Every Twist in That Jaw-Dropping Finale, Explained

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Copenhagen Test.]

As technology advances, the same tools designed to connect and protect us are increasingly repurposed to watch, manipulate, and exploit us, often without our knowledge until it is too late. Such is the fate of intelligence analyst Alexander Hale (Simu Liu) in Peacock‘s eight-episode thriller The Copenhagen Test, who discovers that his own brain has been hacked by hostile forces that can now see and hear everything he does.

Written and created by Thomas Brandon and executive produced by James Wan, The Copenhagen Test is a tangled web of secrets, shifting loyalties, and moral ambiguity. As Alexander and the secret government agency that employs him, the Orphanage, attempt to uncover who hacked him, why he was targeted, and to what devious end, the web grows ever more complex.

In the final episode, the mystery of Alexander’s hack, along with the many double crosses and buried agendas, finally comes into focus as secrets are revealed (somewhat). The true cost of the conspiracy is laid bare, and yet it still manages to pull the rug out from under the audience with a reveal of last-minute twists and reversals.

Here is a look at a few of the twists and turns that had audiences

Alexander uses a ‘Hail Mary’ play to prove his innocence to the Orphanage

When Alexander confirms his supposed allegiance to Henry Goldman, a.k.a. Fredrick Schiff (Adam Godley), or at least his willingness to go along with the plan in an effort to save his parents from the threat of death, he already knows that Michelle’s apartment is bugged. Michelle told him this in an earlier episode to reassure him that she can be trusted.

That’s why Alexander speaks his plans out loud in the bathroom. Schiff/Henry is unaware that the apartment is bugged by the Orphanage and does not realize they are being listened to. Alexander is feeding the Orphanage his intentions so they can prepare, while simultaneously signaling his innocence. Analyst Samantha Parker (Sinclair Daniel) picks up on this and shares the information with Director of Operations Peter Moira and Orphanage founder and head St. George (Brian d’Arcy James and Kathleen Chalfant), allowing the Orphanage to devise a ruse that ultimately tricks Henry into outing himself.

The final piece of proof Parker needed came when Alex used a Haka dialect to speak to his parents, a language he had mentioned in his Poseidon interview, which was used in their household only when someone was angry or in trouble. His choice to use it here was a clear signal to his parents that he was in danger.

Thanks to Alexander’s crafty ability to plant these cues right under Henry/Schiff’s nose without his knowledge, he can signal to the Orphanage that he hasn’t flipped, all while keeping Schiff in the dark about his true intentions.

There is a flaw in the Copenhagen Test

Christos Kalohoridis / Peacock

In the final episode, a flashback revisits Alexander’s conversation with the elusive St. George in the quiet room. During this reveal, audiences learn that the two discussed Alexander’s Copenhagen Test, which was administered in the first episode. St. George explains that the OSS designed the test shortly after World War II to determine whether operatives would follow orders regardless of their conscience, proving that loyalty to country outweighed any other human concern.

In Alexander’s test, he was forced to choose between saving a small child or an American woman. Despite being ordered to prioritize Americans at all costs, he opted to save the child.

However, St. George reveals a critical flaw in the test itself. It was designed as a binary choice, one life or the other, when that is not always the correct answer. She challenges Alexander by asking why he didn’t try to save both lives. Why didn’t he give up his seat on the helicopter and attempt to save both the child and the woman? Other options existed. Why prioritize his own life?

Alexander admits that the situation allowed no time for careful deliberation. He made a split-second decision, one that has haunted him every day since. The fate of the woman — later revealed to be his minder, Michelle (Melissa Barrera), in a fabricated scenario — left him with lasting PTSD, and he confesses that if he could relive the moment, he would do things differently.

The final standoff was a Copenhagen Test itself

Christos Kalohoridis / Peccock

In the final confrontation of the series, Alexander faces an impossible choice: Sell out the Orphanage to save his parents from Henry’s threat, or protect the Orphanage at the cost of his parents’ lives. Instead, he chooses a secret third option: Save everyone.

The situation itself is a Copenhagen Test, and Alexander finds a way to protect both his parents and the Orphanage from destruction by realizing he cannot do it alone. Once he determines who he can trust, Alexander works with the Orphanage to set a trap for Henry, whose obsession with revenge against St. George ultimately clouds his judgment and leads to his downfall.

Alexander isn’t going to die after all

In Episode 5, it is explained to the audience that the Cassandra RU258 nanites that have invaded Alexander’s brain and make it possible to hack into his eyes and ears are an unstable and lethal process. Once a subject has been implanted, their body begins to break down, experiencing crippling migraines, episodes that feel like panic attacks, and lapses in time. Eventually, the nanites achieve symbiosis with the brain, and after that point, fatality is certain.

Christos Kalohoridis / Peacock

But as we learn in the finale, Alexander will not die due to recent upgrades made to the nanotech. “They were able to slow do the electrocal processes in your brain, and then everything normalized,” explained analyst Frances (Marnie McPhail). “Whoever upgraded this technology, they found a way to bypass the worst of the symbiosis and gave you a fighting chance.”

Due to this stability, Alex will live a very long time.

Victor is the architect of it all

Uncle Victor (Saul Rubinek) was the mastermind behind the hack. He was the reason Alexander was chosen, and he worked with his ex-fiancée, Rachel (Hannah Cruz), to give Alexander the pills containing Cassandra RU258 nanites. Henry Goldman/Fredrick Schiff merely discovered the hack and took advantage of it. After he was burned by the Orphanage so many years ago, he took the opportunity to seek revenge on the secret organization and its leader, St. George.

The audience is misdirected several times, first led to believe that Victor is working with Henry, then that he double-crossed him by saving Alexander’s parents and defying a direct order from his “boss” to kill them. However, it gradually becomes clear that Victor has been the mastermind all along. It’s a slow realization shared by several characters, unfolding as Parker begins to question why Alexander was never protected as a valuable asset, Henry confronts St. George directly, and Alexander’s seemingly casual conversation with Cobb raises suspicions of its own.

There are more hacks out there

Alexander Hale is now offline, but as Victor revealed, he wasn’t the only one who took the Cassandra RU258 and had their eyes and ears hacked. In the final moments of Episode 8, Victor pulls back the metaphorical curtain to reveal five monitoring screens to Alexander, featuring the views of different individuals around the world. Alexander was merely Asset #5.

Asset 1 is B. Rao in Mumbai, seen in a vehicle; Asset 2 is N. Doherty, seen on a ferry heading to Plum Island; Asset 3 is M. Cyr in Triana, who is on a busy street; Asset 4 is J. Schweiters in the Sahara with an army unit; and Asset 6 is T. Ferriera, shown hiking with a family.

“For people like us, Alexander, it is never done,” Victor reminds Alexander in the final moments of the show.

Michelle is still under surveillance

Christos Kalohoridis / Peacock

As Victor reveals the existence of other hacks, one of the screens displays Michelle, who is still being monitored despite the promises made to her by Parker. Though she was promised a fresh start with an erased past and new identity, it appears that Alexander’s former “minder” is considered a loose end, and therefore, will never really escape the grasp of the Orphanage.

The Copenhagen Test, Peacock