Summary
Red Eye‘s ending gets a bit too knotty for its own good, losing a lot of logic along the way, but it does provide decent payoff for the characters.
Nobody would argue that the ending of Red Eye makes a great deal of sense. You can trace the plot particulars, obviously, but it requires a lot of logical leaps to get there, and mandates that ostensibly smart characters behave in hilariously dumb ways. But we are, nonetheless, on hand to break it all down, since there’s a fair amount of geopolitical context at play here and the show moves at such a considerable clip that it can be hard to keep track of everything.
So, let’s address the big questions like what Matthew Nolan was carrying, where he was carrying it, and why that matters to Great Britain, China, and the United States. We’ll also blow the lid on some clandestine government operations for good measure, since why not at this point?
Open Wounds
As I briefly explained in my review, Red Eye revolves around a doctor, Matthew Nolan, being framed for killing the daughter of a Chinese official while speaking at a medical conference in Beijing. But that’s only the jumping-off point of the story. Things quickly shift to the idea that Nolan, either knowingly or otherwise, is carrying something of extreme importance to the intelligence services, though he seems to have no idea what – or where – it is.
As it turns out, he is carrying something, totally without his knowledge. He eventually deduces that when Shen Zhao stabbed him, she was implanting something inside him. After instructing DC Li to dig around in his wound, they turn up a nano SIM card. This had to be planted on one of the doctors attending the Beijing conference as part of Operation Broadside, a super hush-hush intelligence program to use unwitting civilians as couriers of extremely sensitive material, the idea being that if they have no idea they’re carrying anything, they’re less likely to make a big deal about it.
This SIM card contains two computer codes, one of which has been deliberately doctored by the CIA to imply that China was planning to take over a U.K.-based nuclear facility. With Britain and China on the cusp of a landmark agreement to allow the latter to build nuclear reactors on the former’s land, the CIA, represented here through Mike, Delaney’s extramarital squeeze, thought it best to intervene.
Magic Mike
Mike, with a fair bit of string-pulling, is responsible for virtually all of the bad stuff that happens in Red Eye. This includes the murder of Shen Zhao in Beijing – and the efforts to position her in Nolan’s car to frame him and get him extradited back to China – and Sir George in his home, the murders of all of Mike’s fellow doctors on the plane – as well as the vegan passenger who ate Nolan’s poisoned meal, and the dog who hoovered up the leftovers – and even the doctor who didn’t get on the plane.
Even back in Blighty, Mike attempts to make a move on Nolan, Hana, and Jess when they all take shelter with him after Delaney secures them. It’s only thanks to Nolan recognising the would-be assassin from Beijing, and Delaney noticing that Mike was privy to information he shouldn’t have been, that everyone wasn’t caught just when they thought they had gotten to safety.
Luckily, Mike is an idiot. Not only does he fall for the oldest trick in the book when Jess pretends to destroy the SIM card, letting everyone leave the building, he also subsequently follows them directly onto the grounds of the Chinese embassy, where he takes a shot at DC Li. Nolan throws himself in front of the bullet to save her, and Mike is apprehended by the Chinese.
Happily Ever After
While Red Eye’s ending makes some mistakes in having Mike act so obviously and stupidly, it does provide some decent resolutions for its characters. Nolan survives being shot, and even plucks up the courage to ask Hana out, though we don’t know how that pans out because she had fallen asleep when he made his move. Maybe next time.
Jess’s journalism career takes off thanks to Delaney, who gives her the skinny on Operation Broadside. It’s a heavy bit of whistleblowing, but you can’t be having the intelligence services tricking the general public into doing their jobs for them. And despite Delaney’s relationship with Mike having been a non-starter, her husband, who apparently knew about the tryst, remains supportive.
As for Hana, she’s also given a bit of closure about the death of her mother. Delaney hands over the file from her mother’s time in police custody, which she gives to her father. Together, they dig in and agree to talk much more about the woman they both lost. Aww!
