Hostage episode 2 recap: tense negotiations and a double agent's identity is revealed (Spoilers)

Hostage, a brand-new political thriller on Netflix, sees Abigail Dalton (Suranne Jones) swept into a plot of kidnapping and blackmail that threatens her role as Prime Minister as she meets with the French President, Toussaint.

As the two women head into political battle, it appears the threat is far greater than each other. During the French President's visit to Downing Street, the pair become embroiled in a terrifying plot that could destroy everything they've worked so hard to build.

As Abigail's husband, Alex, is kidnapped, Toussaint finds herself blackmailed into a stalemate that leaves each head of state faltering.

But, can they unravel the truth before it jeopardises their entire careers, their loved ones and even themselves? Spoilers to follow.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in Hostage episode 2.

The episode opens with Thomas Mercer chasing the two cars with the hostages inside. The lead masked gunman instructs the driver to lose him. Meanwhile, Abigail tries to call Toussaint, but the President ignores her. Guards arrive at Matheo’s place to search for concealed surveillance. Toussaint arrives as Saskia is leaving. When she's gone, Matheo asks Toussaint what’s going on.

Elsewhere, Abigail goes to see General Livingston, chief of the defence staff. She tells him she’s sent MI6 to locate the four doctors being held hostage. She says she knows it’s not normal protocol, but there was supposed to be a French rescue mission by Toussaint, but she aborted at the last minute. She informs him she’s got an agent following the hostages. When he asks why, she reveals one of the hostages is Alex. Meanwhile, Toussaint tells Matheo she’s being blackmailed with a video of them together. She tells him they want Abigail to resign.

Abigail asks if there’s any more military support they can use, but General Livingston tells her it’d take 48 hours and would be impossible to hide themselves heading into French territory. She says she'd need to get Toussaint’s clearance. Meanwhile, Matheo pleads with Toussaint to get the Secret Service involved, but she doesn’t want anyone knowing.

She doesn’t know who to trust and doesn’t want to risk Desmaris, her political rival, and the far-right taking control of France. She asks for Matheo’s help. He says he knows someone who can look at her phone. She hands it over. Abigail tries to call Toussaint to plead for her help, but it goes straight to voicemail.

In French Guiana, Thomas is still on the kidnappers’ trail. The lead gunman instructs the car behind him to slow Thomas down. Then, he stops and steps out into the road in front of him. As Thomas turns the corner, he begins to shoot at him. Thomas fires back and hides behind his car. He sneaks up on him and shoots him in the shoulder before grabbing him and putting him in the back of the car with the other hostages. Another gunman asks him, in English, why he didn’t kill Thomas and he replies angrily, telling him to speak in French. Alex overhears.

Abigail’s getting ready and listening to the radio. A woman is on air complaining about the lack of cancer drugs available in the UK. She struggles to put her contacts in and heads down in glasses. Abigail asks Kofi where Toussaint is, but he tells her Thomas is now missing. MI6 found his truck, blood, but no body. Kofi says they’ll need to wait for the 1 pm deadline to see what the kidnappers do next, but she can’t negotiate with them because then they’ll hold all the power. He tells her to choose her country over her family. He again insists she tells the Cabinet what’s going on.

In a Cabinet meeting, Abigail tells her MPs that Toussaint wants French border forces on UK soil in exchange help with the NHS crisis. Dan argues that they can’t let the French dictate what they do, but Abigail shuts him down. He then reveals he’s heard rumours that Toussaint left the reception abruptly the night before and asks whether there’s more they should know. Abigail again refuses to tell them.

Returning to her office, Sylvie is there reading the classified file and says she now knows about the deadline and someone being killed. Ayesha was trying to stop her. Sylvie is angry and asks for more, to which Abigail tells her about Toussaint aborting the mission. When Abigail reveals they want her to resign, Sylvie tells her to. She says she won’t and it’s what Alex would want, too. Sylvie tells her that if anything happens to her dad, she’ll never forgive her.

In French Guiana, it’s nighttime and the cars arrive at a new location. They offload Thomas and the doctors. As they take their blindfolds off, Alex determines Thomas must be MI6 and asks another doctor for her help to treat his bullet wound. Alex and Tom introduce themselves to each other and Alex packs the wound. One of the female doctors discusses the factthat their captors are British and Alex says it means someone’s really trying to get rid of his wife.

Elsewhere, Matheo watches the video of him and Toussaint in bed. He remembers how they met in a hotel room and kissed. Saskia calls him and when he picks up, she tells him someone’s following her. She tells him it’s his stepmom’s security. She thinks there must be something he’s not telling her and he finally reveals he was in a relationship with her. He tells her it didn’t last long, but it was real and happened in the weeks he helped her on her campaign. He tells Saskia he loves her and needs her.

At Downing Street, Abigail tells Kofi she’s going to speak to Toussaint again and try and change her mind. Kofi says she's just playing hardball to win her election, but Abigail says she’ll give her what she wants. He tells her she can’t negotiate and should tell her ministers instead, but again she refuses. To this, he tells her he can’t work for her if she won’t take his advice and tells her he wants to quit.

