'War' Episode 1 Recap & Ending Explained: Is Johnny Cathcarts' Mole?

Episode 1 of War starts off with Morgan Henderson receiving the Pioneer of the Year award (somewhere in London) for “reshaping the social media landscape.” While he is giving his speech on the stage, a girl in a golden dress attracts his attention and he keeps glancing at her throughout the afterparty. As he is heading to his hotel room, the woman gets off on his floor and introduces herself to him as Flora. Morgan, who is married to actress Carla Duval, says that he doesn’t partake in casual flings. So, Flora advises him to just say “goodnight” and part ways. Morgan technically does that but he leaves the door to his room ajar, which is interpreted by Flora as a sign to “come in,” thereby leading to a one night stand. The following day, while Morgan is still asleep, Flora takes a selfie of herself with him. Then she calls up Carla and says that “it’s done.” Which means that this wasn’t a random encounter; it was a trap that Carla had arranged for and Morgan fell right into it. But why would Carla do such a thing? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Meet Johnny

Before getting to the stuff between Morgan and Carla, we are introduced to budding lawyer, Johnny Christopher Warren. He is seen giving an interview to Cathcarts & Sons HR, Schill, and he straight-up advises him to hire him on the spot because, apparently, he is so talented that whoever recruits him will get a promotion. We don’t see what Schill’s response is but Johnny walks out of the office with a confused expression on his face and then heads to his regular workplace: the restaurant, which is where he works as a server. All his colleagues over there are aware that he has been trying to get a job at a law firm for the past three months but he hasn’t seen a lot of success. One of his coworkers advised him to not get too good at waiting tables because then he’ll start seeing this job as his safety net and never truly make the leap to become a lawyer. Later on, Johnny goes with his girlfriend, Bella Croft, to meet some of her friends who are in the legal profession, Sophie Cole, Angus Cole, Shona, and Drew. Since Johnny is good with words, he manages to impress everyone in the group, and that doesn’t go down well with Angus because he is a narcissist. So, he attacks Johnny’s weak spot: his employment. Bella informs the room that Johnny recently gave an interview at Cathcarts and Sophie says that they will be lucky to have him. That also rubs Angus the wrong way and he whisks everyone, with the exception of Johnny, out of the dining room to smoke a joint. On their way home, before Johnny can pass any comments about the party and its hosts, Bella states that Angus is one of her oldest friends. Johnny points out that Angus has a thing for Bella, which is something that Bella denies. Johnny says that Sophie is actually embarrassed of having Johnny by her side, which is why she keeps speaking on his behalf all the time. Bella doesn’t exactly deny that but Johnny understands that she just wants to stop working at the bar and really try to become a lawyer. Hence, Johnny punctures the tension between them with a joke and Bella accepts the gesture of truce.

Johnny Reveals That He Has Been Hired 

The day after that tense party at Angus and Sophie’s house, Johnny goes back to his work at the restaurant and, all of a sudden, he gets sexually harassed by a woman. Johnny brushes it off with a smile but after his shift is over, he takes off his uniform, puts on his suit, and aggressively starts attending interviews because he knows that he can’t do that job anymore. At the end of the day, Johnny retires to Bella’s house, where she is warmly welcomed by her mother, Harriet. This is where Johnny learns that Bella is planning to host a dinner party for the Coles, and she has already decided that Johnny will do the cooking. Harriet asks Johnny about how his job hunt is going and Johnny makes it clear that he is not struggling at all. Harriet assures him that the Crofts aren’t the type of people who judge a person based on the job they hold. It’s evident that she means to treat Johnny with kindness but Johnny finds it to be a bit odd that the Crofts have already embraced the notion that Johnny is going to be a server for the rest of his life. During what ends up being Johnny’s last shift at the restaurant, he runs into Angus and his friends, who have arrived there with the sole purpose of mocking Johnny. Johnny tries his best to be cordial with Angus, but when he goes overboard with his taunts, Johnny punches him in the nose. After being fired from the restaurant, Johnny checks his phone for a voicemail; we don’t hear its contents but we see him going to the Crofts with a smile on his face. As soon as he enters Bella’s house, he gets blasted by Bella for assaulting Angus. Bella says that this ruins the purpose of the aforementioned dinner plan because over the course of that party, she would have pitched Johnny to Angus, who would have used his clientele to help Johnny kickstart his career. Johnny thinks that it’s preposterous that Bella wants him to take help from that tool like Angus. Bella reminds Johnny that they are in London because he messed things up in New York. That’s when Johnny reveals that he has got a callback from Taylor & Byrne. Which means that he punched Angus because he didn’t need to depend on him to build his future. That actually puts a smile on Bella’s face.

