“The Sympathizer” Episode 7: “The Sympathizer” is an American war drama spy thriller series, which is currently streaming now in HBO Max & JioCinema. In this article, we are gonna discuss the recap of the seventh episode. Before we start our discussion let’s have a quick knowledge of the Story of this series.
The series is based on The novel by American professor & Novelist “Viet Thanh Nguyen” of the same name.
The series tells us about the lifestyle of a man known as “The Captain”, he is half-French, half-Vietnamese & moreover he is a spy.
So, Bon is ready to join the army force to get back to his country. Captain tried to convince him but was unable to do so. We see Captain unable to digest the fact that Sonny is in love with Sofia, so he kills Sonny by bottling up all of his anger. Now he is on the way with Bon & General & going to Vietnam.
Previous Episode: “The Sympathizer” Episode 6 Recap and Explained
So, it started with Captain & Bon, where Captain claims that he can see the ghosts of the people whom he killed. Later they reached in Bangkok which is 700 miles far from Vietnam. There, the Armies met with Claude& joined with them. Meanwhile, the captain’s conversation with Jailer is coming to an end. It looks like Captain & Bon were both captured by the North Vietnamese soldier & now Captain clarifies everything to the Jailer.
It looks like The Jailer isn’t happy with the ending where the Captain encountered ghosts. So he ordered Captain to write it more carefully . We see the captain start to recall what happened after landing in Bangkok. Captain shares his story in the ” Hellhole”, which is a club that all the soldiers enjoyed before joining in the war. It was more like a farewell party.
During the party, Captain talked with Claude. Claude gives him a tape recorder which records the communication with Captain & Sonny, where Captain confessed him as a Communist spy. Claude allowed Captain & Bon to go to Vietnam. We see there was no tape recorder in the player so might be he taken with him or the captain daydreaming.
In between this, we see Captain & Bon fighting with the soldiers during the night. All soldiers died but they caught up in the end. Then taken into the camp for interrogation. Where Bon started to confess what he died. That’s all the captain writes in his story. But, the Jailers aren’t happy at all. Later Captain met with Comrade Commisioner. He ordered the jailer to put the Captain in isolation, in case the captain claimed to be on their side. So, he ordered Captain to write again.
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The jailer gives him an egg to eat & write. Watching Egg Captain remember his memories of where a people died by an eggshell. After eating he is ready to write again. Later we see the conversation between the Commissioner and Captain. The commissioner is a mysterious guy who puts a mask on his face for all the time. He said on the day of liberation, he pulled out a tooth of General Phu, & then headed home. He saw the tanks of the liberation Armies advancing across the bridge.
He saw a Phantom approaching, he thought it would never hit him as it was flying over the sky. But, that plane dropped a load of Napalm, and this burned the faces of lots of armies including him too. Later he got a permanent Cough. So, he takes morphine all the time for recovery, all he wants to a free Vietnam. That time captain commented that he was unable to accept a free Vietnam in this way.
That’s the mistake he has made. Soon, he is taken to jail & ready for endless torture. Where captain claimed that he wasn’t honest at all. It’s true that there are certain details he claimed wrong & after all of this he is still unable to admire. Later they also give him drugs so that he can tell the truth. He can see the ghosts again which are actually the Commissioner & the jailer. They ask again and again with hard tortures so that Captain speaks the truth.
Later Captain recalls the memories of his past. His childhood. Rape of his mother by a priest which is actually Robert Downey Jr, in his all avatars. Later the ghost of Sonny & The Major takes him to the way where the screening of ” The Hamlet” is going on & there Man is sitting too. The movie perfectly delivered sexual abuse scenes in a horrific way.
Later Captain claimed about the theatre scene, where he stopped saying anything when The Major & his man sexually abused a communist spy in front of him. He was seen as a Man he was actually a Commissioner who sought the truth from the Captain.
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Captain recalls that Commisioner had a lady who was a better spy but her life was ended. He takes care of that lady. We understand that the Commissioner is no one but the captain’s friend Man himself. Man taking care of that lady spy who still hides her identity. Captain asks her if she is disappointed anyhow but the lady said all the years whatever she faces she can’t be disappointed. Infact she didn’t write any words against the Captain too.
Later Man revealed his face too front of the captain. Later they enjoyed a drink together. Lastly, Man asks him one last question, which is more important than freedom & independence? Captain is deeply involved as a spy he is unable to come out to reality and understand which is true & which is false. So he answered the question ” nothing”.
After hearing this Man unable to talk to him as a friend. Man understands his friendship is already destroyed & accepts the fact that Captain can’t be changed anymore. Lastly, a captain with teary eyes fades out and he requests Man not to be emotional. In the end, Man helped Captain & Bon to escape from the place. Captain switched his clothes & Bon also realised later that it was Man. Later they both left the place. So, the captain saw them leaving this place.
As a friend, Man helped his two friends to leave from this. At night they went into a ship . The story tells us how Americans tried to build their power in Vietnam. As a spy Captain’s journey was tough but he chose this. When he saw the Vietnamese Coast, he realised that he had with all the ghosts who lost their life in the war. That’s how this series ended. It reflects the true story of war despite what we saw casually in the movies of the series.
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All seven episodes of ” The Sympathizer” are currently streaming now in JioCinema in the English language along with subtitles.
