Episode 6 brings us to the thrilling season finale we have been building up to! 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.
Mason’s Past
This episode starts in the middle of an army hospital in Serbia 30 years ago. We see doctors and nurses working on many people as a small child sits alone to the side. The little boy is dirty, and the look on his face is heartbreaking as he watches them attempt to revive someone. Time jumps to Oregon six months later. The same boy is in bed hearing air raid sirens and bombs going off in his head. An older lady, revealed to be his grandmother, opens the curtains and comments on his sleeping late like his father. With this conversation, it is revealed to us that the little boy is a young Mason. Mason copes with the loss of his father by losing himself in a TV show where a man changes his face and starts a new life. There are flashes of Mason explaining how he was no one, and that’s when Citadel and Nadia gave his life meaning and purpose. Heartbroken after Nadia leaves him, he punches a mirror. Through the broken pieces, we see that Mason has truly cracked.
The Mission
Now in Morocco present day, we catch up with Carter, Mason, and Nadia. The trio is being briefed on their mission by Archer as they are being transported to the location. After demanding proof their daughter is safe before starting the mission, an operative shows Mason and Nadia a girl on the screen. This is the first time Nadia has seen her daughter in eight years. Upon entering the Manticore’s base, Archer explains the mission. Davik will accompany them as they board a submarine with the nukes on it. After entering, they will hack the system and make the sub surface. Mason and Davik will receive the five nuclear codes from the Dead Hand missiles and bring them to a Manticore agent in Valencia in exchange for their daughter. Nadia expresses concern that Mason cannot do this without his prior memories. Carter explains it has to be Mason. Unknown to Nadia, Mason installed his biolock to the codes on a prior Red Cell mission against orders. Mason asks what Red Cell is, causing Nadia to sigh.
Red Cell
Flashing back to the past mission, we see Grace giving the briefing of hacking the Dead Hand sub to prevent nuclear warfare someday. While she speaks, a zoned-out Mason walks around. Grace calls him on his attention, and he fires back, clearly still upset by Nadia leaving. Carter explains the logistics of the technology. Privately, Mason asks Grace for something in return if he does this mission. He wants to know where Nadia really is.
Not seeing how the conversation ends, we catch up with Mason preparing to jump out of a jet with Carter in his earpiece. He successfully lands on the sub, opens the compartment, and installs the device. With his mission completed, Mason cuts off his earpiece and begins to bypass something. Having completed something unauthorized, Mason cuts the earpiece back on, claiming interference, and states he is ready for pickup. Carter and Grace are none the wiser.
Mission Accomplished?
Back in the present, Nadia helps Mason fix his suit for the jump. Sharing a moment, he asks why he wasn’t worthy of knowing he has a daughter. Explaining this is not the time and he needs to focus, Nadia leaves the question unanswered. Davik enters the room and agrees, telling Mason he better be ready. Giving Nadia a look before jumping out of the jet, Mason seems prepared for the mission. Mason struggles to locate the sub and land successfully, but Carter gets it to breach the water just in time. Without his prior training, landing on the jet is very difficult. Davik helps him on the sub, and Mason uses his thumbprint and face to unlock the device. Stating that is all he needs Mason for, Davik pulls Mason’s parachute causing him to fly backward and hit the sub. Nadia says she’s going down there, shoots the Manticore guards, and jumps.
Inside the sub, we see Davik put in an earpiece and begin to talk to Archer. She asks for a status report as Davik begins locking the nuclear devices onto several locations. Asking her if she really thought she could get away with killing his brother with no consequences, Davik tells her he has locked the nukes onto all the Manticore’s head family’s safe houses around the world. Telling Archer she has two choices, he gets a seat at the table, or Manticore will burn to the ground. Outside we see Carter yelling in Mason’s earpiece, trying to get him to wake up as he hangs from his parachute. Informing him what Davik has started, Carter tells Mason he has to get to the cores. Inside the sub, Archer tells Davik to burn the world because Manticore doesn’t negotiate with traitors. Archer shows her power by saying they have control of the sub’s navigation, so before he could fire the nukes, she would send the sub plummeting to the depths of the ocean.
After being hung up on by Archer, Davik sees Mason enter the room. Gun at the ready, Mason seems unready to pull the trigger. Out of nowhere, Nadia knocks out Davik and begins talking to Carter to stop the launch. Nadia injects herself with something that will raise her temperature to enter the room so she can remove the cores undetected. Attempting to remove the cores while her body temp is over 100 degrees proves difficult. Outside the room, Mason faces off against Davik. Managing to get a shot off, Mason proves to have some skills still intact from his spy memories. Meanwhile, Nadia fights a blackout as the nukes countdown to launch. Carter pep-talks Mason, and his body remembers his training, and he takes out Davik. Mason can waste no time and must get to Nadia to inject her to regulate her heart before she dies. Holding her as she comes back to normal, Carter informs them they have been detected by a Russian bomber jet. Mason holds Nadia as they return to the jet.
