Hostage episode 3 recap: a murder plot and the walls close in on Abigail (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 3.

The episode opens with Abigail’s speech taking over the news. Pelletier arrives to meet a man who has landed by helicopter. At Downing Street, Tristan is instructing the team to distribute any calls. Zadie hands a message from the President of the United States to Kofi and Abigail heads into the House of Commons to give an emergency statement. She tells them the threat level of the UK has been upped to critical.

As she speaks, an MP shows Oliver something on his phone. Oliver asks Abigail to give way. He says she’s speaking of the national security of the British people, yet there’s a video on social media circulating of five-year-old Attaf Diwala. His mother took him to a 24-hour pharmacy to get medication for Attaf’s asthma, but it was closed as there was no medicine left. Attaf died in the street and Oliver shows her the video. Abigail stands and berates Oliver for using a child for his own political gain. She says she won’t resign because she will fix the drug crisis. Oliver stands and replies that she can risk her own husband’s life, but she’s also risking the entire country.

Elsewhere, Toussaint is playing online poker when Pelletier disturbs her. She tells Toussaint her husband is there. Elias enters and wants to know what the kidnappers are blackmailing her with. She tells him that it’s proof of a past relationship and she wants him to stand by her or she’ll lose the election. He wants to know who the man is. She tells him it was Matheo, his son. He takes a seat and asks her who else knows. She reveals she thinks Matheo’s girlfriend, Saskia, does. She tells him that Abigail doesn’t know. She says Abigail can help them find out who these people are and then they can cover up the truth.

Meanwhile, Abigail arrives home and Sylvie isn’t in her room. Abigail knocks on the locked bathroom, but Sylvie won’t let her in. She tells her she thought if everyone knew then Abigail would have no choice but to resign. She reveals it was her that told the journalist, Simon, about what's going on. She says now her dad is going to die because Abigail cares more about her job than them. Abigail begs to be let in and Sylvie comes out, but won’t let Abigail touch her.

In French Guiana, Thomas tells the doctors they need to escape or they’ll all die. The female doctors think it’s a bad idea, but Alex agrees that it is. Even he can admit Abigail isn’t coming for them. Kofi comes to see Abigail and she’s asleep on the sofa, it’s 1:45 am. He tells her Toussaint is on her way over. Kofi praises her for putting her country first and tells her he won’t quit. She tells him the kidnappers have gone quiet and he says it’s because they don’t know how to react to what she’s done.

Toussaint arrives to speak to Abigail. She tells her it was insane to go on TV and she’s got Toussaint in a lot of trouble. She says the US President is now putting pressure on her, too. Abigail tells her she doesn’t care what the kidnappers are blackmailing her with, but she wants her to let the US launch their own rescue mission. She says she could do that, or she could just launch her own. But, before she does, she wants Abigail to help her find out who is blackmailing her. She asks if Abigail has someone she trusts completely who can look into both their staffs. Abigail says she’ll do it if Toussaint rescues Alex and gives her a supply of drugs for the UK. She agrees.

The next day, Ayesha is waiting in a pharmacy for a prescription and there’s no medicine on the shelves. Abigail sends Ayesha a list of British and French names from the summit and asks her to do a background check on them all. Meanwhile, Pelletier goes to see Toussaint who is on the phone. She tells her they’re waiting for a response from her to Abigail’s broadcast. Pelletier asks who was on the phone and Toussaint tells her it was Philippe Arnault, one of the pharmaceutical suppliers. She wants to know if Toussaint is helping the British. Toussaint tells her they’re sending in the US after dark, but it’s confidential information. Elias and Toussaint head out.

The masked gunman arrives on a private jet, dressed in civilian clothes. He kisses his hand and places it on British soil. Three men meet him off the plane and they get into a car. The man looks at the news, watching the video of Attaf and his mother. Pelletier calls him and tells him about the US rescue mission. Elsewhere, Abigail has a meeting with her Cabinet and apologises for not telling them about the kidnapping. Dan brings up the virality of the Attaf video and Abigail tells him they’re close to making a deal on the supply of drugs.

When Abigail arrives home, her dad is there with Sylvie. He tells her he discharged himself from hospital because he needed to talk to her face-to-face. He tells her he knows what Sylvie did, but she clearly didn’t have a choice. He asks if the kidnappers have been in touch since she went public and she says no. Her dad tells Sylvie to give them a minute alone.

He tells Abigail nothing is more important than family and she’s risking losing Sylvie forever, as well as Alex. She tells him she has a plan, but he doesn’t trust her. She tells him if her mother was there... but he shuts her down before she can finish and says he knows her better than anyone. She calls him a coward for telling her to give into the people making demands. He tells her getting Alex back is the only thing that matters. She argues she has other priorities and he tells her he doesn’t know who she is and leaves.

