WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Nevers, Episode 3, “Ignition,” which premiered Sunday on HBO.
On last week’s episode of The Nevers, Inspector Frank Mundi revealed that Mary Brighton, who was kidnapped by Maladie, the Touched serial killer he’s pursuing, was once his fiancée. In fact, she left him at the altar about a year prior to the events of the show, and Mundi doesn’t seem to have gotten over her decision to walk away from him, especially since she did it in such an abrupt and public manner. However, this week’s episode, “Ignition,” spotlights a revelation about Mundi that explains why Mary called off the wedding and the reason Mundi has had difficulty accepting her choice.
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When Mundi arrives at his office, there’s a note with an address and the word “Now” written on it. No one saw who dropped it off, but Mundi goes to the address anyway. It’s a pub, and he sits there for two hours waiting before he notices a man looking at him. He follows the man to a room in the back and in that room is Hugo Swann.
Mundi previously questioned Swann right after Maladie kidnapped Mary at the opera. During their exchange, Mundi seemed to be deeply contemptuous of Swann. He reacts with equal exasperation to Swann’s setup for this latest encounter, and in the course of their conversation, the true reason Mundi is so angry at Swann comes out.
Swann brings up Mundi and Mary’s engagement and ponders the reason Mary ultimately didn’t go through with the wedding, observing Mary may have realized she couldn’t give Mundi what he wanted; but he adds, he could. Mundi objects that he was drunk, but the implication is clear — Mundi is gay and slept with Swann, although he’s in deep denial about it. Swann mocks him for his fear and when Mundi stalks out, Swann calls after him that Mundi was only drunk the first time they were together.
Later in the episode, Mundi goes to see Mary, and she confirms she knows about Mundi’s sexual orientation. She tells him he’s a good man, but she laments that he hates this part of himself. The implication is that, because Mundi refused to acknowledge his sexuality, Mary had to be the one to walk away from the relationship.
Nonetheless, Mary still seems to feel a warm affection for Mundi, while Mundi views Mary as the one who got away. As a result, he asks to be there when she amplifies her song to the Touched of London. He seems hopeful that he might be able to hear it. If he does, this would mean he is Touched too, giving him and Mary something in common. Unfortunately, things don’t turn out that way. Instead, Mary is murdered in the middle of her song, a devastating tragedy that will surely leave Mundi with one more regret.
Created by Joss Whedon, The Nevers stars Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Ann Skelly, Ben Chaplin, Pip Torrens, Zackary Momoh, Amy Manson, Nick Frost, Rochelle Neil, Eleanor Tomlinson and Denis O’Hare. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
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