Carla Has Framed Morgan

Carla is seen promoting the third movie that she is doing with Jeremy in Paris. As she is wrapping up her interview, her assistant, Lucy, welcomes a couple of lawyers, Nicholas Taylor and Serena Byrne (together they form the law firm Taylor & Byrne), and takes them to a room where Carla will meet them. While waiting for Carla to arrive, Nicholas tells Serena that they should say “no” to whatever case the actress is going to embroil them because he thinks it’s unprofessional for Carla to purposefully try and trap Morgan in an extramarital affair while they are in the middle of separating from one another. Serena says that they won’t do that because, at the end of the day, Carla is their client and it’s their job to help her in times of crisis. When Carla finally shows up, Serena tries to make sure that Carla hasn’t actually gone ahead with her plan of using Flora to trap Morgan. But then Carla shows them the photo of Flora and Morgan, which gives Serena and Nicholas an idea of what kind of trouble they are dealing with. Nicholas says that that photo doesn’t hold any legal value but Carla insists that they use that photo and wring Morgan until he doesn’t have a single penny in his bank account. Nicholas is hesitant but Serena accepts the case. At Nicholas and Serena’s London office, Cleo Hyland welcomes someone named Joy “Budgie” Budge. Joy asks the duo regarding Carla’s whereabouts and they tell her that she is still in Paris but she’ll return to London that week. As for the photograph, they assure Joy that they are the only ones who have it. Joy tells her to delete the photograph and tell IT to ensure that that pic has no digital footprint at all. After that, as per Joy, Carla needs to send them that photo again so that they can create a paper trail to show that the firm disapproved of it immediately. Additionally, Carla is disallowed from contacting Flora ever again; well, until the divorce has been finalized. Joy says that the method that Carla has employed to obtain that photograph is regrettable but the fact that it exists does make the case “enjoyable.” When Joy tells that somebody should be taking notes of whatever she is about to say next, Nicholas orders the younglings of the office, Saeed Masood and Antonia, to come to the conference room. Both of them are eager to get in on the action but Saeed beats Antonia to the chase.

