'War' Episode 2 Recap & Ending Explained: Did Flora Text Morgan?

In episode 1 of War, Morgan, Pioneer of the Year recipient and husband to actress Carla, had an extramarital affair with Flora. It wasn’t a random fling, but a honeypot that had been orchestrated by Carla. When Carla’s lawyers, Nicholas and Serena, learned about it, they lowkey wanted to turn down the case, because a honeypot wasn’t a sensible way to go ahead with a divorce case. The only silver lining was that Carla hadn’t paid Flora, and Morgan didn’t have any idea that Flora was connected to Carla. So, they accepted the offer to work for Carla and, with Joy’s help, they managed to make it look like the honeypot wasn’t a honeypot, but a genuine extramarital affair. Then there was the issue of the prenup and the change in the net worth of both parties. While Carla’s lawyers were dealing with that, Morgan’s crew–Smallwood and the lawyers of Cathcarts–was trying to figure out whether Carla was trying to divorce him or not. That’s where Johnny came in. Johnny was a budding lawyer who was extremely talented, but he was struggling to secure a job at a legal firm; or so it seemed. He was hired by Cathcarts, but not officially. He was then officially hired by Taylor & Byrne, thereby making him a mole. It was Johnny who leaked the information to Schill that Carla was planning to serve Morgan the divorce papers when he went to attend the premiere for her latest film. Based on that, Cathcarts sent Suzie at the red carpet event to serve the divorce papers to Carla. What happened next? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

The Divorce Papers Have Shaken Taylor & Byrne

War episode 2 starts off with Morgan and Smallwood taking a stroll and talking about Flora, and how she doesn’t matter legally, but in terms of optics, she could be a nightmare. Hence, Smallwood wants to make sure Morgan has officially ended things with Flora. Morgan assures Smallwood that he has severed all ties with Flora, and Smallwood says that he is relieved and now he will be able to focus on the relatively more pressing matters (put a pin in the Morgan-Flora affair, because I’ll come back to that later). The focus of the episode then shifts to Johnny, whose relationship with Bella seems to be going quite “strong” ever since he has officially been hired by Taylor & Byrne. As Johnny is headed to his workplace, he gets a text from Schill (whose name has been saved on Johnny’s phone as Kings), telling him to meet him at a yet-to-be-determined location at 8 PM. While Johnny heads to his work station, in the main office, Joy, Nicholas, and Serena discuss how the photo of them with Carla in Paris must’ve prompted Cathcarts to serve the divorce papers to Carla. Nicholas tries to look at the positive side of this scenario by stating that Cathcarts sending the divorce papers means that they are panicking because they have no clue how much work Taylor & Byrne has already done. That assumption is wrong though, because Cathcarts always knows what Taylor & Byrne are up to thanks to Johnny; which is indicated by a shot of Johnny waving at Serena, and Serena innocently waving back at him.

Taylor & Byrne Are Worried About Flora 

At Cathcarts HQ, Beatrice, Smallwood, Suzie, Schill, and the rest of the legal team assemble in the conference room to discuss how they are going to deal with the mediation phase of the process. Their primary aim won’t be to achieve some kind of middle ground with Taylor & Byrne, but to understand what Carla and her team are planning or if there are any weak spots in their armor. Serena and Nicholas are actually aware of what Cathcarts is going to do during the mediation, which is something they reveal during a meeting with Johnny, Saeed, Michael Stefanou, and Nora Okafor in the conference room. Hence, they intend to do the same to them: understand what Cathcarts knows about their plans. Michael is actually the only one who suspects a leak in their boat and, to save his own back, Johnny actually agrees with Michael. But that doesn’t secure Johnny a seat on the mediation team; Serena tells Johnny to hang back at the office with Saeed and Nora and focus on the forensic accountant so they can prove that Morgan’s net worth is twice that of Carla’s. Before heading out to the mediation meeting, Serena approaches Nicholas, and says that Flora is the reason why Morgan and Cathcarts served those divorce papers; she assumes that Morgan and his people are aware of the fact that Flora was a honeypot. Moreover, Serena is afraid that Flora might go to Cathcarts for protection or threaten to yap to the press to squeeze money out of Morgan, Carla, or both. Hence, she believes that they should make sure that Flora doesn’t pose any threat to Carla; and, as stated by Nicholas, the only way to do that is by making Flora sign an NDA.

