Night 2 : Episode 2

AIRDATE: AUGUST 12 8/7c


Jack McAuliffe is in Hungary. It is 1956, and the Hungarian uprising is in its infancy. His contact is Elizabet (Natascha McElhone), an English woman whose husband was killed by the Allamvedelmi Hatosag (AVH), the Hungarian secret police, and whose daughter was taken and put into a special camp. She now works with the resistance and takes Jack to meet Arpad Zelk (Misel Maticevic), a poet who heads it up. But Jack’s message from the CIA is not one Arpad wants to hear. Jack tells him that the CIA wants the uprising to be postponed until better plans can be laid to prevent war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Jack tells Arpad about the Soviet tanks poised to move into Hungary should the uprising go forward.

Jack’s presence in Hungary attracts the attention of the AVH, who arrest and brutally torture him. Elizabet is also captured and tortured, forcing Jack to tell the AVH what message he brought the resistance from the CIA. But Jack lies and tells them that the United States will fully back the revolutionaries.

Meanwhile, the CIA brass weigh their options on how to get Jack released. James Angleton believes that it would be impossible to attempt getting Jack out, since he’s not supposed to be there in the first place. Leo Kritzky vocally disagrees, however, and suggests a plan to have Sorcerer contact his KGB counterpart, Oskar Ugor-Molody and explain how it is against both nation’s interests to start taking agents into custody. After Sorcerer’s meeting with Ugor-Molody, Jack is removed from his cell just as the uprising begins in the streets.

As the AVH try to move Jack to another facility, the car is mobbed, and Arpad rescues Jack just before a firing squad kills him and the AVH officers. Arpad and Jack then rush to free Elizabet. As the violence in the streets escalates, Jack pushes Arpad to take control of the situation and stop the killing, but Arpad says there’s no way he could even if he wanted to.

Jack sends a message to the CIA begging for the U.S. to back up the Hungarians. But nobody is willing to do anything more than start rumors circulating that the U.S. is about to providing such support, even though no support will be forthcoming. But the rumors don’t work, since the CIA mole named Sasha passes the information about the ruse onto the Russians. The Soviet Union sends tanks into Hungary and begins putting down the resistance with deadly force. During the violent mayhem, Arpad is killed. Jack and Elizabet make their way to Austria, where she is finally reunited with her daughter.

Wisner takes the deaths of the Hungarian Freedom Fighters personally, and is eventually hospitalized in a mental health facility. Hungary, Angleton tells Jack, broke him.

Five years later, Jack is assigned by the CIA to help Cuban rebels prepare to retake their country from Castro. He first heads to Nicaragua, where the rebel soldiers led by Roberto Escalona (Raoul Bova), are training. Jack works as a liason for the Cuban Rebels, making sure they get whatever they need, while back in Washington, Angleton questions why the United States should be involved in such an action against a foreign leader, especially when there is a mole in their midst. Angleton is rebuffed, however, his claims of a mole named Sasha being characterized as nothing more than paranoia.

CIA bureaucrat Dick Bissell (Martin Doyle) is convinced that Kennedy will back the rebels should they get into trouble. He also assigns Sorcerer to work with the Cosa Nostra in an attempt to poison Castro’s favorite treat: a vanilla milkshake. But the plan fails.

As the invasion gets under way, Jack’s team is able to take the beach at the Bay of Pigs. But they cannot hold it for long. Castro orders a ground and air assault leaving the band of rebels helpless. Jack calls on Washington to send in air cover, but no help is forthcoming. Castro is able to quash the invasion quickly, forcing Jack to escape from Cuba to avoid being captured.

Feeling the United States let the Cuban rebels down, Jack decides to resign from the CIA. But Leo is able to remind him why they joined in the first place. For his bravery in Cuba, Jack is awarded a medal, which he accepts with a heavy heart. He is no longer the naïve optimist who joined up to save the world from communism. He is now a changed man who has perhaps lost faith in the very country he swore to protect.

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