Matheo and Saskia lay in bed together. The doorbell interrupts them and it’s Toussaint’s security team again, along with Toussaint and Matheo’s father, Elias. Saskia introduces herself to him and he says he wants her to leave, but Matheo insists she stays. He asks if she knows about him and Toussaint and she says she does. Elias tells Matheo they’re going to stick together and he tells them they’re all going to go to church together. Matheo thinks it’s a joke and Toussaint says she can’t as it goes against separation of church and state. Elias argues if they do, it’ll take over the news and drown out Abigail. He insists to Matheo that they need him there, but he says he doesn’t owe him anything since he doesn’t take his money or use his name.

In French Guiana, the guards are on the move again. Alex is watching them under the door. Thomas says it’s their best chance to escape. He says when they get led out, they should make some distance between themselves. He tells Alex to pretend to fall and then grab the guard’s gun. Alex tells the other doctors he’ll call out and they should pull their blindfolds down and run in different directions.

Ayesha calls Abigail and she asks her to come and meet with her. Tristan comes to Kofi and tells him the French are on the way, despite cancelling their meeting. Toussaint and Abigail meet with Ayesha away from Pelletier and Kofi. Ayesha shows Abigail that Kofi opened a new bank account six months ago, set up under an offshore shell company. £72,000 was deposited and then immediately withdrawn. Toussaint receives a call and tells them to commence the rescue mission. Kofi and Pelletier are called into the situation room, where Toussaint and Abigail tell them they’re launching a French team that was on a need-to-know basis only. Pelletier thought they had three hours until the US entered.

The video feed goes live and Kofi notes as Pelletier sneaks out quietly. She calls the lead gunman and tells him. He says they must know there’s a mole and he’s doing what has to be done. She argues that they weren’t supposed to be killing doctors and she didn’t sign up to that. To this, Kofi walks in and hears her. He picks up the phone and calls for a Special Branch officer.

The gunman sends word and the guards begin to move. As they lead them out, Alex stumbles, as planned, and grabs the guard's gun, shouting to alert the others. Thomas overpowers his handler and takes his gun, shooting him. The other doctors run and Alex shoots another gunman dead as he wrestles with Thomas. They start to run and Alex follows one of the other doctors, Maya, but she’s shot down and killed. As Abigail watches the live feed, the French team manage to rescue the other doctor and Thomas, but Alex has a gun held to his head by the guard who killed Maya. Suddenly, the French military shoots him down and saves Alex. Overcome by emotion, Alex is handed a radio and he talks to Abigail. Abigail takes her heels off and runs up to Sylvie so she can speak to her dad. He tells her he’s coming home.

As Toussaint sighs with relief, Kofi leads Pelletier out in handcuffs. Abigail and Toussaint ask what’s going on and Kofi reveals he knows that Pelletier is compromised. But, while they lead her away, Abigail says she knows about Kofi’s offshore account and has to suspend him. He argues that she’s making a mistake, but she makes him hand over his pass.

Meanwhile, the main gunman and the three others park up and get out of the car. Him and two others are dressed in police uniforms. They head to a vigil for Attaf. The third man stands in the crowd dressed as a civilian. As Attaf’s mother gives a speech, the gunman comes over and tells them all to disperse as it's an unlawful gathering. The man in the crowd pulls out a smoke grenade and then smashes a pharmacy window. One of the other men dressed as policeman pepper sprays the crowd and they all begin to lose control. The main gunman pulls Attaf’s mother off the floor and walks away.

Elsewhere, Toussaint and Elias are visiting the church for a press opportunity. Toussaint poses for photos before dismissing the photographer and tells Elias he’s not trying to save her presidency, he’s trying to preserve his pride. He says what she’s done with his son will come out in the press eventually and he won’t look bad. He says he’s told his own press to break the story in 30 minutes and then he’ll issue a statement. He says if he shows he’s forgiven Toussaint, the public will too. She asks him what about his secrets and tells him if he comes out with her secret, he’ll tell everyone all of his.

She steps out of the church to all the press waiting. She tells them that her chief of staff, Pelletier, has been arrested on suspicion of blackmail and extortion. She also tells them that Abigail’s husband has been rescued by a French mission. As Abigail watches, Ayesha comes in and takes her to the situation room. She watches the news clips of the riot at the Attaf vigil and is told there were seven casualties, with one dead.

Matheo arrives home and Saskia is gone. He hears her laptop beeping under the bed and pulls it out to see messages from S saying: “We’ve lost P. You need to step up,” and “Green ward. Room 19. Let me know when it’s done.” Meanwhile, Pelletier’s phone calls in the situation room from a private number. Ayesha answers it, and the man asks for Abigail. Tristan records the call. Abigail tells the man that they’ve caught Pelletier, but the man says they have many more just like her. Matheo tries to call Saskia, but the line is disconnected. Elsewhere, Saskia arrives at the hospital.

The man on the phone to Abigail congratulates her on saving Alex, but says instead the country will burn. She tells him he’s lost, but he says the game isn’t over and hangs up. Meanwhile, Saskia arrives in Room 19, where Abigail’s dad lies in his hospital bed. She injects a blue liquid into his IV line, killing him.

All episodes of Hostage are available to stream on Netflix.