'Tehran' Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: What Happened To The Owl?

The penultimate episode of Tehran season 3 was adrenaline inducing! On one hand, we have Eric Peterson, determined to perfect the nuclear weapon, and on the other, we have Mossad giving their all to stop the Iranians from becoming a nuclear power. Although Tehran is an Israeli production, what it does really well is repeatedly remind the audience that in this geopolitical desperation for power, death is always the price that has to be paid. The foot soldiers, in this case the agents, have to follow instructions regardless of whether they agree with them or not. And often their actions are the reason behind immense guilt and sleepless nights. More than anything, the show focuses on individuals and their personal struggles as they get trapped in the war for power. 

Spoiler Alert

Why is Ramin working with the CIA?

Within the first few minutes of season 3, episode 7, Ramin Ghasemi revealed that he’d been working for the CIA (of course, it’s not a geopolitical drama without the CIA joining in at the last minute!), and he told Tamar and the Owl that they were basically on the same side. The CIA had sabotaged the components that Ramin had delivered, but they didn’t consider the possibility that Peterson could recognize the malware and get rid of it. Yulia confirmed that Ramin wasn’t lying; she had been in talks with a CIA agent who confirmed that they’d installed a virus on the circuit board of the firing set Ramin had smuggled. The live bomb would have been destroyed if things had gone according to plan, but now they doubted if that would even be possible. Tamar believed that Shaparak had already suspected there was something wrong with the firing circuit, and considering Peterson was an expert in the field, they feared that he must have taken Shaparak’s warning quite seriously. Considering the malware code was well hidden, Mossad figured that Peterson would need some time to directly access the system. In the meantime, Yulia advised Tamar to travel to the secret research unit at the Andisheh Institute where Shaparak Nouri worked and access data on the bomb’s component directly from the lab. The CIA was responsible for finding a way to let Tamar and Ramin enter the secret research unit, so they started a fire to keep the security distracted. On their way to the facility, Ramin had mentioned that he wasn’t really ‘working’ for anyone. He had been collaborating with the CIA because they shared the same goal: to destroy the Iranian regime. Just like Issa, Ramin too despised the regime, just that their methods were different. 

How did Peterson figure out Shaparak was in trouble?

After Tamar made it to the lab, hacked into the system Shaparak worked from, and tried to download the suppression code, Peterson and his team received an authorization warning. Tamar’s job was to install a suppression code so that Peterson and his team wouldn’t find the bug. But Peterson was a step ahead of Mossad and the CIA. He knew if he made a single error while analyzing the components, it could either trigger an explosion or render the part useless, which also meant that the Iranian regime wouldn’t trust Peterson again. But Peterson trusted Shaparak completely, and he didn’t think her warning would be completely baseless. As soon as the warning notification popped up for one of the components, Peterson immediately figured that someone else was trying to access it now that they already suspected that there was something wrong with the component. Peterson contacted Shaparak, and the Owl strictly asked her to pretend as if everything was alright. He said that his men had followed her daughter to school, so if she didn’t do as she was asked, her daughter would have to pay the price for it. Shaparak received the call and explained that she was running an analysis that Peterson had asked for. She was asked to verify her identity by responding to a code. As soon as Shaparak mentioned ‘Dabestan,’ Peterson knew that she was in trouble and she wasn’t the one who’d requested the authorization. Now of course, the Owl had no idea that ‘Dabestan’ was the code for danger, so he’d assumed that Shaparak had complied, though he had trouble accepting that Shaparak had accepted defeat without a fight. Faraz had even sent his men to the secret research unit at the Andisheh Institute, although they were asked not to fire yet. The idea was to let Tamar take the lead, and as soon as they would try to access a component and install the suppression code, Peterson would delete the malware. And well, the plan worked, and Peterson got rid of the malware. 

What caused the Owl’s death?

Since the Iranian authorities already knew that they would find the Mossad agents at Andisheh Institute and Shaparak’s apartment, they’d sent the military to execute them. Tamar and Ramin had no choice but to abort their mission. They somehow managed to escape from the institute through the backdoor without being noticed by the security or the military group that had been sent to get them. Tamar had already informed the Owl of the situation. He grabbed hold of Shaparak and demanded to know what she’d done, but she continued to act innocent. She begged him to spare her but the Owl was convinced that Shaparak was the reason why they had to abort their mission. He dragged her near the window, and immediately a sniper shot him. He was wounded, and he fell to the ground. 

