Summary
ZeroZeroZero Season 1, Episode 7 is an outstanding, intense penultimate episode, opening up the basis for a highly fuelled finale.
This recap of Amazon Prime Series ZeroZeroZero season 1, episode 7 contains significant spoilers.
- Read the Season 1 review.
- Read the recap of Episode 8.
- Read the recap of the previous episode (6)
- Access the archive of all the episode recaps.
So here we go, the penultimate episode of ZeroZeroZero.
ZeroZeroZero Season 1, Episode 7 kicks off in Calabria, Italy — Don Minu is in a hideout, ready for the end of the war. His men promise to find his grandson.
His grandson Stefano is asked where his grandfather is by his men but he claims he does not know. They all know he is lying so they proceed to beat Stefano. Stefano tells the men that the shipment is still on the way so they drag his beaten body into a pigsty.
This Amazon series loves pigsties.
Don Minu is brought some food in his hideout — he asks for an update on his grandson but nothing is forthcoming. He’s made aware that Stefano’s wife Lucia and boy Mico have been picked up. Lucia and Mico arrive in Calabria, and they are told they will be safe as long as Stefano delivers on his promises. Stefano is asked to stop the brokers from delivering the shipment — while he is beaten up, so is his wife and they show him on a video call. Stefano vows to stop the shipment.
Stefano is escorted to Casablanca, Morocco. They meet a woman named Amina who provides port papers and does the admin for Emma and Chris — she is forced to join Stefano and his men. In the car, Stefano wants a promise that his wife and son will be safe. They head to a hotel and Amina is the bait, waiting at the front of the hotel room door. Chris answers the door and realizes Amina is not alone.
ZeroZeroZero Season 1, Episode 7 then loops back. Chris and Emma are happy for managing to get the shipment this far. They are introduced to a hotel “where no-one knows where they are” — an ironic statement in the grand scheme of things. They are told Amina will drop off the papers in the morning. The next morning, Amina confirms that everything is ready to be submitted and she also brings medicine. Chris forms a bond with Amina and joins her to ensure the customs approval goes okay.
In a scene that shows more of the bond between the siblings, Chris tells Emma that he has never been in love before and wants to join Amina at a party. This shows the lack of experience from the siblings who decide to risk socializing despite the danger of their mission. The siblings dance the night away and it all looks like a good stress relief. Chris and Amina have sex, but after, in the middle of the night, Chris wakes up freaking out over his disease as he starts to have more spasms. He flips at Amina and explains that his disease is not fair, repeatedly banging his fists on the table. He leaves Amina’s hotel room and heads back to his hotel on his own.
The next morning, Emma offers to take the shipment back herself and asks Chris to take a flight back home — he asks Emma if she’s mad but she starts getting upset, saying she isn’t upset at all as she heads out.
I read this scene as Emma realizing that the task at hand is too much for her brother Chris and with his condition, it has suddenly dawned on her that she’s put too much pressure on her brother to live the lifestyle she has — her father was right.
And then we are back to what happened in the middle of the episode — Chris stays at the hotel and there’s a knock on the door. Amina and the men arrive; Stefano asks Chris to take them to the shipment.
Nearing the end, Emma waits for the truck with the shipment on — Chris keeps on directing Stefano to the shipment, but eventually Stefano gets impatient as Chris purposefully provides the wrong directions. Stefano starts punching him but a bloody Chris smirks — “There’s nothing here // the ship already left”. Stefano is then accused of knowing about the shipment leaving, so under pressure, he continues to punch Chris and asks what the name of the ship is before repeatedly smashing his head against the concrete floor. Stefano now has no choice — he is asked to kill his grandfather for his wife and son. He agrees.
ZeroZeroZero Season 1, Episode 7 ends with Chris laying on the floor lifeless, loads of blood leaving his head — presumably dead.
Episode 7 was a tense, outstanding penultimate episode, teasing for the finale.
