Upamanyu Biswas
The final episode of ‘Prime Target,’ titled ‘The Key,’ finally reveals the full picture behind the prime finder and the people chasing after it. After weeks of mysterious subterfuge and working in the dark, Edward finally gets the answers he craves, only to realize that maybe he was better off not knowing. His defining characteristic throughout the series has been an obsession with his mathematical proof. However, after the events of episode 7 and Professor Osborne’s death, the young scholar realizes that some truths are best kept hidden. With Axiorn, Jane, Carter, and Kaplar chasing after him, Edward must decide whether to fight or flee with Taylah by his side. The decision proves to be a difficult one, especially when considering the costly price of knowledge. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Prime Target Episode 8 Recap
Episode 8 begins with a flashback to Professor James Alderman’s past, where we see him as a student at Stanford University in 1975. He proposes the idea of encrypting all of the world’s secrets using a system he devised that uses two keys. In the present-day timeline, Edward and Taylah retreat from the watchful eyes of Axiorn by taking refuge in the former’s old room at Darnell College. Edward expresses guilt over Professor Osborne’s recent passing and his part in the incident. He realizes that his fixation on discovering the prime finder, no matter what led to Osborne’s death. While Axiorn may be responsible for the collateral damage that has been left behind, he feels that it all stems from his stubbornness and inability to give up on the theorem earlier.
Edward tells Taylah that it is time for them to fight back against the entities after them. With the prime finder in their grasp, they are more than capable of taking down the corrupt branch of the NSA from the outside without having to resort to violence. However, they require help to make the first step. Fortunately, a means to success arrives at their doorstep when Fiona, a friend of Edward’s, stops by his room and sees him hanging about with Taylah. She has been visiting the room ever so often with the hope that her friend may return someday, especially after he left so unceremoniously. Edward tries to assure her that he is all right and that Taylah has been helping him. As such, he also tasks Fiona with an important job, one that will set in motion their counterattack against Axiorn.
Prime Target Ending: Edward and Taylah Take Down Jane and Kaplar Institute
Fiona heads to the Darnell library, where she logs into a computer system and leaves it open for Taylah to come find. Once Taylah has access to the network, she begins using the prime finder to access the deep structures of Kaplar and Axiorn. Meanwhile, Edward burns the notebook with the prime finder theorem and heads outside. Jane and her lackeys try to find Edward’s whereabouts from the Kaplar Institute facility in Cambridge, monitoring every single surveillance camera they can find in the neighborhood. Eventually, they locate the young scholar on Trinity Lane. However, unbeknownst to them, Edward is creating a diversion to afford Taylah the time to break into Kaplar’s network and extract every piece of information she can find.
The plan works out expertly as the group of Kaplar thugs arrive on Trinity Lane only to lose sight of Edward, who gets on a cycle and rides away. Meanwhile, Stephen Nield and Jane notice that their Kaplar network is breached by an unknown entity, and their control is locked away permanently. Jane immediately realizes that this is the work of Taylah and the prime finder. Nield manages to triangulate Taylah’s location at Darnell College, and Jane heads there herself to confront the girl. However, by the time she makes it to the library computer, Taylah is already gone, and the secrets of Kaplar, including Jane’s involvement in the entire affair, have been exposed to the public media. She rips away the wires from the computer in anger as Taylah sends her a location address for a final meeting.
With Kaplar and Axiorn’s identity compromised, those involved in the plot start abandoning their post and clearing office immediately. Jane heads to the spot designated by Taylah, which happens to be a serene wind farm. The two have a conversation about their differences, and Jane states that she still loves Taylah. However, those bridges have been burned permanently, Jane’s corruption is now exposed to the world, and Taylah is the one who orchestrated her downfall. Jane tells Taylah that regardless of the young girl’s small victory, it still means nothing, as Edward has been turned into a fugitive by the NSA and will never be able to go back to his normal life once the smoke clears.
Why is James Alderman After the Prime Finder?
Once Axiorn is exposed, Edward heads to Professor Andrea’s house to reconvene over the events of the past few days. He also tells her the real truth behind what happened to Mallinder. Andrea receives a phone call from Professor Alderman, who tells her that the police are at Darnell College looking for Edward – a by-product of Jane’s earlier efforts to catch Edward. Andrea reveals the truth to Alderman and takes Edward to his office. Once there, Alderman sends Andrea away while sitting down for a more personal conversation with Edward. In the previous episode, we already learned that Alderman is somehow involved in the whole prime finder search. However, in episode 8, he finally shows his true colors to Edward by revealing his grand plan for the prime finder.
It turns out that Alderman created the public key system he talked about in 1975 and turned it into a reality. However, because of his non-influential position as a scientist, the system was taken away from his hands and used by political figures for their own purposes. He was disappointed at the outcome and felt powerless. As such, he began to search for a way to redress the balance and break open all the security in the world using the prime finder. To that end, he orchestrated the street explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, to expose the Bayt-al-Hikmah site to other scholars like Andrea. He has been pulling the strings behind the scenes to ensure that someone like Edward solves the prime finder theorem and helps him realize his plans for a world revolution that tears apart the current digital infrastructure.
Edward is stunned upon learning the truth about James Alderman’s plans. He realizes that Alderman is driven similarly to him, obsessed with scientific tools with no concern for the human collateral in the path to “progress.” However, unlike Alderman, Edward realizes the dangers of such a mindset now. He refuses Alderman’s vision of the future and decides to leave the facility, even after being offered a professor’s post and safe haven at Darnell. Upon hearing his decision, the latter tells him that if Edward refuses, he will find someone else to carry on the task. At this point, Edward realizes that Alderman will ruin the lives of countless other promising scholars just to make his dream come true. He turns around and shoots Alderman in the head. Andrea and Taylah arrive not long after to take Edward away from the murder scene.
What Happens to the Prime Finder? Does Edward Escape?
Taylah drives Edward to the distant outskirts of the town while Andrea collects the gun from the murder site and runs away. In the car, Edward tells Taylah that he should have simply killed himself after killing Alderman. She discourages this thought process, but Edward reminds her that he still has the prime finder research stored in his head. As such, he will always remain a weapon for those who want to get their hands on the prime finder. Taylah tells him to use it for good before sending him away with the prime finder device. The police arrive on the scene and arrest her while Edward runs off into the sunset. A few days after carrying out an internal inspection into corruption allegations, the NSA promotes Andrew Carter to the post of Director of Operations. Now a fugitive, Edward watches Carter’s press conference under his hood and opens the prime finder on Taylah’s phone.
Although there is no definite conclusion to the final scene, Edward’s last move hints at the fact that he has listened to Taylah’s advice and is now focused on using the prime finder to achieve good things in the world. His meaningful look at Carter’s face on the billboard suggests that he is going to expose the man’s secrets before he can bring more damage. In that way, Edward can slowly and responsibly utilize the prime finder without letting it fall into the hands of the government or selfish individuals who employ it for personal gain. His entire character arc has been focused on him realizing the damage of life obsessing over tools rather than human lives. He saw the extreme version of this mentality in Alderman’s personality. However, he will not make the same mistakes moving forward.
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