Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The Night Agent.
Netflix’s The Night Agent, created by Shawn Ryan and based on the book of the same name by Matthew Quirk, follows Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) and Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) as they are wrapped up in a government conspiracy following the deaths of Rose’s aunt and uncle. Throughout the season, Peter and Rose have discovered more information about the metro bombing that nearly took Peter’s life at the beginning of the pilot episode, including that Vice President Redfield (Christopher Shyer) and the President’s Chief of Staff Diane Farr (Hong Chau) were involved in some capacity. Rose and Peter have also developed romantic feelings for one another, complicating matters a bit as they have revealed their hardships to one another — like Peter’s father being accused of treason and the downfall of Rose’s company — while working to find the truth and clear their names. But, an unexpected ally in Chelsea Arrington (Fola Evans-Akingbola), a member of the Secret Service assigned to protect the Vice President’s daughter Maddie (Sarah Desjardins), has provided them with a life vest.
In the penultimate episode of the season, more is learned about the failed attack, including that the target was Omar Zadar (Adam Tsekhman). After her kidnapping, Maddie returned home with the knowledge of her father’s wrongdoings, ready to help Chelsea, Peter, and Rose expose the truth. But, an unexpected trip to Camp David puts her plan on hold, as the team has figured out that Zadar will be at Camp David and another attack is in the works. Chelsea also notices a few new Secret Service agents in the crew, which gives her pause. Meanwhile, Peter and Rose confront Diane about the Camp David attack, Diane is stunned to learn about this, saying she would never do anything to hurt President Michelle Travers (Kari Matchett). With Diane on their side, at least for the time being, Peter and Rose demand that she uses her power to get them into Camp David to stop Redfield and Wick (Ben Cotton) from killing both Zadar and Travers, as Redfield’s ultimate goal has shifted to taking her place as President of the United States. So, what happens in the game-changing finale? Let’s break it down.
11 Years Prior to the Events of ‘The Night Agent’
The finale of The Night Agent begins with a flashback to a pivotal moment in Peter’s life. As he and his father Pete (Sebastien Roberts) play basketball outside their house, a squadron of FBI agents arrive with a warrant to collect Pete’s hard drives and other electronics. Pete complies, telling his son to calm down and hand over his phone as well, explaining that they’re all on the same side. It looks like, from his cool and collected demeanor, Pete has nothing to hide, which explains why Peter has always thought his father to be innocent of the crimes he was accused of. But, perhaps not everything is what it seems.
Camp David
As Diane drives them to Camp David, she finally enlightens Peter on the metro bombing. Well, more so that she wasn’t involved until after the fact, justifying her role in covering it up by thinking she was keeping Travers and the country safe. In her explanation, she also reveals that Rose’s aunt and uncle were murdered after they met with Zadar (on the president’s orders to investigate the bombing). Wick, Redfield, and Diane thought the Campbells had revealed to Zadar that he was the target, so they had to be taken care of to continue their plan. As Diane continues on about the specifics of Wick and Redfield’s plan and why they chose explosives, including what they must have in store for Camp David, Peter finally figures out why he was chosen for the Night Action program that got him involved with all of this to begin with. After the allegations against his father, Peter was chosen to be a scapegoat if they ever needed to pin the blame on someone.
At the same time, on the helicopter with Vice President Redfield, Chelsea begins to question one of the two new guys. She notices they both brought along big suitcases, but when she points them out, they fall silent. Meanwhile, Redfield is deep in conversation with Briggs (Toby Levins), who has taken charge of the Secret Service and is, clearly, in on the plan to kill Zadar and Travers. Upon touching down, Maddie and Chelsea are separated. Chelsea is taken by one of the men she was questioning to a room where he tells her to sit and just watches her, not letting her contact anyone or even use the restroom. Redfield tells Maddie the president would like to speak with her alone, though he leads her to a protected underground bunker with a Secret Service agent, where he plans to stay with Maddie until the attack is over, and he can rise from the ashes as the new president. He explains his view of Zadar, the terrorist, to Maddie, telling her that Travers is too weak to lead the nation. Then, he apologizes for how he blamed Maddie for her sister Sarah’s death, finally taking accountability for his failures. Will this dissuade Maddie from following through on Chelsea’s plan? The answer is no, as Maddie tries to reason with her father to stop his plan, but he refuses.