Cracks Are Showing
Flashing back to Mason eight years ago, entering the Citadel headquarters after completing the Red Cell job. Entering the facility, everyone is talking about his mission, and Grace confronts him about Citadel not having control of the nukes. Mason calmly states that he has control and he used a secondary protocol to do so. Negotiating with Grace, he claims he will give her the codes if she tells him where Nadia is. Grace repeats that she has told him before where she is, but he does not believe her. Feeling betrayed, Mason walks away from her as she tells him he needs help.
In London, Bernard and Mason walk by a river, talking about family. Bernard gives Mason pictures of Nadia holding a baby girl, telling him he has a daughter. Understanding now why Nadia left, Mason struggles with the information that Nadia didn’t think he was good enough to be a father. Bernard tells him to fight for his family and prove her wrong.
The Exchange
After the mission, Nadia, Mason, and Carter prepare and gear up for the exchange. Carter hides out on a rooftop while Mason and Nadia enter in plain sight. Archer watches, speaking with an associate from the Manticore families hoping they are pleased with her work. The associate states they must get the cores returned before they can begin to speak about anyone being pleased. Carter has a sniper rifle at the ready as a car approaches. Seeing their daughter Asha being held by an operative, Nadia and Mason pass over the cores. Testing the cores, Manticore finds they are still biolocked to Mason. Carter tells them he has a clear shot on the man holding Asha. Getting angry, the Manticore woman says to unlock the cores, or they will kill the girl. Mason pleads he doesn’t know how, but they can torture it out of him, just don’t hurt his daughter. Nadia tells Carter to take the shot. He kills the operative, causing Asha to fall from the overpass. Mason runs, catching her, as Nadia and Carter begin firing on the Manticore agents. Hugging their daughter, Nadia begins crying, telling Asha she is so sorry as Mason looks on.
Upon hearing no word from the exchange, Archer can feel that something has gone wrong. Knowing there will be repercussions for failing the Manticore families, she states they can’t kill what is already dead. Showing her car driving off, we see her home explode into flames as she escapes.
Reunions
Carter, Nadia, Mason, and Asha arrive at the old Citadel headquarters. With all the windows blown out and bullets littering the floor, it is clear no one has been there since the fall. While attempting to get the power back on, Mason hears someone call out. His daughter Hendrix runs to him, yelling “Dad,” and he holds her in his arms with tears in his eyes. Abby enters the room smiling as she runs to him, sharing a kiss as Nadia looks on. Carter and Nadia are clearly in shock by seeing Celeste as Mason’s wife. Having no idea of their past, the family is just happy to be together. Carter calls Mason over, showing him a vile that contains a backup of his memories. Abby and Mason privately have a conversation discussing if he needs to do this. Abby insists he knows who he is, a father and a husband. Insisting that knowing his past won’t change this, Mason states that he needs to know what happened to him. With the injection, we see Mason see his past in flashes. His face is in shock as all this new information is being brought back.
Actions Have Consequences
Mason walks away as we see a flashback to him thanking Bernard for the advice of fighting for his family. Handing the plane ticket back to Bernard, Mason states he has enough to fight for. Bernard questions how Mason knew to ask him where to look for Nadia. We flash to Mason joining someone for a drink, and it’s revealed that it’s Archer. As they speak, some hints are dropped at history with each other. Archer speaks about how Mason looks just like someone, and Mason says she always said if he needed help, he could ask. Mason finally says he needs help finding someone, and Archer is confused why a spy would need help with this. Telling her the situation is complicated, Archer states she will find her for him.
Archer begins to tell the story of losing her love and how she awoke from a dream with the first explosion. Her love, Thomas, was already in flames in the bed next to her. She burnt herself severely, trying to put the fire on him out. Through her recovery, she became a different woman. Mason asks why she didn’t return home after it happened. After a moment he asks about her son. Finally revealing what has been hinted at, Mason asks suddenly in a British accent, “Am I still yours mother?” Smiling at his use of his original accent, she says, “There’s my boy.” Claiming he simply buried it, Archer takes this moment to drop a truth bomb. She reveals it was Citadel’s fault his father was killed. Citadel meant to take out terrorists but had the wrong coordinates and instead killed over 157 innocent UN workers and their families. We understand now why Archer hates Citadel so much. Asking Mason to help her finally make Citadel pay for their crimes and to take the people they love most.
Watching all of this information hit Mason in the present is painful to watch. Through a double-sighted mirror, we see Nadia watch, unknown to Abby and Mason, in the other room. Abby asks him if he remembers; Mason holds her saying he doesn’t know. His face tells the truth as the music rises and the screen snaps to black.
The next season of Citadel is hinted at with a preview at the end of the episode. This next season will be titled Citadel: Diana and will premiere in 2024. All episodes of Citadel are available to stream on Prime Video now.
