Prime Target Episode 2 Ending Explained: Who Is After Ed & Taylah?

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Prime Target’s episodes 1 and 2.

Apple TV+’s new thriller, Prime Target, begins its run with two gripping episodes that pave the way for its future installments by leaving viewers with more questions than answers. Created by Steve Thompson and directed by Brady Hood, Prime Target is a thriller series, set to have a total of eight episodes. Based on its first two episodes, it is hard to determine the direction the show is heading in. However, Prime Target‘s opening arc manages to set the foundation for enough mysteries to make viewers anticipate its future installments.

In its first episode, the Apple TV+ show primarily focuses on a brilliant post-graduate mathematics student, Edward, whose research revolves around finding a pattern in prime numbers. However, his story takes a grim turn when he learns that one of his professors has destroyed all evidence of his work before being found dead. Parallely, the show also unfolds the story of Taylah, who finds herself fighting for her life when she gets embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy.

Who Killed Orson & Tried To Shoot Taylah?

The NSA Seems To Have Attacked The Two

Orson and Taylah are revealed to be working for the NSA (National Security Agency), an organization that keeps a close eye on academicians from top universities. Professor Mallinder is revealed to be one of those academicians the NSA agents constantly watch. They not only have CCTV cameras installed in his office but also watch everything he does in his home. Soon after Taylah notices Mallinder working on a suspicious mathematical equation, she sends the footage to her higher authorities.

In Prime Target‘s episode 2, Taylah starts stepping out of line by growing obsessed with Professor Mallinder’s footage. She not only deduces that Mallinder was working on his student Edward Brooks’ equation but also realizes that the footage revealing his death was externally edited by someone. At her request, Orson sends a message to the NSA, asking them to arrange a meeting to discuss an urgent matter. With what follows, however, Orson gets shot dead by a sniper while Taylah struggles to stay alive.

Given how Taylah and Orson got a little too involved in Mallinder’s case and were getting close to finding the truth about the conspiracy behind his death, it seems likely that the NSA called the shots for their murder. The person or organization that got Mallinder killed might have also figured out what Taylah and Orson were up to. To ensure the two NSA agents did not learn the truth about his murder, the organization might have hired men to get them killed. Taylah seems to have survived the incident and will likely cross paths with Ed in Prime Target‘s future episodes.

Why Ed’s Math Formula Is So Dangerous & Professors Are Being Watched

It Is Believed That Mathematicians Could Create The Next Digital Weapon

Since everything in the world — from power stations to the internet — is digital and run using mathematics, mathematicians are considered a threat by agencies like the NSA. Therefore, to ensure that brilliant mathematicians from elite universities do not build competing systems or algorithms that could potentially destroy the world, agencies like the NSA keep them under constant surveillance. While the Ridley Scott-produce conspiracy thriller does not explicitly reveal why Ed’s math formula, in particular, is dangerous, it suggests it ties into ancient forbidden knowledge.

The show’s opening moments reveal that, after a gas explosion in Baghdad, the ground collapsed, revealing a massive underground structure with ancient relics and writings. When Mallinder’s wife, Andrea shows the pictures of the structure from Baghdad to Ed over dinner, he notices that the markings on a wall in the photo somehow align with his research on prime numbers. He takes the pictures home and starts working on them, hoping to find a connection between his work and the ancient notes.

When Mallinder starts working on the equation Ed left on his tablecloth, he receives a threat from an unknown figure called the Keeper, who asks him why he is working on prime numbers all over again when he had previously agreed to stay away. The fact that Mallinder dies soon after this suggests that the prime number research and the writings on the wall in the Baghdad structure are key to unlocking a dangerous secret that can rattle and destabilize the modern world. This would explain why professors are being watched and killed before they can find the truth.

What Is The Kaplar Institute & Why Do They Want Ed To Work For Them?

The Kaplar Institute Wants To Know What Ed Is Working On

Unlike the NSA, which seems deadset on eliminating anyone who gets close to finding the truth about prime numbers, the Kaplar Institute (KI) seems to promote the use of mathematics to solve their world’s hidden mysteries. Ed first learns about KI when he finds its logo on a note Mallinder left for him. The note also has an icosahedron drawn on it. He later discovers the same logo on another document in Mallinder’s home office, suggesting that it might connect to the overarching mystery surrounding his death.

Moments after Ed looks up the Kaplar Institute online, a man, Stephen Patrick Nield, knocks at his door. Claiming he is from KI, the man asks him if he can word with him. When Ed does not let him inside his room, Nield shows interest in his research and leaves after leaving his card at the door. This suggests that the people of the Kaplar Institute are working against organizations like the NSA and are determined to find the truth. The forces behind KI might have also hired men to kill Orson and Taylah because they were reporting their members, like Mallinder, to the NSA.

Was Professor Mallinder Really Murdered?

It Seems Likely He Was Targeted After He Picked Up Ed’s Research

Mallinder seemingly knew that Ed’s research would put his life in danger. This would explain why he burned all evidence of his work and even destroyed all the files that had his calculations. To ensure Edward lived to see another day, Mallinder also put his own life on the line by taking credit for his work. Forces, like the NSA, that do not want mathematicians to crack the prime numbers code assumed that Mallinder had picked up his old research again despite being warned. Therefore, before he could delve any deeper, they seemingly got him killed.

What Happened To Safiya & Is Her Death Being Covered Up?

The Circumstances Around Safiya Zamil’s Death Seem Similar To Mallinder’s

When Edward asks Andrea about Safiya, she reveals that her research revolved around the same mathematical principles that Ed has been trying to study. Edward later visits the Cambridge Library to learn more about Safiya. To his horror, the librarian reveals that Safiya died 30 years ago by suicide. With this, Ed wonders if she, too, was murdered like Professor Mallinder for working on the prime numbers and whether the suicide was a cover-up.

Since both Mallinder and Safiay were seemingly killed for working on the prime numbers, Edward, too, is in danger because of his research. Working with the Kaplar Institute might help get to the bottom of what happened to Mallinder. However, as Prime Target‘s first two episodes suggest, no one can be trusted and his hunt for answers will push him further towards peril and chaos.