At the end of Tehran episode 7, Shaparak grabbed a gun that was lying on the floor. She looked down at the Mossad agent with disgust. This was the man who’d killed her husband right in front of her (this explains why the Owl was apprehensive about entering the apartment), and she was finally about to get her revenge. She revealed that the code signalled Peterson and his team that she was in danger. Just when she was about to pull the trigger, the Owl blew her head off with another gun that he had on him. When Tamar found out that the Owl/Nissan wouldn’t make it out of the apartment alive, she broke down. In a short span of time, the Owl had become a father figure in Tamar’s life. He always looked out for her because he had walked the same path, and he knew how challenging it was. He had decided to retire after this job, but clearly fate had some other plan. In the end, the Owl revealed that he was the one who’d made the bomb that killed Milad. He admitted that he had no idea who the bomb was for, and Tamar didn’t hold any grudges against him. As an agent, she was well aware of how helpless they often are, and that in most cases they don’t really have a choice. She didn’t hold the Owl responsible for Milad’s death; Mossad would’ve gotten rid of him regardless. The Owl faced the Iranian military holding guns in both his hands before being shot. His dream of living a life of peace remained unfulfilled, though in the end, he accepted that a brutal death had always been his destiny, to pay for the countless lives that he’d taken. Tamar went back to Owl’s den with Ramin, and she offered her prayers for the peaceful departure of Nissan’s soul. 

Is Nahid finally free?

Tamar kept her promise. She had seen the desperation in Nahid’s eyes when they had briefly crossed paths, and she knew that she had to help her regardless of how unreliable her husband was. She’d sent Nahid an address and mentioned that this was her escape. Faraz had guards posted outside their apartment, so Nahid couldn’t step outside. She figured she had to find another way. She contacted Behrouz, who was eager to find dirt on Faraz, and he was convinced that only his wife could explain what really happened to Marjan Montazeri. She lured him to her apartment, and he was foolish enough to assume that she would confide in him just to get away from Faraz. Behrouz managed to convince the guards to let him take Nahid outside for a few hours for urgent business. He added that Faraz had personally asked him to do so and the ‘urgent business’ was related to Nahid’s mental health (therefore it needed to be hushed up). The guard assumed it must be important and allowed Behrouz to leave with Nahid. As they left in his car, Nahid asked him to take the road close to the park that Tamar had mentioned in her text. She wondered if someone would storm in and rescue her, but she figured she had to save herself. When the car got stuck in the road, she realized it was the right time to run for her life. She hurriedly stepped out of the car and ran to the park. Behrouz wanted to follow her, but he couldn’t just leave his car in the middle of the road! Nahid found the tombstone that was mentioned in the text, and she discovered a phone that was concealed behind it. As soon as she turned it on, a location popped up, and she decided to go there. 

It took Nahid a lot of courage to do what she was doing. She was blindly trusting a Mossad agent, hoping she would do for her what her husband had failed to. Although Tamar was ‘technically’ her enemy, they were united by womanhood that was far more integral than geopolitics. When Nahid arrived at the location, she discovered it was a shelter for women. She finally felt at ease knowing that she no longer had to be afraid of being found. She wanted to be forgotten like most of the women at the shelter, because only then could she be free. Tamar had Nahid’s passport ready, and all she had to do was decide where she wanted to go. Presumably, Nahid will travel to Norway and temporarily live with her sister until she finds a way to sustain herself. When Faraz learned that his wife had escaped, he wasn’t exactly surprised. He was forcefully trying to keep her in Iran, but hopefully deep down, even he knew how unfair it was to her. Faraz might try to track down Tamar to find out where Nahid is, but hopefully he will not try to lock her in his apartment again! Now that the malware is deleted, will Iran become a nuclear power with Peterson’s help? Or will the CIA and Mossad come up with a genius plan in the finale to stop that from happening? We’ll have to wait for another week to find out!

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