In From the Cold Season 1 Episode 8 Recap – Motherland

Svetlana admits she’s impressed that Anya defeated Gaia even if she‘s her best fighter. Anya begs Svetlana not to hurt Becca. She says she will come back to her. But Svetlana says Becca is the one who’s going to fulfill Anya’s destiny. 

After what he did, the police took Diego away. Chauncey tells Ohana that he must speak to the boy and his mother. He asks Diego if he has ever met a man named Gideon. Diego says he heard his uncle Felipe speaking to Gideon once, but Gideon is a woman.

Still weak after her fight, Anya uses her remaining strength to call Chauncey. She tells him to get to Madrid Arena as soon as possible because Gideon has Becca. She tells him not to worry about her anymore. Chauncey calls Chris to ask him to find the burner phone Anya used. After finding out where she is, Chauncey talks to Ohana. He tells her to get to the arena as fast as possible because there will be a competition there. Gideon will also be there. He asks her to lock the whole place down while he goes to save Anya.

Becca’s in the Madrid Arena with Svetlana. Svetlana tells her she believes she‘s destined for great things and adds that she shouldn’t be afraid of who she is. After that, a woman introduces Svetlana to a senator. Inside a room, Becca’s eyes suddenly change. 

Chauncey finds Anya in the skating rink, looking weak. He wants to bring her to a hospital, but Anya tells him to bring her to her daughter instead. Chauncey takes Anya to a room to tend to her wounds. Anya looks around and tells Chauncey to use the stapler to close her wounds. Chauncey doesn’t want to do it but does as he’s told. They realize they‘re chasing only one person. Anya tells Chauncey that Svetlana’s why she went to the cold in the first place.

In another flashback, the guards opened the door and saw Faina and Dr. Orlov lying on the floor. They immediately boarded Dr. Orlov in an ambulance. Svetlana, already inside the ambulance, shot all the guards inside. Then she watched as Dr. Orlov turned into Anya.  Anya coughed blood and realized she‘s dying. Svetlana injected everything of the Yaroslav program into Anya’s chest.

The competition starts. Becca performs well in the skating rink. She gets the bronze medal in her first competition. Anya and Chauncey watch Becca from a safe distance even if she seems fine. Anya tells Ohana that Svetlana’s target is the senator. When the senator enters the rink to award the winners with medals, Becca takes her figure skates and is about to kill him using the blade. Anya moves fast and fires a gun. The security team takes the senator away and puts him in a room with Svetlana and the others. Svetlana takes her stopwatch and starts controlling the senator.

Anya keeps on changing her form to lose the guards chasing her. She changes to Faina, Damian, and others she’s changed into before. When she finds Becca, she apologizes and fires the gun near Becca’s ear. When Chauncey comes, Anya explains she did it to break Svetlana’s hold on Becca. Anya says Svetlana never wanted the assassination to be successful, so she had Becca do it.

Anya goes to the rooftop to meet Svetlana. Svetlana says that when Anya was in the cold, she was arrested and prosecuted for criminal disloyalty to the state and sent to Siberia. Svetlana admits she plans to use the senator to start another world war. Anya tells Svetlana that everything is over when she kills hers. A helicopter comes to pick up Svetlana. Anya refuses to let her leave and points a gun at her. Svetlana thinks Anya will never pull the trigger. She says if Anya wanted her dead, she should‘ve done it already. Svetlana says she and Becca have something in common. She stares into Anya’s eyes. Anya pulls the trigger, shoots her head, drops the gun, and sits beside Svetlana’s lifeless body. “Mama,” Anya calls her.

In a flashback, Anya sat in a car with Svetlana. They went to an apartment and were surprised by Anya’s family. Anya’s father said it had been long since they last saw her after they sent her to study. He handed her an envelope with the acceptance letter from NYU. Anya looked at Svetlana and remembered everything that led to that moment. She remembered her fights, the people she met, and those she killed. 

One month later, Becca and Anya are discussing about the divorce. Anya asks about her ear and if she still has no idea what happened. Becca says she could barely remember any of it. Anya asks Chauncey if she can have her freedom. Chauncey says he tried, but Anya’s too valuable to the company. They admit their feelings to each other and kiss. 

Later that night, Anya goes into the storage area and gets something she had hidden under the ground. She takes the phone from the box, calls someone, and introduces herself as Agent Anya Petrova. She says, “Everything is fine. It worked.”

Our Thoughts

We just had to say — all those times Anya changed into someone, that‘s our favorite. We thought it‘s amazing when she changed into different people to avoid security. Before, she could barely hold a form for so long, but when she desperately needed it, she could change into different people. It was sad that she had to kill Svetlana. It was needed because it‘s the only way to stop her. Not only did she lose a mother, but she also lost a mentor.

For the ending scene, it‘s enough to get people asking: Will there be season 2? She said, “Everything is fine. It worked.” Does that mean she had her mission all along? Since when? Was it part of her plan to be part of Chauncey’s team and gain his trust? If that’s the case, then whose order was she following? We need a second season.