'War' Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Did Johnny Try To Save Carla?

In episode 3 of War, Gabriel, Carla’s biological son and Morgan’s stepson, learnt about the fact that his parents were getting a divorce. He was heartbroken to learn that Morgan had cheated on Carla but some part of him hoped that it was the opposite because he liked Morgan more than Carla. But when Morgan admitted that he had in fact cheated on Carla, Gabriel went on a bender at his friend Thibault’s house. Carla got worried when she saw her son’s social media posts and tried to get Morgan to help her find him before he hurt himself or something. On Smallwood’s order, Morgan didn’t respond to Carla’s call. Hence, Carla had to seek Johnny’s help. Johnny had to attend a black-tie event with Bella but he went off with Carla to get Gabriel, who by the way had gotten into a fight with Thibault because he was insulting Morgan and Carla. Johnny, a child of divorce, gave some sage advice to Gabriel so that he didn’t lose his sanity because of his parents’ actions. Speaking of the divorce, it reached the arbitration stage (there was a whole thing about choosing the arbitrator). Cathcarts wanted to protect the prenup and reach a settlement, meanwhile Taylor & Byrne wanted to destroy the prenup and wanted Morgan to cough up half a billion pounds as reparations for the sacrifices Carla had made to keep the family functional. Gillian and Steven advised Morgan to move his assets to Gillian’s account so that Carla didn’t have any basis to ask for that kind of money, but Morgan deliberated on that. In the meantime, Michael and Nora learnt that Carla had never rejected any high-profile roles for the sake of her family; which meant that she wasn’t exactly in a position to ask for half a billion pounds. So, Serena decided to take a different approach: painting Morgan as Gabriel’s de facto father; because that’d force him to reveal his assets. Johnny leaked that information to Schill, who passed it on to Smallwood, who ordered Morgan to not fall for that fatherhood trick. However, during the arbitration meeting, when Morgan saw Gabriel, he lost his cool and acted like a “de facto father” would, which prompted the arbitrator, Rachel, to cancel the prenup. Hence, Morgan gave Gillian the go-ahead to move his assets to her account. What happened next? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Nicholas Stammers In Front of Smallwood

War episode 4 starts off with the second stage of the arbitration process; if that fails, then they will have to go to court. The entire Cathcarts and Taylor & Byrne teams are present, along with what seems like journalists. But the conversation is supposed to primarily happen between Nicholas and Smallwood, with Rachel doing the mediation. Smallwood immediately destabilises Nicholas by referring to him as “Singer,” a nickname that was assigned to him when Smallwood and Nicholas worked together at Borthwicks. Nicholas tries to give it back to Smallwood but he chooses not to stoop to that level during such an important case. But the damage has already been done and when Nicholas sees the money that Cathcarts is willing to give to Carla as “settlement,” he goes completely off the rails and is unable to string together a sentence. Smallwood smells blood in the water and he keeps referring to Nicholas as “Singer” until Nicholas decides to bring this meeting to a close. Nicholas, Serena, and Carla head to the nearest restaurant to talk about this debacle; Carla doesn’t mince her words when she says that she is disappointed with Taylor & Byrne and is strongly considering firing them. Back at the Taylor & Byrne HQ, the topic of the discussion between Nora, Michael, Saeed, and Johnny is Nicholas bumbling around in the meeting. They don’t mock him too much because he is their boss afterall, and they go back to evaluating Morgan and Zephyr’s assets so that they can counter the settlement money they are offering and get closer to that half a billion pound mark. Johnny discovers Morgan and Gillian’s social media interactions with Ancker (the businessman mentioned in the first episode), and Nora theorizes that maybe Morgan is planning to sell Zephyr to Ancker. Michael tells Johnny to head to the restaurant where Nicholas and Serena are having a meeting with Carla and pass on that info to them. By the time Johnny gets there, the meeting is already over as both Carla and Serena have walked out (Johnny catches both Carla and Serena as they are leaving and he flirts a bit with Carla) because of Nicholas’ odd, clammed-up behavior. So, Johnny is left with no other choice to do his debriefing with Nicholas.

