Citadel episode 3 recap: the secrets keep piling up

Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Citadel
(Image credit: Courtesy of Prime Video)

The action is picking up in Citadel, as episode 3 is the Amazon Prime Video spy show's most action-packed and dramatic installment yet.

Now that amnesiac ex-secret-agent Mason Kane (Richard Madden) has reunited with his old partner Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), they're preparing save the world from evil intelligence agency Manticore, which destroyed their agency Citadel eight years prior.

As you'll know from our Citadel episode 1 recap and Citadel episode 2 recap, we've already seen how Citadel fell, and how Kane was brought back by Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci) — who was captured at the end of episode 2. But now Kane and Sinh are ready to fight back.

Episode three of the six-episode first season of Citadel was released on Friday, May 5 on Prime Video — here's how to watch Citadel if you need help working out where to stream it.

*Spoilers for Citadel episode 3 follow*

Reconnecting with an old... friend?

Richard Madden in Citadel

(Image credit: Amazon)

After the fight at the end of Citadel episode 2, this episode begins with Kane and Sinh retreating to a nearby Citadel safe house, where she patches up his gunshot wound.

We flashback to 10 years prior in Utah, where Citadel's US HQ is based, as Mason is being briefed by Orlick and his boss Grace on a virus that someone is planning to release to start the new bubonic plague.

Not on Kane's watch — he travels to Iran, steals the virus and escapes the mountain fortress. While he shoots and then skis his way to safety in a Bond-esque action sequence, he gets injured on the way, and is eventually rescued by Sinh whom he hasn't met before.

After the mission, Mason and Nadia have a romantically-charged conversation, and two weeks later are sharing some intimate moments in Paris.

In the modern day, we also learn more about Mason's current wife, Abby Conroy (Ashleigh Cummings). Hiding out with Orlick's ex-wife and both pair's kids, Conroy talks about how she met Kane at a memory loss clinic after she had a car accident.

Divulging the wrong secrets

Lesley Manville in Citadel

(Image credit: Amazon)

At the mansion of Dahlia Archer (Lesley Manville), Orlick is being tortured for information. We learn that both knew each other from their time at the UN, but while Orlick went to work for Citadel, Archer turned to Manticore.

The information Archer is looking for is a password to some Citadel tech, which would let Manticore scan for uranium and therefore see where each country's nuclear weapons are. Archer threatens Orlick's and Mason's families in Wyoming, but it's clear that she doesn't know where they're hiding yet.

Archer mentions that she recently interrogated Carter Spence, which shakes Orlick, who wants to know what happened to Spence. But then the torturing begins, particularly when Anders Silje (Roland Møller) shows up with a device you can stick into someone's brain in order to extract information.

To stop Anders, Orlick mentions that someone called Brielle is still alive — Anders is in love with Brielle but thought she was dead, and he agrees to help free Orlick in order to get back to her.

Secrets keep piling up

Stanley Tucci in Citadel

(Image credit: Paul Abell/Prime Video)

Back at the Citadel safe house, Sinh is talking to someone on a secure channel — they're surprised she's alive, but mention they have a package ready for her.

When Kane enters the room, they instead use the Citadel case (from previous episodes) to scan for SOS messages. They find a series of them from Carter Spence, the last of which was sent four months prior, and Sinh is confident that he's being held outside Fez, Morocco.

Kane and Sinh travel there — Kane talks to an old contact, since when he's in proximity to the contact's phone, Sinh can scan it for information. While Kane and his contact talk, the man claims that Nadia is the person who betrayed Citadel. Kane has to flee from the scene when things get ugly, and questions Sinh, who claims that she's not the culprit.

If that's not enough drama for one episode, the last scene tells us who Brielle, Anders' ex-lover, actually is: it's Abby Conroy, who is know Mason Kane's wife. Awkward.

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Tom Bedford
Streaming and Ecommerce Writer

Tom is the streaming and ecommerce writer at What to Watch, covering streaming services in the US and UK. His goal is to help you navigate the busy and confusing online video market, to help you find the TV, movies and sports that you're looking for without having to spend too much money.