Morgan And Carla Sit Down For The Mediation

Morgan, who is completely unaware of the fact that Flora was a honeypot, is seen practicing (in front of Eric) the speech he is going to give during the mediation meeting. When he arrives at what I am assuming is a courthouse (I’m not from the UK) with Beatrice and her Cathcarts team, she tells him that the first round of the mediation will just include him, Carla, and the mediator, Alanda Brown. So, he is not supposed to talk about his wealth or go into any kind of specifics. Serena gives a similar pep talk to Carla in the bathroom, while also checking on how the actress is doing mentally. Carla makes it clear to Serena that she is not at all happy about being served at the red carpet of her movie, and she wants Taylor & Byrne to “lock in” if they truly intend to win this divorce. On that note, Carla joins Morgan and Alanda in one of the meeting rooms for the first session. Things start on a faux amicable note, but Alanda cuts through the nonsense that they are peddling just to look presentable and tells them to come clean about what they are looking to achieve from the settlement. As soon as Alanda says that, Carla and Morgan start taking jabs at each other in terms of their financial situation, and Morgan ends up doing the exact opposite of what Beatrice had told him to do: he ends up revealing that he has grown financially since the prenup agreement was signed (Alanda makes a note of that). Meanwhile, Carla makes it clear that her net worth has gone down since that prenup was signed. This is when Alanda tells both parties to come up with a number that they think is good for them and their opposition; if they magically succeed at doing that, then the mediation process will be short; if they fail, then it’s going to be hell. 

Schill Tells Johnny To Focus On Flora

When the first round of the mediation comes to an end, Morgan immediately rushes to Smallwood to tell him that Carla definitely knows about his affair with Flora. Based on that educated guess, Morgan advises Smallwood and Schill to use Johnny to learn about Flora’s connection to Carla; Schill informs Smallwood that he’ll bring that up in his scheduled meeting with Johnny. Carla and Serena head back to Taylor & Byrne HQ and tell Nicholas and the rest of the team that Morgan has admitted in front of Alanda that his net worth has grown in the past few years. Nick labels that as a genuine slip-up on Morgan’s part, and Serena considers that to be a huge win for them. Serena informs Carla that, during the second session, both parties will be put in separate rooms, and they are going to exchange offers until they can reach a middle ground; and thanks to Morgan’s mistake, Carla and her team can ask for more than just money. After Carla leaves, Serena and Nicholas discuss the matter of Flora and the NDA; Nicholas wants to come with Serena for the meeting, but Serena says that it’s better if she meets her all by herself. As planned, Johnny meets up with Schill and gives him all the information he has gathered so far and tells Schill about what Taylor & Byrne are planning to do during the second session. Schill tells Johnny to learn about Flora’s role in all this and then hands him an envelope full of cash; that’s his salary, because no one can find out that Johnny is on Cathcarts’ payroll. Beatrice and Smallwood are seen talking about settling early and calling it a day, because after Morgan’s recent slip-up, Beatrice is afraid that the longer this case stretches out, the more mistakes Morgan is going to make, and he’ll make it harder and harder for Cathcarts to defend him. If the case goes to court, the Flora stuff is going to kneecap them; hence, Beatrice advises Smallwood to at least consider an early settlement. 

