‘Litvinenko’ Recap: ‘Episode 2’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Two of ‘Litvinenko’. To revisit the series premiere, click here.
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When we think of manhunts in our modern world, we think of a simple and intense, and downright quick process. For modern science and technology have made tying a criminal to their heinous act quite easy, and technology allows for law enforcement to easily identify and track those wanted for crossing the line. Which brings forth the expedient end to the manhunt and of course, the pursuit of justice in the courts, and this process… brings us comfort and a sense of safety. Because we have little to worry about when crimes are committed, thanks to the proficient structure of modern law enforcement. Or so we like to think.
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Because now and again, the system is challenged and taxed like never before. Courtesy of individuals that want to commit an incredible crime and go the extra mile to not get caught. Or lots and lots of planning goes into it, so that nothing suspect shows up in the investigation and the killers can escape without a care in the world and those are the cases that scare us and rock our belief in the system. Because in that moment, it seems as though all is lost and it is up to the good people of the world to restore that faith and well… this unnerving aspect of justice is top of mind today, simply because it was put on full display in the next episode of Litvinenko on Sundance Now. For the next episode in this series… saw our heroes in a tough place.

For now, they had to figure out who the culprit was that poisoned Sasha with Polonium and that meant, re-tracing his steps, and seeing if by chance, other contaminations came into play to narrow down the where and when of the poisoning and that led… to a harrowing hunt. Wherein traces of Polonium were found in terrifying places. Such as hotel bars and the sushi place where Sasha had lunch, and even the toilet in the Litvinenko home hosted trace elements of Alpha Radiation and that, put the fear of God into so many. Simply because… it was scary to know that so many places were touched by a lethal substance in a country where such a thing should never happen and that put folks on edge, and the public as well and that was only further exacerbated by the manhunt itself.

After all, the suspect list was extensive early on in this hunt, and that forced tricky tactics to come into play to get information and any potential evidence that appeared to finally tie someone to Sasha’s death, wasn’t concrete enough to make anything happen. But, thanks to Clive’s desire to push his team and really get them into the mindset of maintaining that efficiency and promptness we’ve come to expect from law enforcement, a breakthrough occurred. In that, the two men that worked the hardest to blend in and really throw people off, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, were the chief suspects in this case, giving rise to that sense of comfort again and of course, new stakes for Clive to deal with in his quest to quickly bring forth justice for the fallen. 

In that, getting these men back to London without creating an international incident will be difficult. But difficult seems to be where Clive, thrives. Because he really did a bang-up job with the case here, despite the odds. All by making sure his staff left no stone unturned and that they looked at every possible angle, and a round of applause is in order here for going this route storytelling wise. Since it added genuine tension and a sense of urgency to an episode that could have easily slipped into boring territory. And now that Clive has figured out exactly who took the time to harm a good man in such a cruel manner… we’re onto what should be one stunning new leg of the journey. Wherein Clive will have to figure out how to arrest a pair of murderers that are protected by one disgusting, small, man. Until next time.

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