In the latest episode of Strike Back, Novin (Alin Sumarwata) went undercover.
If you’re not up to date with Strike Back: Retribution and like to avoid spoilers we suggest you don’t read any further.
Episode five opened up in a Bio lab in Vladivostok in 1998, Markov (Daniel Cerqueira) was given the news by a colleague that he was to be replaced. He made a call to appeal the decision but was told it had been made. He promised they would regret the decision before unleashing the nerve agent he had developed and killing everyone in the lab.
Back in the present day he was held prisoner by Jane Lowry (Katherine Kelly) in Belarus where she had him working, presumably on recreating the weapon. She asked how long and he said it would be 48 hours. Lowry looked pleased and went to see drug lord Milos Borisovich (Peter Firth) who owned the facility she was borrowing. He was surveying his operation and accused a staff member of stealing from him. Borisovich requested he cut off a finger to show how sorry he way. Lowry asked for 3 more days to which he agreed as long as she was paying. In the background the thief screamed as he severed one of his little fingers.
The action switched to a shipping container facility where the Section 20 team were on an operation. They were there to extract a guy known as Skinny who was laundering money for Lowry. The facility was heavily defended and they had to shoot their way out after Mac (Warren Brown) triggered a panic alarm. Doing so lost him a bet with Wyatt (Daniel MacPherson) that meant he was buying the beers later.
Back at base, Donovan (Nina Sosanya) said they only had Skinny for an hour before Whitehall wanted him transferred. Novin and the boys watched as Reynolds (Roxanne McKee) interrogated Skinny. He cracked pretty quickly when she said they would take him back to the cartels. He gave up Lowry’s account and Jensen (Phil Dunster) froze her money. He then began following its trail through shell companies and everything seemed to point to Borisovich.
Back in Belarus, Borisovitch took a call that Lowry had defaulted on her payment so he asked for her to be brought to him. Lowry asked for 24 hours to get him the money plus extra for the inconvenience and he agreed. Lowry paid a visit to a man in Hamburg, Germany to ask for money and help.
Meanwhile, Donovan prepped Section 20 for a mission to destroy his lab. They fought their way in and took control but were too slow to get Markov who was evacuated. In a gunfight the lab caught fire and the team had to evacuate as the lab exploded. Borisovitch was informed that his lab had been destroyed and that it wasn’t a rival gang.
Donovan hatched a plan to send Novin undercover to an event held by Borisovitch to steal his ledger. It was a dangerous assignment and Reynolds argued against it with Donovan but she said it was happening. Jensen delivered the news to Novin and gave her a tracking device so they could monitor her.
Novin had to pay a prostitute who was attending the event to gain entry. Once inside she looked around and found two drunken guys sword fighting. When one got the upperhand, Borisovitch demanded he finish him. The guy reluctantly took a swing and Borisovitch was only joking and blocked him. The place was filled with heavily armed guards. Outside Reynolds and the boys took their positions and launched a drone while Jensen and Donovan ran comms from nearby.
They got visual on Novin who made contact with Borisovitch. He grabbed her arm and took her inside. Jensen used the drone to monitor her position. Borisovitch had a job for Novin, he wanted her to sleep with his son to make him a man. Instead she chatted to him and played some Xbox. While playing the game she was able to trick him into giving her most of the code for his father’s safe room.
Novin left the boy and crept through the mansion. She got to the safe room and a few attempts was enough to crack the code. Once inside an alert went out and Borisovitch was interrupted having sex with the prostitute. He was told that someone was in his safe room so he went to investigate.
Inside the safe room Novin hunted around and found the ledger on a book case hidden behind a picture. She had to take out two guards and then left the safe room. In the corridor she had to fight her way through a crowd of guards using her fists, a pistol, some deer antlers and even a sword! Just when it looked like she might get away, Borisovitch appeared and hit her on the back of the head which stunned her.
Outside the rest of Section 20 sprung into action to create a distraction. Reynolds approached at speed on a motorbike while Mac and Wyatt used smoke grenades. Novin jumped through a stained glass window and Reynolds picked her up on a the bike. Wyatt and Mac stole a car and fled after them. After getting away they realised it was a hearse carrying a coffin that contained Borisovitch’s dead mother. Wyatt said they needed to lose some weight and forced Mac to kick the coffin out of the hearse. They then found themselves surrounded and captured.
Lowry arrived back at the house and apologised. She promised to give him Markov after she was done with him. Borisovitch wasn’t sure if he should trust her. Nearby Jensen patched up Novin and they realised that Mac and Wyatt might be in trouble. They decided to go back and Jensen went with them.
Mac and Wyatt found themselves tied up when they came around. They were surprised to find someone else tied up with them, it was Lowry. She spoke of her husband and taunted Wyatt about getting his whole team killed. Mac stuck up for him then questioned Lowry and even shared a joke before Borisovitch came in.
He started by smacking Wyatt in the face. Next he spoke to Lowry and said Markov was worth something, he had her untied and taken to Markov. He then had the boys kneel and gave his nervous son a gun to execute them. Meanwhile, Novin and Reynolds fought their way in using tear gas. They arrived just in time and extracted Mac and Wyatt.
At the end of the episode, Borisovitch made a call to a man called Yuri who looked to be some kind of assassin/torturer. He said he was retired by Borisovitch said he needed him for another job. Yuri hung up the phone and broke the neck of a man who was sat holding his intestines.
Let us know your thoughts on Strike Back: Retribution so far in the comments below.
Strike Back: Retribution continues on Sky 1 with episode 6 in early 2018. The series will air in the US on Cinemax in 2018.
