The Capture season 3 ending explained: Did Rachel Carey bring down E Squadron?

*Warning – contains full spoilers for the sixth and final episode of The Capture season 3.*

Since it aired it’s first run back in 2019, The Capture has always been a show that has revelled in twists, turns and unexpected developments – upending the audience’s expectations time and time again.

It’s safe to say that the third run – which wrapped up on Sunday 12 April – took that mission statement even further than ever before.

From the major death of Paapa Essiedu’s Isaac Turner in the very first installment to a head-spinning fifth episode that recontextualised just about everything we’d seen, it was a season that constantly kept viewers on their tones.

Unsurprisingly, the sixth and final episode kept the shocking moments coming right up until the credits rolled – with many fans already calling for a fourth season as a result.

But just how did the season come to a close? Did Rachel take down E Squadron as she had pledged to do in the penultimate episode? And what happened to some of the other key characters like Noah Pierson and Gemma Garland?

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of The Capture season 3?

What happened to Rachel and Abigail Carey?

In the finale, Rachel was appointed back to being Commander of Counter Terror, and negotiated her way to having complete autonomy and the job on a three-year basis, given that Commissioner Yates needed someone to fill Noah Pierson’s (real name William Walker) post quickly.

Deputy Commissioner Julian Talbot approached Rachel about irregularities in Pierson’s appointment, and the two agreed to bring the evidence they had accrued out in to the public, securing arrests for those responsible.

Soon after this, Rachel was abducted by Colonel Christopher Figgis, who revealed that AI Simon was struggling to figure her out. He also revealed how he had blackmailed Tom Kendrick and others into working for him.

Figgis showed Rachel a video of her sister Abigail with a gun to her head. Rachel insisted it was a deepfake, but Figgis asked whether she could be certain. ‘Abigail’ was shot, and Rachel was shown the bloodstains. However, she could still not be certain whether it was really her that had been killed.

A bag was put over Rachel’s head and she thought she was about to be shot, but the entire squadron then left the room, leaving a gun on the floor for Rachel to pick up.

Later in the episode, it was revealed that Abigail had survived and it was a deepfake – she was completely unaware that anything was going on. You can read more about this below.

What happened to Gemma Garland and Noah Pierson?

In the finale, former home secretary Sir Rowan Gibb was brought before the enquiry into Correction. During his deposition, he essentially revealed Gemma Garland’s identity as the person who ran the Correction programme, drawing her out.

She went to testify about Correction, and argued that replacing lost evidence using it like for like was not detrimental to society and was in fact the truth – it also helped to save countless lives.

In the run up to her testimony, Wizard fixed Noah Pierson’s heart device and sent him out to save Rachel.

However, he took a detour, and showed up at the enquiry. He burst in and shot Gemma dead, with all footage being cut except for that taken by BBC journalist Natasha Hayes.

James Whitlock was released on bail, returned to his home, and was immediately killed by those working for E Squadron.

Pierson showed up to save Rachel, but, having just heard that he had shot Gemma Garland, she instead shot him with the gun that had been left for her.

Pierson revealed that he had genuinely intended to save Rachel, but as soon as he had reactivated his heart device he had been given a new mission on his handset, revealing Garland as his next target.

He told Rachel that he carried out the order to save her. He knew that she would be killed by E Squadron if he didn’t carry out the mission. E Squadron were happy to leave Rachel alone if Garland was dead, because with her dead, the public would believe Correction was dead. They could therefore continue to use it as Simon willed, without anyone suspecting a thing.

Pierson then died of his injuries.

Did Rachel Carey take down E Squadron?

After the shooting of Gemma Garland, Lord Fredrickson, who was running the enquiry into Correction, corroborated the footage taken by Natasha Hayes – it showed James Whitlock carrying out the shooting, rather than Noah Pierson.

This all made the case to the public that Correction was actually a positive in society. If the programme had still been up and running, Whitlock would have been in jail and the attack on Garland would have been avoided.

It was revealed that Natasha Hayes was working for E Squadron, and she had blackmailed Paige into doing her bidding by threatening to put out a photo of her wearing a Native American costume for a party. Later, it was revealed Fredrickson was also part of the conspiracy to keep Correction for military usage, joining Figgis, Dr Neuman, Commissioner Cameron Yates and Rowan Gibb at a dinner.

Rachel found out about Hayes and Paige, with Hayes being arrested and Paige being told that she had to talk in order to bargain for a deal. Paige revealed that she had provided Hayes with all the details of the Carey-cam launch when Isaac was killed, and had the Carey-cam itself put on stage, facing the audience.

This made Rachel realise that some of the footage from the Carey-cam was being live streamed back to HQ, prior to the shooting. She then decided to use this to recreate the truth of what happened to Isaac – having Wizard deepfake Noah Pierson back into the scene. She had become what she had fought so long to stop, but thought this would finally take down E Squadron’s narrative.

On the contrary – they fought back, flooding the internet with a host of disinformation suggesting that Pierson had been a Russian agent, before she could reveal E Squadron’s involvement. They had even had Pierson enter the country on the same flight as Anton Koslov back in episode 1, using Koslov as a cover but using this to bolster the narrative.

Rachel surmised that E Squadron were staging a Russian false flag operation, potentially leading to direct war between Britain and Russia, but certainly leading to increased defence spending.

Meanwhile, Figgis revealed that they had asked Simon, “What would it take to get Rachel Carey to use Correction”. This had all been part of the plan, and they now had kompromat on her. They said they would call on her to overlook their actions in future if she stayed in the role – which she decided she had to do.

After this, Talbot tried to pass Rachel the evidence he had compiled, but she refused to engage with him, showing how far she had been beaten down. She suggested to him that he would never win in a battle with E Squadron – they were too powerful, too organised.

Given all of this, the answer to the above question has to be no – Rachel firmly lost to E Squadron, Correction is now back in operation and back undercover and Rachel sees no potential hope of beating them or defeating the practice in the future.

What did that cliffhanger ending mean?

In the final scene of The Capture season 3, Rachel returned home to find Abigail in her apartment, safe and sound. Abigail took a selfie of them both sat on the sofa, with a window behind them.

Rachel suggested that Abigail move in with her, and she said she would think about it. Rachel then broke down in tears, overwhelmed by it all.

After Abigail went to bed, Rachel looked at the phone and went back on the selfies Abigail had taken. She was astounded to see that, in the background, looking in through the window, was Gemma Garland.

Rachel zoomed in and there she was, clear as day. She then turned around to look at the window and no one was there. After all, this was in an apartment block, meaning there’s no physical way Gemma could really be there. When she looked back at her phone, Gemma was gone from the image too.

So what does this mean? Well, in truth your guess is as good as ours. Was the phone hacked in some way to implant the image of Gemma briefly and then remove it? Or, did Rachel imagine Gemma being there, reminding herself to avenge her death and to keep fighting Correction, or as a symbol of what she herself has now become?

If we get a season 4, perhaps we will get an answer to just what was going on here. If not, perhaps we’ll just have to keep guessing.

The Capture season 3 is available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer now.

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