Carla Duval is a symbol of elegance, success, and charm in Hollywood. She has everything from a colorful career to a husband who loves her very much, at least that’s what she used to have. Now, she only performs the part, channeling the persona of a perfect woman who has it all. Despite her world falling apart in the background, Carla puts up a smile and pretends to be okay.
War episode 5 opens with Carla getting ready for an appearance on a popular talk show. She still hasn’t gotten over the events of the failed arbitration in episode 4, and it reflects in her explosive interview, following Morgan’s betrayal in depriving her of an equal asset division.
Carla Duval has a serious meltdown
Carla is a picture of beauty and perfection when she arrives at the Jack Jeffreys show to talk about her latest movie, which is going strong in the theaters. However, the conversation turns south rather quickly when the host mentions how lucky she is to have both a career and a perfect family, including a loving husband by her side.
They feature a photo from her movie’s premiere on the show, the one taken right after Morgan served her with divorce papers. While everyone swoons over the couple’s picture-perfect romance, a storm is brewing inside Carla. Looking at the picture, something snaps within her, and she finally spirals.
The host praises Carla for the ‘performance of her career’; however, those words crack the dam that kept her emotions at bay all this time. Carla points out it wasn’t her who was acting, but Morgan, who should be praised for a performance of a lifetime. She reveals in a fit of rage that Morgan wants a divorce and he’s nothing more than a pretender.
Carla lashes out at the crowd for being insensitive and judging her over her meltdown. She uses some very colorful language and gives the tabloids a treasure trove of content that will pick apart her life, career, and family in the coming days.
The next day, tension is brewing at Taylor & Byrne because of Carla’s meltdown. It may not have legal implications, but her behavior gives Cathcarts a head start on what they need to rebut Carla’s claim in the divorce. However, Nicholas is more worried about the cost of going to litigation and insists they do this perfectly. Serena also suggests bringing in her PR lead, Grace, to handle the Carla situation.
At Cathcarts, it is almost Christmas because now they can shift the narrative in Morgan’s favor. It’s free negative PR for Carla, and they couldn’t have asked for better leverage than Carla losing her marbles on national TV. Moreover, with Johnny giving them a heads-up on Serena and Nicholas’s financial situation, Cathcarts can delay litigation as much as they want to bleed the other party dry.
Carla, on the other hand, is struggling. Reporters have surrounded her house, but Serena calls her to encourage her not to lose faith. She asks Carla to keep fighting and to come in and do her part in the divorce. Meanwhile, Zephyr is also facing the heat of Carla’s public meltdown. With the injunction, Morgan’s company can’t move any equity or even expand until the divorce is resolved.
Morgan sits staring at a room full of unhappy employees who now think that their future is being held hostage to Morgan’s divorce. The divorce’s news has significantly affected the company, but Morgan is more outraged, thinking everyone’s concerned about their needs, acting as if they care more about his company than him.
The scene intercuts to Carla at Taylor & Byrne in a meeting, disclosing all her assets for the divorce. Carla recalls everything she and Morgan own while Saeed writes everything down. However, she jokes about the Ferrari Testarossa, but Saeed also writes it down underneath the asset list. He later tells Molly to type out the list to send to Serena.
When Carla leaves, Johnny catches up to her and tries to offer his company to console her, but Carla declines and leaves him hanging. Fortunately for Serena, Grace, her PR lead, arrives to handle the chaotic situation. Grace thinks the situation is still salvageable because, despite things being vicious online, people are still debating about Carla, meaning she’s still alive in the game.
While talking, Nicholas notices a bulk of crates arriving at the office. The boxes contain all of Zephyr’s financial statements, a deliberate attempt by Cathcarts to slow them down. They’ll have to dig for the papers they need themselves, a calculated tactic used by parties to drown the opposition in unnecessary work, requiring money and manpower.
David calls Johnny to tell him they sent every crate except for the one Serena actually needs. He’ll courier it tomorrow via the slowest services available in London. He explains to Johnny how they can make the most of this chaos and pulls a Keanu Reeves quote about paying attention to detail to summarize Cathcarts’s strategy for winning the case.
Molly gives Serena the asset list, but the latter points out a mistake. Serena informs Molly that Carla doesn’t own a Ferrari and Morgan doesn’t even drive. She should recheck the details with Saeed and get back to her as soon as possible. However, later that night, Johnny takes a picture of the asset list and sends it to David.
It’s a narrative war
Carla is a complete mess; she doesn’t have any idea how to deal with the press and the abuse. Luckily, opportunity arrives at Taylor & Byrne in the form of a podcast interview with a famous singer who speaks in favor of Carla. Grace thinks this is huge, and they can finally spin things in favor of Carla. What’s more, the narrative is already shifting, so it’s best to strike the hammer while it’s hot.
Serena convinces Carla to do an interview on the same podcast show that they’ll arrange at the office. Carla is reluctant at first, but she agrees to turn the tide in her favor. During the interview, Carla talks about her experiences with putting on a show despite being hurt by her man’s bad behavior.
