Up until now, Prime Target has kept it low-key, more concerned with ancient equations than action or adventure. With Season 1, Episode 6, “The Last Link,“ that is all about to change. Time is ticking, with every agency in hot pursuit as the intrepid duo tries to leave Paris. With an irate NSA tracking their every move and allies thin on the ground, it is make-or-break time when it comes down to finding that final puzzle piece. Right now, Edward might be an important mathematical asset, but he is also a liability likely to land them both in hot water.

With the revelations from Season 1, Episode 5, still ringing in their ears, The Last Link morphs into a different show. Assassins in hot pursuit, clandestine cyber-crimes done on the fly, and home truths shared in times of crisis. These are far from original plot twists but do a good job of injecting some adrenaline into events, while genuine human moments offer intellectual substance elsewhere. Questions of personal loyalty and professional integrity also come under fire, providing flashes of humanity. In a pivotal episode where everything hangs in the balance, Andrew Carter also comes out swinging to remind Jane Torres where her loyalties lay.

Andrew Carter Rattles Some Cages

Jane Torres Goes on the Defensive

From the start, Prime Target has been lacking a villain. The series needed a career-driven character with zero ethics, low-key morality, and no fear of collateral damage, which is exactly where Andrew Carter comes in to step up surveillance on Edward and Taylah. Carter In Season 1, Episode 6, “The Last Link,” his time has come, and there is no room for leniency going forward. In the eyes of Andrew Carter, Jane Torres has let her personal feelings get in the way, giving Taylah more freedom than most. His cold-blooded professionalism and emotional detachment give this episode some mettle. Harry Lloyd narrowly avoids pantomime villainy in his performance by keeping threats to a minimum. He is much more of a brooding presence, perpetually in-frame during the NSA sequences, but often just out of focus. As events escalate and Taylah consistently avoids capture, Carter gets savvy and offers up some professional advice.

This moment is crucial to the show, as audiences can see a shift in power. All the self-assurance that defined Jane Torres up until now has vanished. Carter has called her bluff, insisted on agency-wide oversight, and is watching every move she makes. Harry Lloyd and Martha Plimpton relish these scenes, exchanging verbal taunts yet keeping it civil. Season 1, Episode 6, “The Last Link,” comes alive in these moments by letting a bureaucratic bulldog off his leash to chew some scenery and give the show some backbone. Tensions might be mounting between Edward and Taylah as they narrowly avoid capture, but the real drama is happening back at NSA headquarters between these two titans. Wrestling with their allegiances and pulling in different directions, this fresh slice of friction injects some new elements, and it gives Prime Target some sharp edges.

For the first time, Prime Target has genuine momentum rather than feeling like a fractured collection of sub-plots. “Pedestrian,” in terms of pacing, feels too harsh, but somehow, the word “dynamic” felt inappropriate until now. As the action moves away from Paris and agencies are alerted to their whereabouts, Prime Target decides to go full-on Jason Bourne. Adrenaline-fuelled foot chases combined with high-tech hacking give Taylah some serious kudos but also transform Edward into an academic action hero. Over the course of Season 1, Episode 6, he also turns into a smooth-talking lothario, exploiting his looks for access to university archives. Not only displaying a self-awareness that allows Taylah to relax but simply making him more interesting.

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Edward and Taylah Are in Denial

Prime Target Explores Cause and Affect

Up until now, Edward had been in Taylah’s slipstream. She had all the intelligence, instigated all the escape plans, and worked tirelessly to protect her asset. Faced with the prospect of losing that final puzzle piece to people who might have Baghdad connections, he had to step up and help. However, this action-adventure element is just a smokescreen for what really binds these people together. Both Edward and Taylah are in denial about the things that haunt them, unable to acknowledge responsibility or accept accountability. That is the debate which fuels Prime Target, tapping into universal themes around ethical boundaries and human weakness. Adding a crucial sub-text to this show with wide-reaching ramifications, that feeds directly into global concerns about individual privacy.