Abigail and Toussaint meet again, this time at an electric vehicle expo for their next public appearance during the summit. Abigail tries to talk to Toussaint, but she tells her not there. Abigail replies that she’s out of time. She says if she lets Toussaint put French border forces on UK soil, she’ll be done in politics. But, she says she hasn’t got a choice and she’ll do it. To this, Toussaint says she still can’t help her. Abigail begs her to help bring Alex home and asks Toussaint again why she can’t do it. She tells Toussaint she wants her in the room with her when the deadline expires, so she can have blood on her hands, too, if any of the doctors are killed. The journalist, Simon, from earlier notices the two women talking.

Afterwards, Matheo is waiting and tells Pelletier he needs to see Toussaint. He gets into the back of the car with her to talk. He wants to know if it was her plan to have Saskia followed and she admits it. He gives her back her phone and says that whoever sent the video used a dark web SMS gateway to hide their location and he can't find them. Before he can get out the car, she holds his arm and apologises. She says she can’t let her enemies win and he says she’s changed and to stay away from him and Saskia.

Sylvie plays a card game with her grandad in hospital. She asks him if he trusts Abigail and he wants to know why she’s asking. She tells him they’re going to kill her dad. He asks who. Meanwhile, it’s minutes to the deadline and Abigail steps into the situation room. Her dad tries to call her, but she ignores it. Toussaint is there. Abigail says she’ll speak to them when they call. A live video link is sent for them to open and Alex is placed front and centre. Alex can see them, too. Words are brought over for Alex to read. He asks Abigail: “What’s it going to be?” She wants to know who the kidnappers are and why they’re doing it.

The masked gunman types a reply for Alex. It reads: “No more time. Say goodbye.” He then holds a gun to Alex’s head and everyone in the situation room flinches. Abigail begs and says she can help them and they have her attention. They type again telling her to resign, adding: “You can make us all safe. It’s up to you.” But, she asks for more time. She tells Alex she loves him and he says it back, telling her he trusts her.

They hold the gun to Alex’s head and he tells her it’s the kidnapper’s betrayal, not hers. Sylvie appears outside the room and begs Ayesha to see her mum. Alex reads another message to say that time is up. Ayesha steps back into the room and Sylvie shouts for her dad. As he shouts back, one of the gunmen shoots another of the male doctors, Noah, in the head, killing him. Abigail runs up to Sylvie, but she’s angry and crying.

Thomas and the doctors are taken back into the room they’re being held in. Alex begs with the lead gunman and says to leave the others alone since the problem is to do with his wife. He tells him he has a daughter and the gunman replies that he did, too. They close the doors. Meanwhile, Toussaint goes to see Abigail. Abigail says they need to be honest with each other or every hostage will die.

Toussaint reveals she’s being threatened and explains she was sent a video. When Abigail asks what it was, she won’t tell her. She says if she helps, they’ll go public and she’ll lose her presidency. Abigail recalls Alex’s words that it’s the kidnapper’s betrayal and explains he means you can only betray someone you have an allegiance to, which Abigail thinks means the kidnappers are British. Abigail says they should stand together, but Toussaint doesn’t want to ruin her career and family. Abigail asks if that means she has to lose everything, but Toussaint says it’s her choice to save herself.

Afterwards, Zadie comes to see Abigail and tells her they have a leak. Simon, the journalist, says a source of his has given him information related to Alex. He knows about the hostage situation. He also knows about the demands. He even knows about the aborted French mission. Abigail asks what Simon wants. But Simon says what he knows is in the public interest. He knows two hostages have already been shot and that if Abigail doesn’t act, they’ll all die. He tells her the story will be front-page news tomorrow, but he offers her the chance to give her side of the story. Abigail says no comment. Kofi dismisses him.

When he’s gone, Kofi tells Abigail they’ll issue a D-notice to the Times and tell them it’s a matter of national security. She says they’ll find a way round it and it can’t be stopped. Instead, she says they should make an announcement that evening. She says she’ll put an end to it with the only thing she can say. Kofi tells her not to resign. That evening, Abigail goes live on air.

Meanwhile, her dad continues to try and call her, before noticing she’s on the news. Pelletier runs into Toussaint and puts on the news, too. Toussaint tries to stop her by calling Kofi, but he ignores it. Abigail tells the entire truth about the hostage situation, her husband’s kidnapping and Toussaint’s negotiations. She tells the nation she wants her husband back, but she can’t give in to them for the sake of her country. She tells them she’s not to be threatened, she won’t negotiate and she won’t resign.

Sylvie watches on and starts shaking. She says if she resigns, then no one is safe. Abigail also reveals that Toussaint is also being blackmailed. When asked what they’re blackmailing her with, she says she doesn’t know. She reveals that two people have already been killed.

During the speech, Pelletier receives a phone call and moves to another room to answer. The masked gunman asks her what is happening and she says she doesn’t know. He tells Pelletier she’s on the ground to stop surprises like this. She tells him that they misjudged Abigail and he says it was her that misjudged.

Now, he says, it’s time to up the ante. He tells her he’s coming home. Abigail continues speaking on the news, telling the reporter she is loyal to her country, despite how much she wants her husband home, and won’t let the country be held to ransom. She says whoever thought they could do that has underestimated her.

All episodes of Hostage are available to stream on Netflix.