Nicholas’ Stammering Backstory Is Revealed

Beatrice meets up with Schill and Smallwood, who inform her about the internal strife between Nicholas and Serena because of his performance at the arbitration meeting. Beatrice seemingly doesn’t care all about that because she wants both parties to reach a settlement and avoid going to court. Schill and Smallwood disagree with Beatrice because they think that Cathcarts can get Taylor & Byrne to accept what can only be seen as chump change because Nicholas is afraid of facing Smallwood. This is where the Singer reference is explained. Apparently, when Nicholas had joined Borthwicks, Smallwood had thrown him off the deep end with a rather difficult case. That gave him some kind of PTSD, which manifested as a stammering problem. Nicholas had to work with a speech consultant, who advised him to sing when he wanted to speak; hence he got the name Singer. And it seems like Schill and Smallwood are hoping that the traumatized Nicholas is going to compel Taylor & Byrne to accept whatever Cathcarts is offering them so that he won’t have to face Smallwood every other day. There’s another issue: Taylor & Byrne aren’t doing well financially. Bernard, the chief accountant, informs Nicholas that since the whole office is focusing on the Carla-Morgan case, they are not accepting any other cases; no other cases means they are banking completely on whatever payout they are going to get at the end of the proceedings. If they keep haemorrhaging money and lose the case, they will have to shut shop. If they reach a settlement and restart taking new cases, they will survive. There’s the third option, of course, which is winning the Carla-Morgan case, but currently, that looks like a major longshot. On his way out of the office, Nicholas tells Saeed to summarize everything that Michael has discovered about Zephyr and Morgan, and send it to everyone via email. Since Saeed has been spending so much time in office, he has not been able to give his roommate or partner, Philip, the attention they need. Which also means that he doesn’t have the time to go out partying with Molly. Molly says that Ancker’s executive assistant’s executive assistant frequents the place where she and friends go to party; so, if Saeed is interested in seducing that guy and extracting some info about the ongoing case, he can.

Someone Is Spying On Morgan And Carla

While Carla is away, Morgan goes to her house to seemingly pick up a polaroid photograph. As he is looking for that picture, he is talking to Gillian about the assets transfer, which is taking a lot of time; Gillian assures her that it’ll be done by the time an official evaluation of his finances are done. Morgan hangs up on Gillian, takes the polaroid, and walks out. That’s when he notices Carla coming back home. So, he texts her from a spot where she can’t see him, asking her if she wants to grab a drink with him. Of course Carla lies to him about being on the other side of town because why the hell would she “grab a drink” with him after his team humiliated her that very morning? Is Morgan an idiot? Yes, he is. Anyway, unbeknownst to both Morgan and Carla, someone is seemingly taking photos of the both of them, texting each other from a distance. I don’t know who that is and the identity of this mystery photographer isn’t revealed in this episode; maybe it’ll be revealed in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the focus of the episode shifts to Saeed, who has logged off work and joined Molly and her friends at the club. In between drinks and dancing, Saeed notices Smallwood trying to “get it on” with a young guy, who rebukes Smallwood and walks away. Saeed approaches Smallwood to help him not feel bad for being rejected, but Smallwood’s ego is so massive that he scoffs at Saeed’s empathy and walks away. Hence, Saeed goes searching for Molly, who introduces him to Noah, the executive assistant of Ancker’s executive assistant. After Molly leaves, Saeed and Noah hook up. The episode jarringly cuts to Nicholas and Serena’s house where Serena is sleeping peacefully while Nicholas can’t get a wink of sleep because he is still embarrassed about the Singer situation.

Nicholas Stammers Again

Before heading out to the next round of the arbitration process, Nicholas and Serena get into an argument because Nicholas wants Taylor & Byrne to accept whatever Cathcarts is giving them, but Serena wants to make sure that they come out of this case as winners. Nicholas tries to explain that taking Cathcarts to court won’t be a wise decision, however Serena is in no mood to listen to logic; she just wants to beat Cathcarts and she advises Nicholas to get over his trauma. Cathcarts, Rachel, and Taylor & Byrne sit down for the meeting, but they are forced to wait because Morgan and Carla haven’t arrived yet. Speaking of Morgan and Carla, they cross paths in the elevator, which is where Carla asks Morgan why he served her the divorce papers on her big movie premiere night. Morgan pins the blame on Cathcarts but Carla doesn’t exactly buy it. On that note, they head to the meeting room. Nicholas states that Taylor & Byrne has rejected Cathcarts’ offer because they think that 315 million pounds is the amount that Carla should be paid. That obviously starts a heated exchange between the two parties, and instead of sticking to facts, Smallwood restarts his Singer business with Nicholas; for a man named Smallwood, it’s brave of him to be such a bully; or maybe it’s the fact that his name is Smallwood that he is such a bully. Anyway, Nicholas gets derailed yet again, and on Carla’s request, Serena jumps into the conversation and makes a compelling statement about Morgan’s net worth. Beatrice uses some word salad to deflect the point, but thankfully Rachel doesn’t fall for that nonsense and instead tells both parties to rethink the amount they want as settlement and reconvene later. If they can’t do that, they’ll have to go to court. As they are heading out of the building, Morgan, Carla, Rachel, and Michael take the same elevator, and Carla loudly states that she has a right to Zephyr’s profits because she is the one who came up with the idea for the company. Meanwhile, Beatrice approaches Serena to apologize for what Smallwood is doing to Nicholas, appreciates Serena’s intervention, and wishes Serena all the best for the baby. Morgan heads home and starts writing a note for Carla.

