying she feels sick and moaning, saying something is wrong with the baby. Going around a corner to be sick, she uses the ruse as an opportunity to dispatch her guard and steal his gun.

While the nurse lets her get away, Lale legitimately starts getting labour pains. She seeks refuge in the empty office block, bringing us back to the start of the episode.

With her water broken and Asif’s men tracking her, Lale tries to find somewhere to hole up. Finding an unlocked accounts room, Lale barricades the door and goes into active labour, trying to keep quiet as the armed men look for her. As one tries to open the door in, Lale unloads her gun at the door, killing him but leaving her unarmed.

As the other lackeys close in, Lale delivers her own baby, and with the umbilical cord still attached, she makes a hasty exit through the vents, wrapping him up in her jacket. She makes her way to an empty floor, hiding behind a cubicle in exhaustion. Looking at her baby boy, she cuts the umbilical cord with her teeth before pulling out the placenta which was still inside her. As the baby starts crying, she feeds him, but the baby’s cries soon alert the men to her location.

Using the baby as bait, she kills one of her pursuers by strangling him to death with her umbilical cord. Taking his gun and the baby before moving on.

Before she can escape, she is found and attacked by more of Asif’s men. She fights them off as best she can, but one of them grabs the baby and flees. In a rage, she tries to get to her son, killing everyone in her path. But it’s of no use – the baby is delivered to Asif, and she is hopelessly outnumbered by his armed men. He mockingly congratulates her and proudly declaring he will keep her son safe in Lahore in exchange for her cooperation from now on.

Lale points her gun at her son, held by the terrified nurse, asking what kind of life of he would have as a hostage. Shots are fired, but into the air as she screams in desperation. Capitulating, she asks Asif what it is that he wants. He promises to be in touch, leaving her bleeding and heartbroken.

NARGES RASHIDI: When I read that script or when I found out that Lale’s pregnant, I was shell shocked. I was not expecting that at all. It’s an incredible episode. It’s just such a gift to be given as an actor.

NARGES RASHIDI: I definitely think she comes for her grandchild and not for Lale. I mean, Marian is not even very keen about her own children, so why would she care about Lale? I think, if anything at all, she’s definitely about the grandchild for sure.

NARGES RASHIDI: Episode five is very, very intense. Physically it’s incredibly challenging. We start the episode and then we have this bit in Lahore, which, in comparison feels like a walk in the park, And then the rest of the episode she’s on a hunt and she’s in pain and she’s having contractions, about to give birth. And while that’s happening, she’s being chased down and they’re trying to get her, kill her and get her baby. Shooting that was very intense. There were times I would go home and I’d literally pass out in the car. That’s how intense it was for me shooting it, because of the intensity and the stakes are so high in the episode. I didn’t want to fake the breathing, so I would really get myself physically exhausted. My pulse was up there. I was running around, jumping, making my heartbeat go very high. So I didn’t want to fake it in a way. So that was very demanding physically.

Prepping for that was a lot of work. I think I’ve seen so many birthing videos of people. In real life, I honestly think if I was in a remote place and I had to give birth, I’d know how to do it now! We had a beautiful, amazing midwife helping us through it, and she showed me videos of women giving birth by themselves at home. And if you see these women give birth, they’re so strong, like they could do anything. Honestly. It was quite mind blowing because you would think the opposite. Mostly we see births that are in the hospital and you’re on your back. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

What was super important to me is that the physicality of Lale in episode five feels real and that, while you know she is strong, we also see she’s struggling because she has a huge stomach and it’s there and we see the weight. In order to do that, every stunt rehearsal I had, I would always do it in full gear with the tummy on.

We see her give birth to the placenta, and they find her, there’s a fight, and so she uses the placenta because there’s nothing. She’s in this huge office building, and there’s really literally nothing. So, Lale-style, she grabs whatever she can find to defend herself, and she strangles a guy with the umbilical cord. We were all so scared because we were like, ‘oh, this can be very tricky in a way!’ It’s such a small line, to not make it look silly. I’m very proud of it, because I’ve just seen it, and I think it works really well. So now you know, if in need, you can use your umbilical cord to strangle people! This was a joke! Please do not sue me afterwards!

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