Episodes 3 and 4 of The War Between The Land And The Sea move a little bit away from Doctor Who territory into sappy romance territory, but I’m not entirely sure why. While I do appreciate this connection between Barclay and Salt, I don’t see how it makes sense as the direction this particular tale is going in. I think the diplomatic crisis is taking a back seat in the middle of all this because, at the end of the day, the fundamental central premise of this show is the relationship between these two people. Also, this show is literally only 6 episodes long, and to handle such complicated themes in such a short span of time just seems a little bit ridiculous. Everything feels a little bit incomplete, and nothing feels like a fully formed thought. However, the show does a great job visually (despite the lack of color, but that’s just probably because it’s based in London), and I think Gugu Mbatha-Raw is just amazing as Salt. I do think the show is trying too hard to do too many things at once, but we’ll have to wait and see what comes next. With that said, let’s jump straight into episodes 3 and 4.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens To Barclay’s Friends In The Sea?
The War Between The Land And The Sea episode 3 begins with Barclay and a bunch of other people arriving at Blackport, a naval base where they’ll be getting trained for deep-sea diving, amongst other diplomatic endeavors. The team includes military people, scientists, and diplomats picked through a lottery. Of course, time is of the essence, and within a limited period, they need to be trained like professional divers. We’re not talking about ordinary depths; these are uncharted territories, but apparently, Barclay can just demand to go there because he made an agreement for all of humanity. When the day comes, Kirby tells Barclay that there’s literally nothing he can do to save the world, and no matter what, everyone’s going to die, either being killed by the Homo Aqua or because we’re killing ourselves. But they also point out how everyone is calling Barclay a bootlicker (oops). But when they’re hiding away in their room, Barclay breaks down with his ex-wife, finally showing some sign of stress in this whole situation. Of course, he’s afraid too.
Next thing you know, the gang’s up in a helicopter, and a man named Ted, who was all about teamwork up until now, is finally showing cracks. But for some reason, under pressure, Barclay seems to be doing okay, and never truly showing everyone else how worried he is, too. He seems confident and self-assured. Maybe he’s just excited to meet Salt again, eh? The gang includes two scientists, two diplomats, and Austin Pierce. The Indian guy, Ravi, seems to be the most stressed of the lot, like he accidentally won the wrong lottery, but desperately wants to make something of himself, and Ted seems to be the one calming him down at first, at least until they’re in the spherical structure that’s meant to take them deep into the ocean. As soon as they’re inside, that’s when Ted starts to freak out a little bit. He’s also carrying a global diplomatic gift for Salt and her buddies, a wooden globe-like thing.
Meanwhile, Kate shows up to a meeting with international politicians only to find out that she’s late to the party. Everybody is already calling this a war, and it’s clear the businessmen are the ones taking the shots, really. Kate is eager to sort things out, but being called “love” at a global diplomatic meeting was definitely not on her bingo card. Anyway, as soon as she’s gone, the Prime Minister is quickly manipulated into believing that “Severance” is a new plan that’s going to fix all their problems.
But other people are stuck in deeper waters, and suddenly, the vessel going down into the ocean is out of UNIT’s control, and nobody has any idea what’s going on. Still, all Barclay can do is remain calm, and the only one who is at the same level as him is Austin. But when they reach somewhere, we can’t really say it’s the bed of the ocean. As soon as they’re out, they’re in like a membraned cocoon-type thing deep in the ocean, but the temperature seems to be the ideal human temperature. Salt shows up and asks Barclay if he trusts her. He says he does, and she makes him take off the helmet of his suit. Well, what do you know, they can breathe somewhere deep in the ocean. Now, while they’re walking up to where they’re meant to meet more of the Sea Devils, Salt takes Barclay off to the side, and they end up touching each other (not like that!). It appears they’re both madly curious, and there’s also something that connects them; what that is, though, nobody knows. Oh, also, side note, Salt can read Barclay’s thoughts, because apparently, humans think too loud.
