'Treadstone' Episode 5 sees John face his horrifying past as SoYun gets shot by Nira Patel while on a mission
'Treadstone' episode 5 flits between past and present, exploring the connection between KGB, the Treadstone operation, and the nuclear weapon Stiletto Six. The episode opens with Doug McKenna (Brian J Smith) doing as he was ordered. He joins a group of men whose mission is to acquire access to pills that are being made at a warehouse. Doug, on the other hand, has received instructions to take out the head of the drug operation. Doug and his wife Samantha McKenna believe that it is the CIA that activated him. When Doug questions his target, he realizes that the CIA might not have much to do with the operation anymore.
Then we also see journalist Tara Coleman arrive at Ghana, where she meets a fellow journalist to get help about following Stiletto Six again. Tara's reputation was ruined when she published a story about Stiletto Six in the past, which was considered a shoddy piece of work with gaping holes. Now that she has valid proof that Stiletto Six is set to be auctioned off in the black market, she is dead set on proving herself right. She needs the help of Sebastian, another acquaintance, who dealt in arms in the past, to get in touch with Yuri, the Russian man who holds the launch codes for the nuclear missile. Now that Tara has the funds, she seeks the help of Sebastian and her other friend to launch an investigation into Stiletto Six and its connection to Treadstone.
John Bentley tries to retrace the steps that he took when he was under KGB's control. He doesn't remember any of it, but the further he looks into his disappearance, the more uncertain he is of the kind of horrific things that he had done to many, including his friend Matheson.
When John had returned from KGB's hold, he believed that Matheson had lost his life while on a mission. He had never expected that he would have been the one to torture details out of Matheson. John travels to Budapest, where he was reportedly spotted with Petra. He visits a bar that he was spotted at, finds out that he had terrorized people as a member of KGB. One such terrorized man tells him the address of the home that John had in Budapest. When John arrives at the room complex, the caretaker is surprised to see him again but hands the key over to John. In the room, John finds a hidden room behind a mirror and he finds a chair with a bloody handcuff and blood spatter around the chair. He also finds videotapes, in which he is seen torturing his friend and fellow CIA agent undercover, Matheson.
John is left to deal with the aftermath of facing his actions under the influence of Cicada Protocol and Petra, who he seems to have an intimate relationship with. The video also shows John kissing Petra in the background. The caretaker, who seems aware of the kind of people who stay at his boarding house explains to John that all of this was something that John had quite enjoyed. He had even claimed that John had said that he felt complete as a Cicada. All of this sounds foreign to John and in an attempt to escape from all of this, he ends up choosing LSD at one of the many clubs and just zones out.
Now, speaking about the most important subplot. SoYun (Han Hyo-joo) is sent to China to deliver a package. She doesn't look into what the package is and only attempts to deliver the package and return home to her son. The man who was supposed to take her from the Korean borders to China by boat is caught by border patrol. When she is caught as well, she ends up fighting her way out of the situation. She reaches a remote area in China where she sees transport waiting for her and is yet again dropped off at another remote region of East China.
She meets another Treadstone agent here, Nira Patel, to whom she hands the package over. When Nira is checking the contents of the package, SoYun sees that the blueprints are the same that her husband Dae was working on the other day... She tries to snatch it back but instead gets into a fight with Nira, who has been ordered to kill SoYun. In the end, SoYun gets shot, but her fate is uncertain.
The next episode of 'Treadstone' will air on Tuesday at 10 pm ET on USA Network.