The interviewer urges her to talk about what she means by bad behavior. Carla responds by recalling her experience at the talk show where they were showing this happy photo of her and Morgan, which was taken right after she was served divorce papers. She reveals Morgan had one of his lawyers pose as a reporter, and she shoved the papers in her face, right at her big movie premiere, and then Morgan had the audacity to take a picture with her.
At the end of the day, everyone wants respect, and she wanted the same. Somewhere, Morgan sits listening to Carla’s podcast, in which she admits she never stopped loving Morgan until he did. St. John reveals the podcast is an absolute hit, being listed as one of the most-listened-to podcasts in the country at the moment.
Morgan is outraged over Carla making him out to be the villain, especially now that Gabe is also angry with him. He insists they fight back and bring to light the honey trap, but St. John disagrees. Instead, he simply asks Morgan to take Gabe out for dinner and mend their relationship.
Morgan meets up with Gabe for dinner, but his son isn’t thrilled with the chaos. Morgan tries to explain to his son that nothing matters more to him than his son and that regardless of what happens, Gabe will remain his biggest asset. His father’s loving words are enough to heal Gabe’s wounds; however, his happiness doesn’t last long.
The moment they step out of the restaurant, a reporter ambushes them, clicking their pictures and low-key invading their privacy. Morgan is visibly agitated, and he quickly gets himself and his son into the car. He questions the reporter’s presence, but Gabe becomes suspicious of his father and lashes out. He feels the only reason Morgan came was to use his son to get free publicity.
Johnny makes a mistake
Carla calls Johnny to apologize for the way she spoke to him in the elevator. She asks him to come meet her so she can apologize properly and they can talk. Obviously, Johnny shows up at Carla’s place immediately, and they end up sleeping together. The next morning, Johnny sees several texts and missed calls from Bella, but he doesn’t seem to regret his choice.
Unfortunately, it is not a good morning for Carla because Morgan’s little stunt with Gabe proved to be in his favor. The tabloids shredded Carla’s image and labelled her as an uncaring mother and implied Gabe sided with his father in the whole affair.
On the other hand, Morgan is furious with St. John for what he did with the reporter at the dinner. He didn’t appreciate his lawyer using his son as a prop, but St. John thinks the photo proved to be a rather smart move. To him, it’s now become a PR war, but Morgan calls him out for dragging it out too long. He now not only has to face the court but also answer the board as to why his personal life is affecting Zephyr.
Beatrice understands Morgan’s frustration and tells David to get things moving. David tells his assistant to print the asset list and send it. Unfortunately, the asset list Cathcarts sends Taylor & Byrne includes the Ferrari, which must have been because Cathcarts used Johnny’s list instead of the revised one.
Morgan arrives at his office, but there’s no board meeting because Gillian tricked him into coming, saying there’s someone important who wants to meet him. Morgan immediately figures out it is Michael Ancker, but before he can refuse, his colleagues urge him to at least listen to what he has to say.
At the same time, Carla goes to meet Serena and throws in the towel. She admits she’s hurt, but there’s a certain limit to how much public scrutiny she can bear. Carla doesn’t want her family, especially her son, going through the difficulty of facing a public trial; that’s why she wants to opt out of going to court.
Carla ponders how a couple who starts out so in love ends up getting at each other’s throats. She remembers how easy it used to be in the beginning when they met. They were tired from their lives and decided to spend a month in Carla’s cottage in Normandy. They ate, had fun, and read poetry, and that’s where Morgan got the name of his company, Zephyr—a word from the poetry Carla read to her.
Surprisingly, Carla’s moment of vulnerability proved to be the biggest leverage she could have in the case. Since Carla came up with the company name, she has a direct claim to its assets. They can claim Zephyr is the fruit of their marriage, making Carla entitled to half of everything. Although Carla is unsure, Nicholas and Serena remind her how important it is for her to secure her future.
At the meeting, Ancker convinces Morgan to sell Zephyr before Carla’s lawyers get their hands on it. Although there’s an injunction at the moment, Morgan and Ancker can agree on a price, and the agreed money will be placed somewhere safe where Carla can’t touch it, even legally.
Ancker offers Morgan two billion sterlings to agree to sell Zephyr at this very moment. His payment will be guaranteed and stored away safely until the whole divorce affair is over. However, just as Carla says yes to Serena and Nicholas about trying again, Morgan simultaneously refuses Ancker’s offer.
There’s a celebration in the Taylor & Byrne office because they think they are back in the game. Just then, the asset list from Cathcarts arrives at Saeed’s table. He casually glances at it and is surprised to see the Ferrari listed, even though he and Molly had corrected their mistake. Molly and Saeed are puzzled by the situation, but Johnny realizes exactly what happened. This could be the mistake that gives him away, especially now that he and Carla are secretly together.
You can catch up on War, currently streaming on HBO Max.
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