In the final moments of episode 3, Ted reveals the diplomatic gift to Salt, but as soon as it comes out, we all know it’s not a gift; it’s a threat to eradicate as many Sea Devils as possible. A declaration of war. Before anything can happen, Barclay throws himself on Salt, and she quickly gets the two of them out of the water, but everyone else, including Pierce, is now dead, and there was no way of saving them. Literally at the same time, back on land, Kate’s love, Ibrahim, who has been begging her to tell everyone about them, tries to save her from being murdered by an unknown sniper and dies just like that, in her stead. Meanwhile, Kate somehow manages to escape the second shot.
What Happens to Salt?
Episode 4 opens with Kate escaping the sniper and Salt and Barclay escaping the ocean with their lips locked. That’s how she saved him, you know? It’s lucky Kate was on the phone with Shirley at the time of being shot, because she immediately takes over operations, making sure UNIT is standing tall in the middle of all of this, despite all politicians wanting nothing but for it to crash and burn. There’s been a massive explosion in the ocean, and everyone is presumed dead, but to make matters worse, there’s a deep-fake of Salt threatening the people of Earth making the rounds, saying that this is now officially a war, and oh, also that she was the one who made the explosion happen, i.e., to kill everyone. But I guess the masterminds behind Severance didn’t realize there would be any survivors in all of this, especially not Barclay, number 1 Homo Aqua fan.
The duo is saved by UNIT, and Barclay tells Kate everything that’s gone down and requests to speak to Salt. But Kate can’t help him there, because Salt is a fugitive, trapped on a truck. Now comes some interesting information: it wasn’t politicians trying to take Kate out, despite her being an obstacle in their big plans; it’s a group of billionaires, who call themselves “The Institute.” In typical fashion, they believe the fish people are going to take over their lives, so the only plan here is to eradicate them completely, and Kate would never let that happen. Now, it seems there might be some kind of misleading information here, because the prime minister’s friend, Keith, is involved with Ted as well as Kate’s would-be assassin, so the American general is sent to fix the matter, which means Keith is immediately found dead, but this also has me wondering if it’s all been conspired by the American general anyway.
Now, Barclay essentially steals the truck that Salt is trapped on and drives it backwards, effectively throwing the metal box straight into the ocean and jumping into it himself after her. But it appears that Salt can’t be in the ocean either, because she’s now a wanted fugitive back home, too. She let other people die and ran away with Barclay, which means she’s being disowned, and we find this out from Tide, the new guy who shows up at the diplomatic talks. He’s way sterner than Salt and cuts down the timeline for the humans to fix everything to 5 years. Additionally, humans have to find Salt and bring her to them immediately. His threat is that they will turn everything into rust if things aren’t done in accordance with what he’s said (yikes).
Anyway, on the other hand, as we expected, now that Salt and Barclay are completely alone and hiding, after Salt’s fascination with glass, the duo end up getting together, because what’s left to do, I guess. But during their time together, Salt reveals that she will end up swimming alone like a soulless shark if she goes back to the ocean, now that she has essentially abandoned her kind. After all of this funny business, Barclay and Salt come up with a plan; they will go to North Wales, a no-man’s-land sort of place, and Salt can survive in the lakes and waterfalls. She’s excited to become the witch of the waterfalls.
Barclay and Salt then pretend to be evil and steal a phone from a teenager in a tunnel (love how she’s excited to be hissing). Barclay calls Kirby and asks them to help get in touch with their mom. Unfortunately, Barbara’s already part of a military plan, and they’ve overheard the whole conversation. At the same time, Kate (after finally getting a moment to grieve) learns that the video is, in fact, a deepfake, which means Salt is fully innocent. This means UNIT has to now protect Salt and Barclay, but unfortunately, they’re already surrounded by soldiers who tracked them from the call with Barbara.
Episode 4 of The War Between The Land And The Sea ends with Salt screeching into the air so everyone has to immediately clutch their ears, giving her enough time to escape. Somehow, in a Troy and Gabriella-esque moment, Barclay tells her to “Go,” and she jumps into the ocean, just as he runs after her, being held by soldiers, saying he’ll never let her swim alone (how sweet). I guess the moral of the story here is that Barclay’s just a very sentimental guy, eh? Now, it’s clear the American general and Severance are a bad thing, but we don’t know much more about it, and we have to wait for UNIT to find out, but hopefully it won’t be too late and Salt and Barclay can actually have their happy ending.
