WARNING: Major spoilers for episode nine ahead.

Following the events of the River launch in Tallinn, security has been ramped up to its highest for UDC, who has retreated to his home in Valmarin Island, Croatia.

But The Jackal isn’t far behind, with his deadline approaching he is feeling the pressure from Zina to make sure he delivers.

Despite the threat against him, UDC still takes his daily swim, albeit flanked by speedboats and a guard swimming alongside him. He continues to laugh off a problem, considering this attempted assassination a sign that he’s disrupting the right people. He tells his partner to vow to get River off the ground if it doesn’t make it.

Back in London, Bianca visits Captain Mike Baldwin, who had worked with Duggan during his time in Afghanistan. Now in hospice care after developing lung cancer as a result of his years of service, Bianca prays on his need for care to get more answers, despite him not wanting to talk.

With new information, she gives an update to Isabel, but instead is told the investigation is being closed, blaming lack of funds and the amount of casualties ‘not being worth it to track down one person. Bianca fights the decision, but Isabel doesn’t budge – and she’s also hearing nothing from Osi, who is still being interrogated by Carver over being the potential mole.

Ahead of his next attempt to take out UDC, The Jackal returns to Cadiz to collect items from his vault, and spends time with his son who’s playing in his nursery. He’s then confronted by Nuria, who is now under no illusion that “Charles” and The Jackal are the same person. Questioning the reality of their relationship, an angered Nuria forces The Jackal to declare out loud repeatedly that he kills people for money, confronting what it is he does.

The Jackal vows to Nuria he’s out of the game but has one more job he needs to finish. He just needs 24 hours. It devastates her and she needs time to process what is happening.

Bianca visits Osi at the gym, but he’s distant and cold. She demands answers but he tells her to go away.

At home, Bianca goes to visit Paul, with the pair increasingly estranged as her work takes over. Even now, he knows she’s only there to vent about work. He urges her to choose her family more or things could go wrong for her.

The next morning, Alvaro stops by The Jackal’s house to visit his sister and to propose a new business deal to Charles, wanting more money. He tells her he’s given his word to a gangster that Charles will come to a meeting, but she knows it is trouble. Alvaro responds by telling her he knows Charles' secrets and could spill them. Nuria vents her anger to her husband, and he promises to take care of it. He agrees to the meeting, which delights Alvaro.

UDC has lost $1.2billion in the space of days, with his shareholders desperate for him to cancel River’s release. He continues to refuse, and in response the entire board threatens to walk, which he doesn’t care about.

In New York, Winthrop has a meeting with the UK’s foreign secretary, who is in on his plan to kill UDC. The pair comment about their attempts to halt River failing, calling The Jackal’s assassination attempt a “Hail Mary”.

The Jackal meets with a fisherman pal and borrows his boat to “spend a couple of hours fishing”. Instead, he uses his position on the water to shoot the gangster he’s meant to meet with Alvaro dead as he eats at the restaurant, before heading to Split, Croatia.

Feeling like she’s been left alone, Bianca spends the night in her daughter's room. The next day she reads a story about the Spanish gangster’s death and, due to the precision of the kill, knows The Jackal’s involved.

In the morning, The Jackal hires a boat to go “birdwatching” only to kill the boat’s owner once they’re out at sea, before preparing his rifle on a steadicam rig to make sure he gets his shot. His boat is spotted by security, but is just outside the two mile protection perimeter for UDC, so is left alone.

With five hours to go before River goes live, UDC wants to stay in bed, but is urged to clear his head with a swim. He is flanked by security, but Jackal’s clear shot of UDC on land is lost by a passing boat.

Drones spot suspicious activity and go to investigate, with The Jackal being forced to kill the man on a jet ski. With his cover blown, UDC’s team scramble to keep him underwater and out of shot, but he struggles to understand what’s going on. Security pull him under, but is shot when they come up for air.

Knowing he’s in danger, UDC attempts to, but is shot in the throat by The Jackal. With the job now finally complete, The Jackal flees in the boat.

Over the course of episode nine, both Bianca and The Jackal are once again at a parallel, with both facing the consequences of their life choices by the ones they love.

For both, their careers are in tatters, with their loved ones making them question just how much it was worth it as their spouses threaten to walk away from them completely.

“What's interesting, emotionally for me, about this episode, is that I believe that the Jackal has compartmentalized these two parts of his life,” explains Eddie Redmayne, who plays The Jackal.

“There's the assassin, and then there's who he is, and he has never watched those two things collide, or looked at those two people in a mirror, and it's only the love of his life re-questioning him and questioning him and making him repeat these words and listen to these words, that makes him begin to be able to see himself.

“I think that is the crux of the series, in some ways, that she holds a mirror up to him and forces him to look at it.”

Ursula Corbero, who plays Nuria, says of her character: “I will describe Nuria as a warm and sweet woman, but with a strong personality as well. She's not very ambitious. She just wants to live a good life, to be happy.

“She likes to take care of her family and her beautiful house, but when she understands that her son is in danger, she starts to embrace this boldness and strength that she's been hiding her entire life.”

Lashana Lynch, who plays Bianca, adds: “With reading this script, I recognise the foundation of who Bianca is and could be, and I saw that there's this massive gap that has been there for a very long time. In fact, it's echoing down there just how empty it is, how empty the space is, and how much we have at our feet to fill.

“This is a show and a character and a storyline, a narrative that really feeds into that space so naturally and seamlessly that it doesn't feel like she was avoiding anything. You don't ask, Why is she there? Why is it black women? Why is it a woman in this role instead of a man?

“We get to really feel that we, as a world, recognise this person. We get to flesh that out through family dynamics, how sad that can be, how mistreated it is as a story and as a narrative. We handle it well here, because there's a lot to take care of, and it's a precious story.”

After weeks of missteps and unexpected twists, The Jackal was finally able to get everything together to take out UDC with his specially-made steadicam balancer while on the boat.

“Steadicam is used on films for cameramen to have a camera attached that they can move and walk around with it remaining smooth, and so I've worked a lot with Steadicam operators and they're the kind of rock stars of film sets, because cameras are so heavy and they make it look so easy,” explains Eddie.

“I've never had the experience of holding one until I was doing this. And my respect for Steadicam operators has gone through the roof because they're ridiculously heavy, and it's bloody hard, but things go right.

“His absolute obsession and determination is ‘nothing is going to get in the way’. So whether it's shooting down the drone, shooting the guy on the jet ski at this point, he's like anything will go but he succeeds.

“And I hope that you see, once he actually shoots him, that all of this pent up obsession that has built over these 10 episodes has an emotional effect on him as well, because he believes that now he can perhaps put this behind him.”

The Jackal may be ready to put this all behind him, the question is will he be allowed to.

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