Some academics are a law unto themselves and consider anything outside their field of research as superfluous. This blinkered conclusion comes about because they are unique individuals with a combination of specific traits. Academics are able to focus for long periods of time on one subject, obsessing over single elements for years at a time. Unfortunately, that brings with it a few problems, including an inability to acknowledge anything outside that space. Prime Target not only explores this conundrum but addresses the moral arguments around scientific discoveries. From an institutional point of view, their responsibility stops once the problem is solved, and what others choose to do is literally academic. This is where the potential danger of Safiya Zamil’s thesis comes into play, since her research in malevolent hands could be lethal. What Edward fails to acknowledge, and what creator Steve Thompson is exploring through Prime Target, is where that middle ground might be.

Whether it relates to a research facility like Kaplar or government departments with extreme oversight, morality still plays a part. No innocent parties are left in this desperate scrabble for mathematical supremacy. A lack of self-awareness can no longer be used as an excuse, and subterfuge has also worn out its welcome. When it comes to this equation and what people have already done to get it, no one is walking away clean. Prime Target not only explores the lengths to which people will go for that control, but just how intrusive society has become. Cell phones can already pinpoint individual locations around the world within a few feet, making privacy almost obsolete. If digital archives and secure locations could be accessed, then freedom would become a myth. This is why Edward Brooks might be the most dangerous thing in Prime Target right now. His reluctance to admit culpability for things he may discover, and take ownership of those consequences, makes him lethal. Intellect without self-awareness is little better than ignorance. People who believe themselves above human weakness or temptation purely based on brains need to think again. Taylah faces a different problem since she is hampered by an overabundance of self-awareness coupled with guilt. Her biggest failing is an inability to move beyond that one bad decision and, instead, let it define every choice she makes moving forward.

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Personal Relationships Still Define This Apple Original

In This Show, Moral and Ethical Boundaries Are Blurred

Prime Target is standing at a moral and ethical crossroads. Beneath all the subterfuge, an engrossing thriller is fighting to break free, and a single equation stands in the way. That unique formula promises unbridled power for the country that has it, while one person alone is capable of unlocking those secrets. At the center of Season 1, Episode 6, “The Last Link,” is a struggle for supremacy. One is between competing agencies trying to control those last few elements, and the other is deeply personal. The backbiting and political power plays between Jane Torres and Andrew Carter are one reason why this episode works. Their changing relationship cuts to the heart of Prime Target as a series. This show is not about political games, global supremacy, or being able to access every secure site on Earth. It is about the relationships that are changed, those people who perish in pursuit of it, and how this equation might change the game.

Prime Target Season 1, Episode 6, “The Last Link,” thrives precisely because it explores uncertainty within the human condition. Both morally and ethically, this show tries to tackle those deeper questions by keeping it character-driven. Edward and Taylah are no different from the majority of people faced with similar choices every day. Those choices might not be life or death, but each one has an impact elsewhere. These ideas tie Prime Target together and reflect the uncertainty of a world in which this math might exist in the wrong hands. Everybody has failings and flaws, but then everything comes down to the choices people make. A lack of accountability due to intellectual indifference is no excuse, and immeasurable guilt over bad decisions can be ignored. This pursuit of purity in a single mathematical equation, speaks to a desperate need in contemporary society for answers. However, the true pleasure of Prime Target exists in the relationships playing out behind those numbers.

Prime Target streams Wednesdays on Apple TV+

Prime Target Season 1, Episode 6

Release Date

January 22, 2025

Cast

• 

  Leo Woodall

  Edward Brooks

• 

  Quintessa Swindell

  Taylah Sanders

Pros & Cons

• Martha Plimpton and Henry Lloyd are excellent
• Leo Woodall turns action hero
• Prime Target explores broader questions of ethics and morality

• It remains a truly underrated thriller