What happens in The Day of the Jackal episode six?
WARNING: Major spoilers for episode six ahead.
The Jackal has trespassed onto the wrong property, with Hungarian farmer Atilla less than pleased with his unwelcome guest. As the police continue to hunt him down, Atilla calls in reinforcements in order to cash in on his find – but doesn’t realise who he’s messing with.
Killing Atilla and one of his friends, a third man, Lazlo, surrenders and helps The Jackal make his getaway. On the drive, The Jackal calls Nuria who insists on coming to find him. While he initially says no, he later makes a request of her that involves his secret room.
At MI6, the hunt for The Jackal has been named Operation Anubis, with Isabel telling Osi to get Bianca and Vince back to London. Bianca wants to stay in Budapest, knowing that The Jackal is close, but relents to the order.
Osi also receives a call from an American number, requesting a call to “talk UDC”.
In Croatia, Ulle Dag Charles (UDC) angers his shareholders by insisting on River’s release going ahead, despite stock prices massively dropping. UDC dismisses their worries, declaring “money isn’t real” and authority as the top shareholder.
Lazlo drives The Jackal to Budapest, and manages to get the Jackal to sympathise with him, allowing him to live once he thinks they’re in relative safety. He then contacts Zina to update her with what’s going on.
As the internal investigation continues at MI6, Carver questions Damian about Bianca’s interest in former Army sniper, Alexander Duggan, and grills him on being the office mole, which he continues to deny.
Nuria arrives in Budapest and meets The Jackal at a hotel to give him the disguise material he requested. While he requests she run, instead she seems fascinated, and watches him don the disguise of an old and frail man who needs assistance on his flight out of Budapest.. Destination: Tallinn, Estonia, where UDC is due to launch River. Unfortunately for him, Bianca and Vince are on the same flight.
Once arriving in Tallinn, police come to his door looking into a burglary in the apartment above. While The Jackal co-operates, one officer seems suspicious of him, taking his number before leaving.
He then calls Rasmus, who helped him during his re-con of the building, and asks him to go for a drink. After a night out, they sleep together.
Inside Bianca’s motives
“What motivates Bianca, and what really keeps her going, if I'm honest, is that desire to win and be at the front of the line,” explains Lashana Lynch, who plays her.
“Be the one that succeeds in seeming perfect, even though she's not perfect, the one who hides the best, the one who lies the best. Just achieving all the things that I guess your average human wouldn't really want to achieve in the occupation, every single way it could go.
“She has a plan, and that's mainly to win.”
Unfortunately for her, The Jackal is exactly the same, and only one can really come out on top in this battle of wits.
“One of the things that is so unique about the Day of the Jackal is that you have these two characters who mirror each other in so many ways,” adds Eddie Redmayne. “They're both obsessed with their jobs. They're both trying to find a way to marry that obsession with a home life.”
The Jackal’s true intentions
Eddie Redmayne truly believes The Jackal does love his wife and family, even if he’s continued to lie to Nuria about his true nature.
His killer skill-set encourages him to manipulate Nuria to do his bidding – even when she’s torn over what to do. Case in point? Convincing her to fly to Budapest to help him make his escape.
Speaking with Sky’s behind-the-scenes team The Jackal Files, Eddie explains: “We managed to mine some odd emotional territory there, where he's kind of half speaking the truth about him apologising to her, whilst half massively manipulating her.
“In that moment, he shows his vulnerability, and when she comes into the hotel, and it's almost like he kind of tears up. But as an audience member, we've seen him tear up on demand in the funeral parlour.
“We know he's an actor, so hopefully at this point, what I was trying to do was have the audience guessing about whether he's being authentic or not.”
Ursula Corbero, who plays Nuria, adds: “I think she's in love. She just needs to believe him. I think that sometimes love doesn't respond to logic. She feels frustrated, a little bit disappointed in herself because she's betraying herself in a way.”