The New Look on Apple TV Plus is a remarkable story following the lives of renowned fashion designers Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche) against the devastating backdrop of World War II.
The second episode picks up directly after the first ended, with Coco heading to see Commander Schellenberg with Spatz to hear more about the mission the Nazis have for her. She is clearly nervous about what they will ask, especially when Spatz tells her he can't come into the meeting with her as Schellenberg has requested to see her alone.
Schellenberg asks Coco about her connections to Winston Churchill and she maintains they have a good friendship and often dine together and go on holiday. However, when Schellenberg tells her she is to deliver a secret message to the British Prime Minister in Madrid, outlining a proposal for the cessation of hostilities, she realizes she is now a Nazi agent.
After giving her a letter to deliver to Churchill, Schellenberg tells Coco that if her mission is a success, history will remember her for this more than for any dress she ever made.
While Coco works out how she is going to get a meeting with Churchill, Catherine has been taken to The House, which is a Nazi detention center in Paris. Catherine is in a bad way and as she is taken to be grilled about what she knows about the French Resistance, people being tortured are heard from behind other closed doors.
Back at home, Christian is beside himself about where his sister is being held, and Hervé tells him that while the Resistance will try and help if she has been taken to The House then there is nothing they can do because they have no influence there,
At the bar, Christian sees Lelong and Balmain and they talk about how to help Catherine. Lelong knows the mother-in-law of the chief of police in Paris and says he will see if he can give any advice. They meet, and while the chief isn't overly helpful, he does tell them that the rumors that the Nazis are planning to retreat from Paris are true and that if she is still alive then their best way to get to Catherine is when they move her to a prisoner of war camp.
As Catherine is being tortured for information, other people are heard being shot in other rooms. Christian begs Hervé and the rest of his resistance friends to help him stop the train that Catherine could be on, but they don't know which line she would be on and tell him to ask the red cross which tracks the Nazis have been using.
Meanwhile, we go back to Coco, who has come up with the idea of using her old friend Elsa Lombardi as a way to get to Churchill. As an illegitimate member of British royalty who is unhappily married to one of Mussolini’s captains, Elsa is a good way of getting to the prime minister as he is known to have a soft spot for her.
But Elsa is in Italy so Spatz and Coco arrange for the Gestapo to kidnap Elsa and bring her to Paris. By the time she arrives, Elsa is fuming, and it takes a while for Coco to talk her around. Eventually Coco gets Elsa to agree to come to Madrid with her after pretending that she is opening a new boutique in the city and wants to give it to her friend. She also says they could see Churchill while there as he could help Elsa move back to Britain following her failed marriage.
While Hervé plans to blow up train tracks that are bringing in supplies for the Nazis, Lelong manages to get Christian a meeting with the Swiss consul general who agrees to help Catherine. While at first, he doesn't have much information, he eventually manages to negotiate with the Germans that they will let Catherine, who is now half dead and on a train to a prisoner of war camp, go at Bar-le-Duc station. Christian is on a mission to save his sister and he and Lelong drive through the night to get to the station in time.
By now, Coco and Elsa are on a train to Madrid, but Spatz has heard that Hitler is on the warpath as he hadn't approved Schellenberg's plan to negotiate with Churchill, and now the army is on high alert to any Germans going across the border. He vanishes after being taken off the train, and an officer comes to see Coco, handing her a suitcase of cash and telling her that Spatz is going to be smuggled over the border and he will meet her in Madrid. Still oblivious to Coco's real mission, Elsa wants to know what the money is for, and Coco lies that it is for Elsa and her new life in Madrid.
Soon they reach the Spanish border and Spatz arrives, taking the suitcase of cash, much to Elsa's horror. Once they arrive at the Ritz in Madrid, Elsa realises the money is gone and the truth about what they are really doing in the Spanish city dawns on her. Spatz tells them he needs to hide, so he stays in an apartment nearby while they are told to keep a low profile at the hotel before they meet with Churchill tomorrow morning.
However, the women have a huge argument in the restaurant and draw attention to themselves and the following morning, Elsa fails to show at their meeting. Soon the ambassador at the embassy tells Coco that Elsa has already been in to see him and told them everything.
She tries to lie that she isn't a Nazi agent and is horrified when she learns Churchill isn't even in the country, having been taken ill in Morocco. With Elsa having double-crossed her, Coco is forced to admit defeat when the ambassador announces Churchill has requested she be escorted back to the station and put on a train back to Paris. Her mission having well and truly failed.
Despite Christian begging him to wait and see what train line Catherine would be coming through on, Hervé continues with his plan to blow up tracks. However, this soon has horrific consequences for Catherine when Christian finally gets to the station where she is meant to be taken off the train, only getting there with moments to spare after driving all night. But in a horrible twist, the train doesn't stop at the station as promised, with the deal to hand over Catherine having fallen through after the Resistance blowing up tracks has annoyed the German army. Instead, Catherine can hear her brother calling her name as the train goes through the station, and all Christian can do is watch as she disappears off into the distance.
The New Look is available to stream worldwide on Apple TV Plus.
