After a lacklustre episode last week, ‘McMafia’ was back on track on Sunday (21 January) night, but the same couldn’t be said for Alex and Semiyon’s plan.
The pair’s scheme to take Vadim down had been pretty smooth sailing, but they hit a massive stumbling block when Semiyon was arrested on suspicion of the battery and rape of his young boyfriend.
With Vadim seemingly behind the allegations, he proved he isn’t about to go down without a fight and one chilling conversation at the end of the episode potentially blew the series wide open.
Here are the questions we’re asking this week...
Was Semiyon planning on backing out on his plan to take Vadim down?
With his business now booming, it seemed Semiyon was going to back out of his original plan to bring Vadim down, after he was seen disagreeing with Alex about needing to turn the pressure up on him.
If it weren’t for his arrest, would he have left Alex high and dry? If our suspicions about him being more dangerous than he’s making out are correct, it would certainly seem he is less bothered about helping Alex than he makes out...
How does Katya know Masha?
Masha is now pregnant with Dimitri’s baby, but it was revealed during this episode that she is also connected to his daughter, Katya. We’re guessing they must have been friends, and that’s how Masha managed to get close to Dimitri, but it would be nice to have this confirmed.
Will Rebecca cheat on Alex with ‘Antonio’?
Having becoming increasingly suspicious of her new fiancée, Rebecca turned to ‘Antonio’ for answers, and set up a meeting which soon turned into drinks and dinner.
While she didn’t necessarily get what she came for, sparks flew between the pair, to the point where it looked like she was contemplating cheating on Alex.
Will the coming episodes see her give into temptation with this mystery man? And while we’re on that note...
JUST WHO IS ‘ANTONIO’?!
We’ve waited a whole two episodes now, and our patience is really starting to wear thin.
Why did Semiyon turn down working with the Mexicans before?
When Alex blackmailed Semiyon into letting ‘Antonio’ use his ships, Semiyon corroborated Antonio’s story that he had refused to work with him before - but why?
Does this mean he - and indeed Alex - are aware of Antonio’s real identity and it is just being kept from us?
Why is Semiyon so keen to keep Lydmilla?
As part of Alex’s attempts to bargain with Semiyon to acquit him of raping Ezra, he campaigned for Lydmilla’s freedom, given she was the one who came forward with the crucial evidence.
However, Semiyon flat out refused, and we can’t help but feel he has some grander plan for her that we are not yet aware of.
Who shot Ruben?
It’s pretty obvious it was probably one of Vadim’s men, angry that he had gone to the police with the truth of their plan to stitch Semiyon up. But who did he get to do the dirty work? Ableman, perhaps? More on that theory later...
Is Ezra dead?
While it’s pretty safe to assume Ruben is a goner after the drive-by shooting, Erza’s fate hangs in the balance. While he looked pretty lifeless when his mother found him after taking an overdose, it could be that he survived - much like Dimitri did after the episode two cliffhanger.
Did Ezra really take an overdose, or was it made to look that way?
It could be the case Ezra did attempt to take his own life - perhaps he didn’t want to face possible charges coming his way, or it could be that being beaten and raped by the Russian gangsters had pushed him to the edge. Maybe he’d even heard of Ruben’s death and did not want to carry on without him?
However, an alternative theory could be that he was killed as punishment for Ruben going to the police, and it actually was made to look like a suicide attempt.
We’re not quite sure how anyone would have made it into his house, but there could be more to this part of the story.
Is Yarvif Ableman to be trusted?
We had a hunch all the way through the episode that Semiyon’s old friend was not all he seemed - something that looked to be confirmed at the end of the episode when Vadim ‘bumped into’ Alex at the airport and told him they had business together.
Could it be that Ableman worked with Vadim to try and stitch Semiyon up? And that he also had Ruben killed when he gave a statement to prove Semiyon’s innocence?
Does Vadim know Alex is involved with Semiyon?
It’s probably safe to assume Vadim ‘just happening’ to bump into Alex at the airport was no coincidence, but we spent the whole of their uncomfortable exchange pondering whether Vadim was onto Alex, or if he was just trying to suss him out.
Either way, Alex’s reaction to the mention of Ableman’s name probably gave the game away, so we’d expect this conversation to have consequences in the next episode.
‘McMafia’ continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.