Hulu’s No Man’s Land, Episode 2 recap: The Bridge

Episode 2 of Hulu’s No Man’s Land begins with characters Paul Wilkins (Dean Ridge) and Nasser Al-Shammri (James Krishna Floyd). We don’t really find out much about them until later, though. However, we do already have an idea of what’s happening to Antoine Habert (Félix Moati), who is currently being held by the Kurdish YPJ (or Women’s Protection Units), who don’t know his identity or that he’s sought them out to locate his sister, Anna (Mélanie Thierry). Based largely on circumstantial evidence (and a “gut” feeling), Antoine thinks she is actually alive, rather than having died in a terror attack.

Now, one of the Kurdish YPJ fighters, Sarya Dogan (Souheila Yacoub), spies an approaching ambulance through her binoculars. In short time, they exchange fire with the YPJ, resulting in some Kudish fighters being shot. It becomes apparent that the ambulance is attempting to bring more weapons to nearby ISIS militants. On that note, Antoine faces renewed pressure to convince the YPJ that he is not affiliated with the ISIS extremists.

No Man’s Land: A watch tells time (and helps unfold a tale)

No Man’s Land then provides a flashback sequence, where Antoine examines his sister’s bag of supposedly important belongings. He finds a watch in a bag, which is curious to him because he thinks she never wore it. Why would it be in her important belongings? Antoine is then told (rightly or wrongly) that his sister was targeted for being an archaeologist.

He does sees her body in the morgue, but it is too difficult to identify it. In this flashback, Antoine also first meets his pilot girlfriend, Lorraine (Julia Faure). However, most of the average viewer’s attention will be drawn to the mystery of his sister’s belongings (and remains), and the envelope Antoine receives with his name on it. He then talks to his mom (Céline Samie) and dad (François Caron) about the mysterious watch, laptop and letter.

Back to the future

After the flashback scenes, Antoine tells his family he thinks Anna is still alive (obviously, one of the big themes in No Man’s Land). However, we’re soon reminded of the danger he’s placed himself in down in Syria. There are a few casualties when a bomb goes off, and it seems the worst is yet to come. On the brighter side, the explosion knocks out a wall, allowing Antoine to escape his prison room. Unfortunately, he still must deal with the Kudish fighters who don’t yet trust him, and there is a language barrier issue as well.

Antoine tends to an injured woman, demonstrating his value. We learn that the Kurdish fighters aim to blow up a bridge in Manbij, as a possible last-ditch effort to prevent ISIS from taking over. Sarya doesn’t wish to do the mission. but Commandante Adar (Roda Canioglu) reminds her that it’s her obligation to prevent a disaster.

There’s another big moment, however: A man named Ryan (Simon Harrison) says he saw Antoine’s sister, which renews Atoine’s interest in fulfilling his personal mission (he even makes a quick phone call to Lorraine where he lies about where he is). As the episode winds down, Antoine offers his engineering expertise in blowing up the bridge, although others are reluctant to involve him.

What are your thoughts on this episode of No Man’s Land? Let us know in the comments!