Rogue Agent (2022) Ending Explained – If one is only introduced to Robert Hendy-Freegard and his unusually vast list of fraudulence through the British thriller “Rogue Agent,” it makes for an entertaining movie. However, for those who are already aware, it is not a satisfying experience because the movie genuinely fictionalized many of the real-life cases. A self-described fictional story, “Rogue Agent” follows Alice Archer, one of Robert Freegard’s numerous victims, as she sets out to expose the man’s misdeeds.
Must Read: Is Rogue Agent’s Alice Archer Based on a Real Person? Where is Caroline Cowper Today?
“Rogue Agent” Plot Synopsis: What Is The Film About?
The Irish Republican Army’s protracted fight for Irish reunification included an effective bombing campaign in England in the 1990s. In reaction, the British security establishment, MI5, began hiring independent spies from among the general English populace to gather information on people thought to be IRA members. Loosely based on this, the movie’s plot begins with a young man driving to his agricultural college in Shropshire in 1993. The agricultural college has become a convenient source of fertilizer for the terrorists, who use it to construct bombs, and the news on the radio reports that a student from the college was recently detained for being an active IRA member.
The man we meet is a student and a bartender at a nearby pub, but it soon becomes clear that he participates in MI5’s amateur freelance espionage program. As political unrest increases, he now enlists three of his classmates and friends—a guy and two women—into the same secret service and spends three months preparing them for their first significant assignment. The group of amateur spies successfully completes the job, which involves searching the home of one of the Irish students for any evidence that could be used against them. However, only a few days later, everything goes horribly wrong when the man unexpectedly wakes up his three pals one night and drives them away, claiming that their identities have been compromised and that they must instantly leave the college.
Nine years later, prominent litigation attorney Alice Archer returns from an office party when a charming man approaches her and attempts to make small talk. Alice, however, coldly rejects him. Robert Hansen, who is now working as a luxury automobile salesman, is the same man we previously saw, but only now have we learned his identity. The two start to get to know one another when Robert offers to transport Alice to her office the next morning after she apologises for her drunken rudeness.
Alice accepts his invitation to go on a date, but the man never shows up, much to Alice’s annoyance. However, Robert informs him that his father’s terrible sickness prevented him from travelling. Alice forgives him and keeps seeing him; she also tags along with him on a little trip to a nearby lighthouse because she is most impressed by his quick responses and slick attitude, both of which seem to her to be extremely sincere. The two quickly begin a romantic relationship, but Alice’s joy is short-lived when she sees Sophie calling Robert’s cell phone while he pretends it is his father calling. She uses her professional connections to engage a sort of private investigator to look into the past of her new love interest. She discovers that there is no Robert Hansen in any police records.
Robert acknowledges that he has been using an alias up until Alice confronts him about it. He confesses that he is an MI5 spy who is now conducting an extremely important investigation undercover as a car salesman. He also tells Alice that she will be examined by his bosses, who will try to test her devotion to him by making up ridiculous stories about him. Alice consents to the pair’s connection and agrees to take the MI5 exam if it ever materializes, possibly moved by the man’s honesty and his true interest in her by this point.
Rogue Agent Ending Explained
The lack of resources on the part of Robert Freegard’s victims was one factor that prevented him from being held accountable for his deeds. The families of Sophie, Ian, and Mae had little chance of recovering their children because he had brainwashed them into accepting anything he said. When the kids called home after filing police reports, the officer declined to take any action, claiming that they had left of their own will and that an abduction had not occurred. It’s interesting to note that a similar argument made long afterward led to the dismissal of the two kidnapping cases and the release of Freegard.
Here, Alice Archer distinguished herself. She works as a solicitor and is excellent at it. She has the resources to dig out all kinds of information on people, things that even slip the eyes of her supervisors. She has an ex-cop named Phil who does the necessary research for her and discovers the information Archer requests she find. Therefore, she looks to Phil to learn more about him when she thinks Robert Hansen’s odd behavior. Even if it is now too late for her, he comes through.
Later, Alice is still working hard and being as creative as possible to capture Robert. She enlists the aid of a police officer named Sonny Chandra, who goes so far as to assist her in locating Mae Hansen, one of the girls Robert had abducted in 1993. It turns out that he had been going about under her last name. After listening to Robert’s lies for ten years, Alice is shocked to learn that Mae and Robert have two children together.
Mae still thinks Robert is a spy who is out and about in the world carrying out essential tasks. Alice knows at this point that she cannot communicate properly with Robert’s victims. She is unable to expose his trick because it has become too ingrained in the minds of those he has deceived over a long period of time.
Alice utilizes his method to convince Mae to hand over Robert’s diary, which contains a list of burner phone numbers. The sheer quantity of digits on the list reveals how many people are actually on the list of his victims. He abducted and duped countless people, just like Sophie. After finishing with them, he abandoned them and persuaded them not to seek assistance from anyone. His influence on these people is proved by the fact that Sophie spends so many days living in the streets and eating meagerly, yet she doesn’t call home, even when she is totally free to do so.
Sophie’s predicament also explains what happened to Julie Harper, the woman Robert deceived by promising to marry her, calling her an alcoholic, and never returning home. He must have misled her similarly and abandoned her on the streets, telling her that this was simply a test and that if she passed, MI5 would hire her. Sophie is discovered since her burner phone is current and functional. Julie is an exception to this rule. There is no way to know what happened to her when she lived on the streets or whether she managed to survive. And even if she did, she may still be attempting the exam while awaiting capture by MI5.
Sophie’s beliefs are known to Alice, who uses this information to persuade Sophie to discuss about Robert’s safe places. They decide on a place where it would seem most appropriate for him to take his new victim. Sophie employs all the fictitious methods Robert had been teaching them, and she successfully locates the safe place using them. Robert is still trying to deceive Alice until Alice, Chandra, and Special Agent Sandy Harland reach there just in time to capture him.
He attempts to persuade her to flee with him, knowing that her actions now will determine his fate. Despite everything that has occurred, he almost succeeds in entering Alice’s head. He most likely would have done so if the others hadn’t come. He is therefore apprehended and brought to court, where Alice and all the other victims appear to provide evidence against him. Even though he has been imprisoned for life, he still can’t break his habit.
As Phil had warned, he cannot stop lying and deceiving, and he uses these same tactics with the prisoners and the prison guards. It appears briefly as though he will also enter their minds and devise a plan of escape. But he is not required to.
It was discovered that after a few years of his detention, the court dismissed the two kidnapping proceedings after receiving an appeal from a higher court. According to the claim, the subjects were not being detained against their will. They had the option to return home whenever they desired. He can escape the legal system and venture out into the world thanks to this technicality.