Serena Meets Flora For The NDA

Serena shows up at Flora’s house for a conversation about the NDA. Since Serena doesn’t want Melinda, Flora’s mother, to know what she has actually done, Serena and Flora head to a nearby cafe. There, Serena explains the nuances of what’s going to happen if information about Flora honeypotting Morgan on Carla’s say-so comes out in the open. Flora obviously doesn’t trust Serena, and it seems like this would have gone down a lot smoother if Carla was the one who approached her with the NDA, because Flora clearly loves Carla. Serena senses that distrust, and doesn’t push Flora too hard; she tells her to read the NDA, take her time, and then sign it if she feels like it. Flora takes the NDA documents and heads back home. Back at the Croft household, Johnny can be seen doing some research on Flora (while Bella tries to get some spicy details about the Morgan-Carla case out of Johnny) as well as Carla (I think he is attracted to her). The following day, the second session begins. As mentioned earlier, Morgan and the Cathcarts team are seated in one room, while Carla and the Taylor & Byrne team are seated in another room. Alanda begins the proceedings of the day by taking Morgan’s quote to Carla; Carla responds to it; and this back and forth goes on for quite a while. 

Cathcarts Knows About Flora

Schill texts Johnny to give him something on Flora as soon as possible. He tries to break into Cleo’s emails to seek out some clues, but he hits a dead end. That’s when, almost like a godsend, Melinda arrives at Taylor & Byrne for an appointment with their lawyers. Johnny recognizes her by her last name and rushes to meet her at the reception. By the time he gets there, Melinda has already boarded the bus and is heading home. Melinda does manage to tell Johnny that, until and unless Flora gets 20k pounds, she isn’t signing anything. That’s how Johnny realizes that Taylor & Byrne is trying to get Flora to sign an NDA, which means that Carla is somehow involved in the affair between Flora and Morgan. Johnny passes on that information to Schill, and Schill brings the second session to an end. Both parties head back to their respective offices. Serena and her team are understandably confused as to why Cathcarts would choose to drag this out despite knowing they are on the backfoot. At the Cathcarts HQ, Beatrice, Smallwood, and Schill talk about what the possibility of Taylor & Byrne forcing Flora to sign an NDA means. And they arrive at the conclusion that either Taylor & Byrne or Carla had hired Flora to sleep with Morgan so they could extort him. Beatrice and Smallwood point out that they can’t act on the basis of this revelation, because that’s going to expose Johnny as a Cathcarts mole. So, what they have to do is wait until Johnny tells Taylor & Byrne about Melinda’s demand. Once Taylor & Byrne bribes Flora, they can accuse them of prostitution. Johnny tells Serena, Nicholas, and Carla about the fact that Melinda wants 20k pounds or she is going to the press to tell them about the reason behind Flora and Morgan’s affair. Carla gives Johnny the go-ahead to pay off Flora. The following day, while Serena, Nicholas, and Carla talk about arbitration, Johnny goes to Flora and Melinda’s house to secure the NDA. Johnny tells them that they will be in deep trouble if Taylor & Byrne are directly seen paying them off; so, they agree on getting paid via the repair work on their ramshackle house. 

Flora Texts Morgan

In episode 2’s ending, Johnny sends Serena a voice note, saying that Flora has signed the NDA after accepting the money. Carla, Serena, and Nicholas heave a sigh of relief, because they don’t have to worry about Flora anymore. Johnny sends that same voice note to Schill and, from their perspective, that’s proof of the fact that Carla has used a prostitute to trap Morgan. After hearing that, Beatrice announces that they will win this case, and there’s nothing that can stop them from doing so. Carla and Morgan sit before Alanda for the third and final session of the mediation, and they state they will be seeing each other in court. Both of them think that they have the upper hand and, to be honest, I thought that Morgan actually has the upper hand because they have some solid proof that Flora was paid off by Carla to entrap Morgan. But then, during the closing moments of the episode, we see Morgan and Flora texting each other. Remember that conversation between Morgan and Smallwood in the first scene of this episode where Smallwood repeatedly asked Morgan if he had truly ended things with Flora? Do you remember Morgan assuring Smallwood that it was just a one night stand with Flora? Yeah, those texts that are being exchanged between Morgan and Flora prove that it wasn’t a one-night fling. They’ve clearly been in touch with each other, and there’s a good chance that they have fallen in love. I don’t know much about law, but if I have to guess, I suppose a genuine relationship between Flora and Morgan will cancel out the bribery charges, because that’d mean that Morgan cheated on Carla with Flora–thereby jeopardizing the prenup–because he’s in love with Flora. Am I right or am I wrong? Let me know in the comments section below.

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