Only a few shows this year have gripped the audience, such as The Day of the Jackal. The sleek, high-stakes thriller is an adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s iconic novel with a contemporary twist. With Eddie Redmayne delivering a chilling performance, everyone was invested in the cat-and-mouse chase.
However, the finale felt like a misstep after a near-perfect buildup. The abrupt and anticlimactic death of Lashana Lynch’s Bianca Pullman was a wasted opportunity. So, what exactly went wrong?
Eddie Redmayne was the highlight of The Day of the Jackal, but at what cost?
From the first episode of The Day of the Jackal, Eddie Redmayne pulled us all into the narrative with his magnetic portrayal of the antagonist. The way he oscillated between cold-blooded precision and being raw and vulnerable made him more than just a vicious assassin.
We recognize him as a tragic figure who is both repulsed by and addicted to his own monstrosity. In episode 10, there’s a haunting sequence where the Jackal takes an elderly couple hostage. Redmayne’s acting peaked here as he confessed to killing two innocent people and had a look of self-loathing on his face.
The Jackal’s compromised and fractured humanity was one of the most compelling aspects of the show. But the showrunners leaned too much into his arc and sidelined others’ potential, especially Lashana Lynch’s Bianca, a relentless MI6 agent who chased the ruthless assassin, whose moral ambiguity was quite like the Jackal himself.
Bianca’s death undermines The Day of the Jackal’s future
After the show built up the eclectic dynamic between the Jackal and Bianca, it seemed like the viewers were promised an explosive final confrontation. Instead, their long-awaited face-off happened in a poorly lit sequence of a rushed shootout where Bianca was gunned down.
She was a character who carried half of the show’s tension, so her death feels like an afterthought, especially when The Day of the Jackal has been renewed for season 2. Killing off her character is a blunder because maybe it would have made sense if it was a limited series, but now it’s an ongoing saga.
They tried to set up a new conflict altogether in the finale, but will it carry the same weight as Bianca’s pursuit? The showrunners even killed off her loyal ally in the sequence, and the story was also robbed of a potential avenger. So, let’s hope that the writers introduce an equally intense adversary in the next season who can be a suitable rival for the Jackal.
You can watch The Day of the Jackal on Peacock.
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