Yahoo News Bodyguard: 7 HUGE questions and theories after ep 5
The latest Bodyguard left troubled David Budd (Richard Madden) out in the cold – his fragile state of mind, and his relationship with the late Home Secretary, both finally exposed.
Out on his own, Budd now has to solve the mystery of who's behind the recent spate of terror attacks, and who murdered his beloved Julia, without the resources of SO15. There's a number of different suspects in the frame: MI5, the Prime Minister and his lackeys, even crime lord Luke Aitkens (Matt Stokoe).
But who's the real culprit? And can Bodyguard possibly wrap the whole thing up with just one episode left to go?
Here's all the questions we're still asking after episode five, plus a few of our latest theories.
1. What the hell is a "Kompromat"?
Replacing "ma'am" as the word most frequently repeated on Bodyguard, the "Kompromat" was very much the focus of the latest episode. But what does the word actually mean?
It actually has a very specific definition: in Russian politics, kompromat, short for "compromising material", refers to damaging information about a politician or other public figure used to create negative publicity, for blackmail, or for ensuring loyalty.
In this instance, it referred to the damning information about the Prime Minister's buried scandals, supplied to Julia by MI5 and used in her takeover bid, and stored on the tablet that Budd recovers in the episode's closing scene.
2. Are MI5 behind the terror attacks?
"The security service could've done it all!"
Would-be train bomber Nadia (Anjli Mohindra) admits that she lied about the man her husband met, the one who supplied them with the explosive device. He was actually white, not Asian – and she subsequently identifies the man as sinister spook Richard Longcross (Michael Shaeffer) from a police E-fit.
But why would Longcross want to blow up a train? And, presuming the authorities are right about the terror attacks all being linked, why would he want to unleash a series of bombings across London?
Is he acting on his own, as a rogue operative? Or are MI5 staging the attacks?
Why? To seize greater power while the nation feels under threat? But if that's the reason, why kill Julia (presuming they were also behind that attack) given that she was very much on their side?
Related: Bodyguard – is Keeley Hawes' Julia Montague REALLY dead?
As the Met's Cmdr. Anne Sampson (Gina McKee) points out: "It makes no sense that the security service murdered Julia Montague. They were in partnership. She offered them greater powers in return for the compromising material."
Budd suspects, though, that "maybe the relationship went sour, or she became a liability" – could Julia have threatened, for whatever reason, to go back on their deal?
Certainly, the gaps in CCTV the night before the conference bombing – similar to the gaps that allowed Longcross access to Julia's hotel, and to visit Budd's wife Vicky (Sophie Rundle) at the hospital without being identified – would seem to suggest that they were involved in that attack.
3. Did the Prime Minister try to kill Julia?
You'll need to strap in for this one, folks.
After being threatened by Budd, snivelly special advisor Rob MacDonald (Paul Ready) confesses all to SO15.
Rob explains that he, Roger Penhaligon (Nicholas Gleaves) – the Chief Whip, and Julia's ex – and Mike Travis (Vincent Franklin) – now acting Home Secretary – suspected Julia was planning a leadership bid, and as faithful supporters of the PM, decided to "embarrass Julia politically". Rob also wanted to humiliate Julia personally, for having previously spurned his advances.
There was no bomb in Tahir Mahmood's briefcase – as far as Rob understood, the plan was to insert inaccurate material into Julia's conference speech, and later to have Tahir rush on stage to interrupt the address, making Julia look foolish.
"None of us knew anything about the bomb!" Rob protests, but while he may have been 'innocent', unwittingly sending Tahir to his death and killing Julia in the process, were Roger and Mike (and the Prime Minister) also ignorant of the bomb's existence?
Rob's innocence doesn't exonerate Roger and Mike, who were jealous of Julia's close relationship with MI5 and were unswervingly loyal to the PM, who was being blackmailed by Julia over buried allegations of sexual assault, drug abuse and financial misconduct.
Related: Bodyguard series 2: Cast, release date, spoilers and everything you need to know
Did Mike plot Julia's demise with Roger and the PM, ordering Rob (who didn't know what he was caught up in) to tell Tahir (also innocent) to go on stage, triggering the pressure sense that set off the bomb?
They're certainly anxious now to recover the Kompromat – Roger even attempted to pocket Julia's tablet while she was still lying in hospital. And if the PM, Roger and Mike did kill Julia to stop her leaking the damning intel, and now suspect that Julia shared said information with Budd, he might be next on their hit list.
(Side theory: on the night the Home Secretary was in surgery, she had three visitors – Roger, Mike and Rob Macdonald. Did she really die of her injuries, or did Roger or Mike finish her off?)
4. Is Luke Aitkens the real enemy?
Matt Stokoe's character – who infiltrated the Veteran's Peace Group, and is also working with Julia's disgruntled former aide Chanel Dyson (Stephanie Hyam) – is finally revealed as Luke Aitkens, a "senior figure in organised criminal enterprises".
Julia's RIPA '18 bill – which would've allowed for greater surveillance and interception of communications – would've hit organized crime hard... so did Aitkens team with Chanel to compromise Julia's security, and supply Andy Apsted (Tom Brooke) with the rifle to carry out an attempt on Montague's life?
Possibly. But surely Aitkens wouldn't have the power to keep Andy, a pressure group leader, off a government watchlist? As Budd implies, only MI5 would have the power to do it.
Besides, we hear from Nadia that Longcross supplied her husband with the explosive vest, so there's no way that Aitkens can be behind the conspiracy of terror attacks. Unless he's in league with MI5, which seems improbable. They wanted RIPA '18 to pass, to boost their investigative powers.
5. Did David know where the Kompromat was hidden?
It turns out Julia's words to David before meeting with the PM ("If I don't come back, go to the Death Star") was more than just a callback to an earlier gag – she was tipping off Budd as to where her tablet containing the blackmail material was hidden.
But when exactly did Budd twig that that's what she meant? SO15's Louise Rayburn (Nina Toussaint-White) seems convinced he knew all along, as do Roger Penhaligon and Mike Travis.
In the episode's final scene, we see Budd recover the tablet from the back of a photo – of Julia and colleagues "plotting to build the Death Star" – but had he only just figured it out, or did he always know the Kompromat was there? It's hard to judge from his reaction.
More importantly, though, what will he do with the blackmail material now that it's in his possession?
6. Who is Longcross?
Raked over the coals by his boss, MI5 chief Stephen Hunter-Dunn (Stuart Bowman), the man known as Richard Longcross insists that Budd was"the only one I gave that name [Longcross] to" – so who is he, really?
With an E-fit of Longcross now out there, Mike Travis questions Hunter-Dunn about whether he's an MI5 officer, but Hunter-Dunn denies it. Of course, he would... but is Longcross really MI5, or a rogue agent employed by Hunter-Dunn for an off-the-books assignment?
7. What happens if you dial David Budd's phone number?
Budd and Chanel exchange phone numbers during their encounter at the café and we get to hear his in full: 07700900431.
We haven't dared dial it yet. Is it Jed Mercurio's mobile? The Bodyguard spoiler hotline? The number of some poor sod who's about to be inundated with calls from people expecting to speak to Richard Madden? One more mystery for the pile...
Bodyguard concludes next Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.
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