Morgan Assumes Carla Is About To Divorce Him

Joy starts creating the narrative: Over the past decade or so, Morgan has not only denied partaking in any extramarital affairs, he has also gaslit Carla into thinking that she’s mad for suggesting that he is an adulterous man. That prompted Carla to set up a honey trap and it’ll be proven by the aforementioned paper trail that she kept it from the firm until after it had happened. That puts the lawyers in the clear and also makes the scandalous picture usable in court. Joy asks Serena if Carla has paid Flora to frame Morgan; Serena confirms that Carla because she and Flora are apparently friends. Serena asks Joy if there’s anything to stop them from serving the divorce papers. Nicholas (who was associated with the firm that had crafted Carla’s prenuptial agreement) says that he wants to break Carla’s prenup agreement because the arrangement involves both parties walking away with what “they brought to the marriage at the time.” The issue is that Carla’s “worth” was more when she married Morgan than it is now; meanwhile, Morgan was “worth” significantly less than he is now. Nick and Serena want that to reflect in the divorce proceedings, and they want to do it before Cathcarts gets a whiff of what they are up to. Speaking of Morgan, he meets up with Eric, who claims that he knows about Morgan’s “secret.” As Morgan tenses up, Eric reveals that he is talking about Michael Ancker messaging him directly; that allows Morgan to relax and talk shop with Eric. Later on, St. John Smallwood meets up with Morgan at the tailor’s shop and they start off their discussion with the question: Why did Nicholas and Serena meet Carla in Paris? They try to theorize that it could be for a laundry list of reasons, but eventually they stop pretending and accept the fact that Carla is looking to divorce Morgan. Smallwood assures Morgan that the prenup is solid and he is protected. When Morgan asks Smallwood to go into specifics, Smallwood says that adultery is a major dealbreaker. Morgan actually lies to Smallwood about his affair with Flora. Does Smallwood believe Morgan’s lie and go off to chill? No; he sets up a meeting with Cathcarts (Schill, Suzie Levitnik, and Beatrice Ubosi) so that they can prepare for whatever Taylor & Byrne are about to chuck at Morgan because he has obviously broken the prenup’s terms of agreement. Speaking of Nicholas and Serena, they discuss who they are going to have on their team before going to war with Cathcarts and Morgan. Other than the usual suspects, they hire Johnny for the job (who does give a hint that he has been interviewed by Cathcarts). Clara returns to London. Eric and Gillian meet up with Morgan, and Gillian finds an earring on Morgan’s bed. It’s evident that that’s Flora’s but Morgan continues to feign ignorance. Eric notices that Morgan has a meeting with Cathcarts and assumes that it’s about Ancker. Morgan clarifies that it’s not about Ancker; tells Eric to confirm the meeting; and he orders Eric to make sure that Carla doesn’t hear a word about this. 

Johnny Is Cathcarts’ Mole

Carla sits down for a meeting with Taylor & Byrne, and Morgan sits down for a meeting with Cathcarts. Morgan is forced to come clean about his affair with Flora. Clara tells Nicholas and Serena reconfirms that she hasn’t paid Flora anything for what she did; Clara asked Flora to help her confirm her suspicion that Morgan is unfaithful and she got that done. With that out of the way, both parties get to the topic of serving the divorce papers. Serena says that Clara should take Morgan to the premiere of her latest film; after the premiere, they will hit him with the divorce papers. Clara says that she wants to do that in-person to him, but Serena advises against it because that can have legal complications. Hence, as per Nicholas, Clara should enjoy her big night and then do the dirty work. Meanwhile, Schill reveals to Morgan and co. that Johnny is actually on his payroll and acting as a mole in Taylor & Byrne. That’s how Schill knows what Nicholas and Serena are up to. Therefore, in the ending of War episode 1, it’s Cathcarts (via Suzie) who gets to serve the divorce papers to Clara, that too on the red carpet, in front of the press. Hence, Clara has no choice but to smile for the cameras while digesting the fact that she has lost the upper hand. I’d like to say that Clara has lost the upper hand for now, but as long as Johnny is on her team, Clara will never gain the upper hand. I actually like the fact that, in addition to being a legal drama, this is probably about to play out like a spy thriller, with Taylor & Byrne trying to constantly figure out who is leaking their confidential details to Cathcarts. Johnny looks like a good guy; so, there’s the question of how long he is going to bat for the Cathcarts. Because eventually he is going to realize that Clara is being wronged here and he needs to support her instead of Morgan. By the way, Johnny being hired by Cathcarts first recontextualizes all the moments where he was saying that he wasn’t struggling to find a job. In the first scene itself, Johnny had been hired. He was merely creating a reputation for himself that he was struggling to get a job so that by the time he got to Taylor & Byrne, nobody suspected him of being a Cathcarts mole. So, yeah, more than Morgan and Clara’s divorce proceedings, I think I am invested in the war that will be waging inside Johnny’s soul (if he has one). Anyway, those are my views on the episode. If you have any opinions on the same that you’d like to share with us, the comments section are open for you.

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