“Toy soldier contained, sir…” – This was the last line that left us on a cliffhanger in The Capture episode two. 

Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) had just been lured into a Belgravia mansion by an unknown organisation who have access to all of London’s surveillance. But who are they? And what did they want? 

Well, if we’ve learned anything since episode one of the BBC’s six-part thriller aired, it’s that we shouldn’t expect any answers too quickly. 

But episode three was the fastest-paced hour yet, with a lot of happenings for us to unpack. So, let the questions and theories continue…

The Capture episode three questions and theories

1. Who the hell is Frank Napier?

The mustachioed American man with hipster-worthy glasses reveals his name is Frank Napier (Ron Perlman). We know that he is a CIA agent, he likes cranberry juice and he wants to know where missing barrister Hannah Roberts is. We also know that he likes to play tricks with CCTV cameras (which explains a lot) and doesn’t want to be detected by M15. Apart from that we don’t know why he is involved in any of this. Why is he concerned with Hannah’s disappearance? Why doesn’t he want to work with British Intelligence? 

While we’re getting acquainted with new characters…

2. Who is DSU Gemma Garland, and what does she know about DI Rachel Carey? 

DSU Gemma Garland (Lia Williams) – the woman from MI5 who redacted the evidence in episode two – has been put on the Hannah Roberts case with DI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger). At first, it seems that Gemma wants to help Rachel, but soon heavily hints that she knows about Rachel’s affair with her old Counter-Terrorism boss, Danny Hart (Ben Miles). Gemma also starts to make the case difficult, keeping tight-lipped about why she redacted the CCTV footage and making Rachel question herself and the case. Is Gemma married to Danny? Is she setting up Shaun for murder? Is she making this case personal with Rachel? 

Speaking of Danny…

3. What is Danny Hart’s involvement?

Danny Hart was noticeably absent from episode three, bar a scene where he stood in the surveillance room, overlooking Rachel’s failed attempt at finding Shaun in the Belgravia mansion. He refuses to answer Rachel’s appeals for help, despite the fact that they used to work (and sleep) together. The way he is distancing himself means that he must be involved with whatever the heck is going on. Also, Rachel later suspects Danny of manipulating another CCTV clip in one of his own recent cases. Is he in on to something with Gemma? 

4. Where is the monitor for the camera outside the Belgravia mansion?

When Rachel and her team search the Belgravia mansion that she is sure she saw Shaun being escorted into by the CIA, they find nothing except empty, dusty rooms. She tries to collect the CCTV footage showing Shaun at the property just hours earlier but, rather inconveniently, it has all gone missing under Gemma’s watch. Knowing that something fishy is going on, she asks the building’s doorman where the monitor to the camera at the front of the house is. “We searched the whole house and we didn’t see it in there, so where is it?” she demands. The doorman explains that it is a “dummy camera”. It’s a bit unbelievable that Rachel and her team would just accept this as the truth, especially as the doorman is acting so shiftily, but they do. But if they find the monitor, they’d find the CIA’s headquarters. Where is the CIA actually hiding while they work on trying to find Hannah? Will Rachel pursue her search for that monitor? 

5. Is Marcus Levy the real hero of this show?

When Shaun manages to rather impressively escape the boot of a moving car, he heads to Marcus Levy’s house – the video expert (played by Paul Ritter) who testified at Shaun’s appeal in episode one. He analyses the new CCTV footage of Shaun and Hannah on the night she disappeared (which has been leaked on YouTube) and contacts Rachel to share his expertise. “You cannot manipulate live CCTV, but what if it wasn’t live?” he tells her, before explaining that the bus that drives past in the video provides the perfect moment for an edit transition. 

This causes a light to switch on in Rachel’s brain, and she starts adding everything up. 

6. So, is Shaun 100% innocent?

I am 99% sure that Shaun is innocent, but then again I would not be surprised if it does a total last minute U-turn. That’s the joy (read: utter frustration) of this series, right? 

7. Will Shaun and Rachel team up to prove his innocence?

It feels like everyone above Rachel is preventing her from trying to get to the bottom of this case, and she’s finally become fully aware of it. By the end of episode three, it looks like she is sure that Shaun is innocent – despite the fact that he has just been caught with Hannah’s body in a car that he’s driven off in (which we know was a set-up). How will Rachel prove Shaun’s innocence now? Will her team support her? Can she prove that Gemma and Danny are up to something? Will she team up with Shaun?

Watch the trailer for The Capture

Twitter’s reactions to The Capture episode three

The internet had plenty of other questions and theories to share after Tuesday night’s episodes, along with some laugh-out-loud takes on what they’d just watched.

Take some time to relax your mind, then buckle up for another tense episode next Tuesday at 9pm on BBC One. 

Images: BBC