Citadel follows two spies in their attempts to recover their past. After the fall of a global spy agency, something sinister is rising in its place.
Concerning Carter
We start this episode at the Manticore black site. Nadia and Mason break in to save fellow agent Carter Spence. Nadia takes the lead, easily taking down enemy agents quietly and efficiently. Mason acts as a backup, asking if they are about to kill a lot of people. Mason is rusty, struggling to offer Nadia proper cover. After taking care of the guards, they open a room to find a disheveled and scared Carter. As Mason approaches him, Carter tells him to stay back, and that he did this. A shocked and concerned Mason asks, “What did I do?”
We Were In Paris
We jump to Paris ten years earlier. After spending the night together, we see Nadia and Mason enjoying a drink. Mason is asking Nadia about her life and past loves. When she reveals she has never been in love, Mason asks if he scares her. While they have gotten closer he is starting to see beyond her mask and what lies underneath. Nadia quickly changes the subject to a new agent she is bringing into Citadel. Agent Celeste Graham has worked with Nadia before, even saving her life once. While being told this new information, Mason seems suspicious that Nadia is working on more than one mission at a time.
The Mission
Now at Citadel headquarters, Nadia introduces Mason to Celeste. When the camera reveals her face, we are shocked to see his future wife sitting there. They immediately jump into discussing the mission. Mason does not trust the newbie Celeste on such a big case. The mission involves the twins Anders and Davik Silje. Davik is the muscle while Anders is the brains of their operation. Anders is a college grad that is making and selling war weapons. Citadel is concerned about his latest invention called the Oz Key. This device would be able to hack into any country’s infrastructure exposing their weapons, armies, and even their emergency services. Basically, they can take a whole country hostage. Nadia thinks Celeste is perfect to go undercover, she is smart and has a twin like Anders. Mason needs some convincing about her experience.
They send Celeste undercover to Amsterdam to infiltrate the Silje brother’s operation. She immediately spots Anders and makes a connection. After nineteen days undercover playing the part, it seems Celeste has truly fallen for Anders. We jump to forty-six days undercover and Celeste is finally starting to get information about the Oz Key. We can see as Celeste is starting to lose herself in the charade and her real feelings about Anders. Mason promises to keep her tethered to reality if she checks in every week. Meanwhile, Mason and Nadia are working to find out who the Silje brothers are working with. It is very clear they are enjoying all the quality time together.
After having no contact or check-ins with Celeste for three months, Mason thinks it is time to pull her out. Nadia disagrees thinking there might be plenty of reasons for her to go dark. Mason has been investigating Celeste’s twin, David. David has huge debts and dangerous people after him. This leads Mason to think Celeste might try to sell the Oz Key. He decides it is time to send in an ops team to get her out and take it all down.
Celeste
After almost losing herself in the undercover operation, Celeste decides it is time to make her move. Sneaking into the lab, she switches a replica of the Oz Key with the real one. What she doesn’t realize is Davik is watching her from the shadows and confronts her. Fighting in a small bathroom she somehow manages to knock the huge Davik out. Soon we see Mason’s op team breaking into the building.
Back at Citadel we see Mason updated that Celeste made it out alive, Anders was captured, but the Oz Key was not found. Understandably very upset we see Mason get a confidential message. The screen reads, “She took the case.” While Mason responds, “Don’t say a word about this, ever.”
We see helicopters bringing in Celeste and Anders. While Anders is rushed to the medics to be stabilized, Celeste is taken to an interrogation room. Nadia wants to come in with Mason but he refuses, saying that she is too close to the situation. Mason is convinced Celeste took the key, and this leads to a very intense interrogation. Going for her one weakness he targets her twin brother, threatening to kill him. Right before the kill shot, Nadia breaks in and stops it all. Stressing that she knows Celeste the best and she didn’t take it, Nadia puts her reputation on the line. Insisting Celeste needs a safe house now that Davik will be after her the Citadel higher-ups agree.
When Nadia goes to check on Anders, Mason suggests something that has everyone’s jaws dropping. Convinced that Celeste will sell out Citadel to the highest bidder, he says they should backstop her. This technology is brand new and isn’t approved yet. Commander Grace does not approve, but Mason plays on the angle that she will be known for letting a mole take down the agency. In order to fully convince her, Mason suggests they do it offsite — telling no one — not even Nadia. Telling Celeste it is a form of witness protection for her and her brother, she agrees to go with them.
What’s Up With Mason
As Mason picks Celeste’s new life out for her, we see the house where they will someday live together. He talks about living a simple life, sitting on the front porch in the breeze. Little does Mason know in ten short years this will be his reality with the woman he exiled here. He calls in Bernard to help authorize the backstop procedure. In this scene, we get to see their friendship in more detail. Bernard begs Mason to be one hundred percent sure about Celeste before he does this. My favorite line from this episode comes from Bernard as he says, “A spy can have a hundred names, a hundred faces, a hundred identities. But you only get one soul.” Nadia thanks Mason for having her back as she is completely unaware of the betrayal that has just taken place.
Carter checks in with Mason to see if any information has been found on the location of the Oz Key. Mason with his head hung low replies no. Carter calls out Mason’s out-of-character behavior, saying that he has known him for a decade. It is also revealed that Carter has access to every encrypted device that any Citadel agents use. Mason looks up telling Carter to stop there. Continuing on Carter says that a top-tier agent gave an unauthorized order to hide the Oz Key and give it to them upon return. Telling him to stop talking, we can see the stress on Mason’s face. Carter fills in the blanks for viewers that Mason never thought Celeste or Davik took the key. Mason backstopped Celeste because she was a threat to Nadia, he knew Nadia was the one that gave the Oz Key order. Despite all this, even if he loves her, Mason thinks Nadia is a mole.
Nadia’s Secret
Back in the present time, we see Carter still saying, you did this. This time when Mason asks what he did Carter responds with a line that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. Looking at Mason he says not you, her. All eyes turn to Nadia as the episode ends.
Citadel is available to stream on Prime Video with new episodes every Friday.
