The essential episodes of The Bureau
Watch these 15 in order and you've got The Bureau — each pick states its reason.
- 01
Agent Malotru (Debailly) is recalled to Paris after six years undercover in Damascus, and ends his affair with Nadia El Mansour. In Algiers, agent Cyclone is arrested, drunk, despite being avowedly teetotal. Debailly struggles to forget Nadia and to return to a more normal working life. He is assigned to train Marina Loiseau, who will work undercover in Iran. Debailly discovers that Nadia is in Paris and resumes contact with her. Meanwhile, agent Cyclone has gone missing in Algeria.
- 02
Marina starts work at the Institute of Earth Physics. A brief scene shows Debailly, connected to a polygraph, continuing to recount his story. The DGSE interrogates Gherbi to confirm he is not also working for Algerian intelligence. Duflot's brother-in-law works undercover in the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile, Nadia's visits to Lefevbre arouse the suspicion of Syrian agent Nadim. Debailly digs into Nadia's background, and confronts her as to why she is really in Paris.
- 03
The episode starts with a flashforward of Debailly continuing to explain his story. Nadim investigates Paul Lefevbre, and tells Nadia not to see him again. But he finds them having dinner, and interrogates Lefevbre. Nadia confesses her true reason for being in Paris, and Debailly realises that their relationship puts her in danger. Meanwhile, Reza starts to flirt with Marina, and she has to rebuff his advances. DGSE tries to find out if the Algerians are holding Cyclone, and must stop his mother travelling there to search for him.
- 04
Debailly continues to investigate the leads on Cyclone. Nadim traces Debailly's daughter Prune and starts asking about him. Marina and another agent force a colleague at the Institute to refuse the secondment to Iran. Debailly realises that the Syrians and Russians are tailing him, and finally tells Duflot about Nadia and her involvement with the Syria talks. Meanwhile, the DGSE identifies who is holding Cyclone for ransom in Algeria.
- 05
Nadia refuses to betray her country, and is angry at Lefevbre's revelations. Ill from the stress of her situation, she confesses to Nadim, and is flown back to Syria. The Russian FSB confronts DGSE and buys its silence. In Algeria, DGSE fails to plant a bug on the General holding Cyclone; Cyclone is handed over to ISIS. Marina is trained to deal with interrogation by Marie-Jeanne, tested by an Iranian agent pretending to be Reza's wife, and offered the Iran secondment. In flashforward, Debailly continues to talk to the CIA; the Americans do not fully believe his story.
- 06
Debailly asks DGSE to help Nadia, but is refused. He attracts the CIA by approaching the Syrians, purporting to represent the Americans, and takes time off to meet the CIA (revealed as the flashforwards shown from Episode Two). Dr Balmes suggests his motivation is not love for Nadia, but craving for the double life he experienced undercover. He agrees to return to the DGSE as a CIA double agent. Meanwhile, Marina disappears in Tbilisi en route to Iran, kidnapped by the Georgian secret service to see from where she seeks help. Cyclone is rescued in an ambush near the border with Mali.
- 07
Marina begins to socialise with young Iranians, including Zamani, the son of a well-connected minister. She finds adapting to the internal politics a challenge. The Americans fail to rescue Nadia in an ambush in Lebanon. Debailly threatens to withdraw co-operation; the CIA retaliates by threatening to betray him, then asks him to make a better offer. Debailly offers to share a prospective DGSE source within Iran's nuclear industry. The DGSE discovers that one of the IS executioners, Boumaza, is a French national.
- 08
Debailly recalls when he first met Nadia, and continues to agonise about her fate. The CIA confirms its interest in Zamani, but Debailly and Marie-Jeanne fall out over Marina's mission; Debailly persuades Deflot to replace her with him as Marina's handler. Debailly tells Marina to get close to Zamani. The Iranian secret police take an interest in Zamani and Marina. The French Government authorises action against Boumaza; Cyclone cultivates the jihadist's family, and Sisteron poses as a supportive lawyer. Duflot continues to hunt for the mole inside the Bureau. Nadia is held prisoner in Syria.
- 09
Debailly is prisoner of IS in Iraq. DGSE asks Nadia to negotiate his release through an intermediary Shahanah, a corrupt art dealer, and promises her an EU Deputy Commissioner position in return for her help. Sisteron is sent to Iraq to meet Kurdish fighters and rescue him, but their attempt to do so during a sandstorm fails. He finds an SNCF railway points diagram left behind by IS, which DGSE believes is an attempt by 'Cochise', someone senior within IS, to communicate with them. Meanwhile Marina is working as a seismologist and is still traumatised by her experiences in Iran.
- 10
Chased by the DGSE and the CIA all the way to Moscow, Malotru tries to negotiate his return to France. The DGSE’s new head of Internal Security, JJA, initiates a full-spectrum audit of The Bureau and its new chief Marie-Jeanne, with the clear-cut intention of severing a few heads in the process.
- 11
Under Karlov’s watchful gaze, Malotru initiates Ellenstein’s recruitment. At the DGSE, Sisteron suspects that Cesar is not ready to go on a mission and will not be able to hold his legend undercover. Back in Raqqa, still under Daesh’s occupation, Jonas and Jean-Paul join a battalion of Yazidi women to track down Iode 3.
- 12
In Moscow, Malotru welcomes César, who has taken Ellenstein’s identity. Back in Damascus, the Syrian authorities refuse to let either Jonas or Jean-Paul access the morgue, where Iode 3’s body most likely lies.
- 13
Sisteron warns Marina that her cover has been blown, but that her arrest could help on another crucial assignment. Meanwhile, Malotru parts ways with Samara and comes back to France, where he is to be held in solitary confinement. Back in Syria, Jonas has lost Iode 3’s track and must turn to artificial intelligence to try and find him.
- 14
Mikhaïl Karlov receives a parcel with the USB key which Sylvain uses at work. Both surprised and worried, he tries to reach the young hacker and learns that the young man is on a mission in Seoul. Meanwhile, Alexis Bakatine, the head of security at the FSB, is continuing his investigation into the spy "Black September" in order to find out if Pavel is a double agent.
- 15
Marie-Jeanne presents her candidacy to succeed Michel Ponte as director of the service. An Uzbek tourist in Paris finds a weapon. Is he part of Mikhail's revenge?
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