Diane arrives at a lodge, telling Peter and Rose to stay put as she tries to find and speak with Travers. Instead, she finds Almora (Enrique Murciano) who refuses to believe Diane’s claims that the president and Zadar are in danger. When she asks to speak with Travers, Almora tells her that communications are down — as we can suspect, the tower has been tampered with. Before they can track Travers down, though, the vice president’s new right-hand man Briggs arrives with an ominous threat about how Diane isn’t supposed to be at Camp David. Then, he pulls out a gun and shoots Diane in the back and kills Almora. Overhearing the struggle, Peter rushes in but loses Briggs as he runs out the back. A wounded Diane points them to the communications building, where Rose can hopefully use her expertise to fix things, while Briggs uses the working line of communication to tell other corrupt agents that Peter is on the premises. With her guard distracted by Briggs, Chelsea gets the upper hand and escapes.
The Attack Begins
As Rose attempts to fix communications, Peter sets off to find the president and stop the attack. Peter finds Briggs first, and the two fight in the woods on the grounds. Elsewhere, Chelsea has located a bomb in the lodge, evacuating the building, while Maddie orders her father to let her out of the bunker. Maddie finally stands up to him, explaining that she is done with the fake smiles and lies, and she will not keep his role in the president’s death a secret should his plan succeed. So, he lets Maddie out, expecting the attack to kill her as well. Luckily, Rose succeeds in getting communications back up, so Chelsea is about to warn the president about the bomb just in time to leave Laurel Lodge. While evacuating, Chelsea hears Maddie screaming from the hallway to the bunker, managing to get her out just before the bomb destroys the lodge. But, the attack isn’t over. The inside man on the president’s security tells Peter — thinking it’s Briggs — that the president survived the first attempt but the contingency on Marine One is set to blow on wheels up. Before the president boards, Peter shoots the inside man in the head and holds the president at gunpoint as he tries to explain the situation to her and her remaining security. He pleads with them to search for the bomb on the helicopter as every agent on the property trains their guns on him. Thankfully, Travers listens to Peter, ordering her team to conduct the search. When they find the bomb, they run out just as it explodes. Everyone survives. Peter is taken into custody, while Chelsea and Maddie arrive just in time to explain everything to President Travers about the conspiracy and clear Peter’s name.
The Aftermath Sets Up Another Season of ‘The Night Agent’
Down in the bunker, Chelsea and Maddie arrive to rub the failure in Vice President Redfield’s face, while Rose finds Diane to keep her alive, so she can rot in jail after clearing Peter’s name. Back at the White House, Peter and Rose have a private meeting with President Travers. She tells them that it pains her they have decided to remain anonymous, as she would love to publicly thank them. However, Travers asks Peter what she can do for him to thank him for his service since she can’t pin a medal on him. With Rose’s support, Peter asks to finally learn the truth about his father, getting the information that was never released to the public about his betrayal. Unfortunately, it’s also revealed Wick managed to escape, so they are now trying to track him down to bring him to justice over his role in both conspiracies to assassinate Zadar.
Though she’s on leave, Chelsea is called in by the new head of the Secret Service and asked to say a few words about Monks (D.B. Woodside) at his ceremony the following day because the person who knew him best, Almora, has also passed. She initially passes on the offer but then accepts. Then, she is told that when she’s ready to return to work, President Travers has personally invited Chelsea to be on her security detail. She eagerly accepts, and her new boss promises details to come. Later, Chelsea meets with Maddie, and the two discuss the changes ahead of them. Maddie has agreed to testify against her father, but she has denied President Travers’ offer to extend her Secret Service protection because she wants to learn how to protect herself before she sets off to travel the world and enjoy her freedom.
In a secluded room, Peter watches a tape of his father’s confession, where he reveals he gave information to foreign operatives about private contractors and commercial items that, ultimately, led to the Pentagon breach. Afterward, he speaks with Travers again about what he learned, which was a brutal truth after spending so long believing his father died an innocent man. Travers reveals Peter’s father agreed to become a double agent, but he was assassinated by a foreign agent to prevent him from helping the government. Then, the assassin was tracked down and killed. Now that Peter has proven himself, Travers sees an opportunity for him, offering the chance for him to become a Night Agent like Rose’s aunt and uncle. At an airfield, Peter and Rose say a heartfelt goodbye with a kiss. Peter says he will call her as soon as he can. Rose has decided to relaunch her career with everything she has learned from the previous failure and this treacherous experience. Peter boards the plane, handed a tablet that he can unlock after leaving American airspace. Once the pilot announces they have, Peter opens the file and his mission begins.
Every episode of The Night Agent is now streaming on Netflix.