Contains massive spoilers for ITV's Betrayal
Tonight's episode of ITV's Betrayal, featured what could potentially be the biggest betrayal of the whole show so far, as it seems John's new right hand woman Mehreen Askari-Evans is actually a corrupt spy. Or is she? We've got all the details.
Last night's gripping premiere episode 'Piles' introduced us to MI5 agent John (Shaun Evans) who has been told to quit his job, after he went rogue and started investigating a possible threat by himself. He's also dealing with a tough time in his marriage, as his wife Claire (Romola Garai) is finding it increasingly difficult to be kept in the dark about what really goes down in his job.
Thankfully he's sort of held onto his job, but is now working with another agent Mehreen (Zahra Ahmad), who he seems to be getting on well with. The pair start working together a lot and in episode two 'Ordinary Milk' they end up racing to an air field in Epping in order to get visibility on a man they believe to be called the General (Omid Djalili), whose name is actually Oasem Asadi.
At the airfield John gets too close to the car the general is getting in while he's taking pictures of him and his security guards see and chase down the pair. Thankfully they manage to escape and drive away. After pulling over in relief, Mehreen then gets out of the car and takes a phone call, claiming its her son's father. However, we then hear her conversation, and it's not her ex at all. So who is it? And does this mean she's a corrupt spy? Here's the details.
Is Mehreen a double agent in ITV's Betrayal?
At the end of episode two 'Ordinary Milk' Mehreen gets out of the car to take a call from her ex, who she claims she is having a custody battle with over where their son will live. John meanwhile is chatting to someone back at HQ.
We then however hear part of a conversation with a mystery caller where she says: "We have a problem, John got a tracker on them. John got eyes on Asadi so we're compromised, but don't worry. He can still be stopped, there's no problem."
Now, to our ears that doesn't exactly sound like someone who is working in true partnership with John.
*Read on for details containing spoilers for episodes three and four*
Thankfully though it doesn't seem like we need to worry too much as ultimately Mehreen is not really a corrupt agent. At the end of episode three 'A Thing, Thing', which is available on ITVX now BTW, it's revealed Asadi has been working for MI6 undercover for nearly 20 years providing them with invaluable insight.
Mehreen goes onto explain that the Iranian hardliners wanted to use Asadi's drug connections in the UK to Fatemah Feyzi while she is delivering a talk. If you remember earlier on in the show, Feyzi is a woman who had spoken out about the "tyrannical regime" in Iran.
Mehreen then tells John Asadi has to be allowed to carry on with the plan right up until the last moment where the device to kill Feyzi won't work, so he doesn't look suspicious.
As for why this was kept a secret? Mehreen explains the majority of the people working at MI6 aren't even aware of Asadi's work and no one at MI5 (where John works) is aware of what Asadi is doing.
But will Asadi actually go through with the plan? Guess we'll have to watch the final episode to find out.
Betrayal is available on ITV1 and ITVX now
