The Truth Will Out
Episode 4 of COBRA begins with criminals dressed as police officers stealing the water tanker and to make matters worse, a new protest group called the People’s Justice step up and cause serious headaches for the government. Their ringleader is Scott Mignett, a former army man who served in Afghanistan. Because of the attacks, lorry drivers threaten to go on strike too while Archie and Sutherland come to blows following the incident in Northumberland. Scott rallies the troops and storms the hospital, asking for the fuel reserves but Collier squares up to him. While he does, Sutherland meets with the leader of the lorry commission, Rowntree, and tries to negotiate. Unfortunately an escalation at the hospital forces him to bring the meeting to a close before they can finish and rally the army to the cause in a desperate bid to try and sort the situation out. Only, members of People’s Justice happen to be in the crowd and they chant “CCC”, starting a new movement. Back at COBRA the group deliberate over sending in a Trojan horse to try and diffuse the situation from the inside out. While they do, Anna speaks to her husband and the truth is revealed about Edin, along with her husband who admits that he’s slept with other women too during their marriage. The House Of Commons reconvenes and the Prime Minister informs them all that he’s going to try and find a peaceful solution for the volatile situation they find themselves in. Unfortunately the opposition bites back and questions him interfering with the just course of law. It’s here he stands up and defiantly tells them that he’s not doing that nor will anyone in his cabinet do it either. Meanwhile, the super transformer is stuck in traffic thanks to a couple of lorries blocking the way as the drivers all begin to protest. With both sides of the motorway blocked, unfortunately that situation means Sutherland has no time for his daughter who desperately asks for help and is left stranding. As he heads into COBRA he finds out that London is held to a stand-still thanks to the Lorry Union and the People’s Justice who appear to team up together, with their red armbands on and makeshift weapons. Just as he finds out what’s happening, Ellie messages and tells him that she’s going to tell the truth. With no choice, Sutherland holds a press conference and refuses to entertain a general election or standing down from his position. He tells them that the protestors are perverting democracy and requests they try and meet up to find a peaceful solution. As the episode closes out, Ellie takes her initiative too and heads online to tell the truth. She tells the world that Georgia doesn’t deserve to be blamed for what happened and admits that it was all her fault and she was the one who provided drugs. While Archie takes advantage of this and tells Peter things are going to kick off, they actually do in the Red Zone as Scott speaks up and takes total control of the zone and decides to team up with the lorry drivers officially with the intention of marching on Downing Street. When you compare the threat of a solar strike from the sun threatening to destroy global power to a couple of anarchist groups blocking a motorway, the difference in tension levels is black and white. The government’s COBRA division is supposedly used for global catastrophes and the worst situations so it’s difficult to imagine a lorry strike needing this level of strategy from so many officials involved. Of course, strikes and riots of its kind are never easy things to deal with and for that alone, COBRA has done well to navigate these murky waters in a believable way. However, mixing it in with soap opera elements and ignoring the early sci-fi feels like a step back, along with the obvious imagery of red armbands looking very similar to the Nazi’s is a bit of an unsubtle nod toward those dark times. There’s still time to turn it around of course but right now, COBRA’s trajectory looks set to nose-dive the same way the plane did in the first episode.