Saeed Makes An Important Breakthrough

At Taylor & Byrne HQ, Nicholas takes out his anger (that he has been experiencing for not being able to stand up to Smallwood) on Saeed because he has clocked in a bit too late. Saeed justifies his tardiness by revealing to Nicholas that he wasn’t just hooking up with Noah, Ancker’s executive assistant’s executive assistant; he was also extracting important information from him because Noah doesn’t care if he loses his job or not. And that important info is that Ancker wants to acquire Zephyr. However, conversations on that topic are currently on hold because Morgan is “cleaning house,” which basically translates to Morgan transferring his shares to Gillian. By doing so, Morgan might be going against Zephyr’s board members who do want to sell the company to Ancker. Nicholas obviously finds that to be incredibly impressive and gives a healthy pat on Saeed’s back. Instead of simply accepting the appreciation, Saeed turns that into a teaching moment for Nicholas and advises him to treat Saeed as more than his errand boy. Nicholas accepts that advice and then calls Budgie for a chat. In the meantime, Smallwood pays Morgan a visit. Morgan tells him to read what he has written for Carla and essentially orders Smallwood to give Carla the 315 million pounds that she wants. Smallwood says that he won’t allow it, tears up the heartfelt letter, and reveals the fact that Carla had tasked Flora with honey trapping Morgan. That floors Morgan and as he processes that, Smallwood leaves. Going back to Nicholas, he meets up with Budgie to tell him to get a Mareva injunction. Given how this injunction will stop Morgan from selling or hiding any assets–which is something that Morgan is doing currently–Budgie warns her that Cathcarts will definitely take Taylor & Byrne to court and then pull every dirty move in the book to hurt Carla. Nicholas gives Budgie the go-ahead to file the injunction (without consulting Serena, by the way).

Johnny Is Conflicted About Carla Going To Court

Nicholas meets Smallwood at his office and says that he is “applying” for a Mareva injunction (which is a white lie because Nicholas has already applied for the injunction). Nicholas advises Smallwood to not take this to court because the proceedings will tamper Morgan’s image. Without explicitly stating it, Smallwood says that he knows about the whole Flora affair; which means that a full-fledged trial will be detrimental to the public image of both parties. Hence, Smallwood asks Nicholas to start bidding on the settlement money. Nicholas brings the original amount to 280 million pounds, but Smallwood says that Carla won’t see anything more than 110 million pounds. Nicholas rejects that offer (which means that they are going to court), goes home, tells Serena everything that he has done in the past few hours; and yeah, instead of getting angry at Nicholas for making all these bold decisions without consulting her, she is actually happy that Nicholas has started to exhibit leadership qualities in this crunch situation. The following day, Johnny arrives at the office and learns from Molly that they are going to court, and also that Taylor & Byrne’s financials are shaky. So, Johnny heads to Bernard’s office and he’s almost caught red-handed looking at Bernard’s spreadsheet about the company’s financial data. Bernard tasks Johnny with delivering a litigation form to Carla. While he is taking the form from the company printer, he steals a copy of that spreadsheet. On his way to Carla’s house, he sends the picture of that spreadsheet to Schill, so that Cathcarts knows that Taylor & Byrne are haemorrhaging money. 

In episode 4’s ending, Johnny sits down with Carla to get her to sign that litigation form. As Johnny is giving some sage advice to Carla about the importance of going to court, things get a little romantic between them. And that somehow compels Carla to go ahead and sign the papers. However, right before Carla puts pen to paper, Johnny kind of tries to keep her from doing so, and after Carla signs the litigation form, Johnny silently stares at the framed pictures of Morgan that are lying in a corner of the house. What does that sequence of actions mean? Well, Johnny knows that Carla and Taylor & Byrne are not coming out of this situation unscathed. In fact, they will probably lose everything if they go to court. That’s why he initially convinces Carla to sign the form. However, after that kiss, the honest side of him leaps out and he tries to keep Carla from signing the form. Unfortunately, the damage has been done and, regardless of how the court case goes, Johnny will end up being the loser. If Cathcarts wins, his romance with Carla is over. If Taylor & Byrne wins, Schill will probably have him killed and he’ll need to tell the truth to Carla about his role in this legal affair, and that’ll also lead to the death of his affair with Carla. Well, at least that’s how I interpret those closing moments. If you have any other take on that scene, please, let me know in the comments section below.

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