Prime Target Season 1 Episode 5 Review: House of Wisdom

Prime Target Season 1 Episode 5, “House of Wisdom,” is finally a step in the right direction. We’re in the back half of the season now, and it’s a relief that the show is finally getting better. It’s not superb by any means, but progress is progress.

One of the best parts about this episode is that it addresses some of the show’s lingering problems.

As mentioned in my review of Prime Target Season 1 Episode 4, “Kaplar,” we need to spend some time with Ed and Taylah when they aren’t doing something conspiracy-related to get a sense of who they are and potentially begin to care about them.

“House of Wisdom” delivers those scenes.

Ed and Taylah’s conversation after dinner isn’t a miracle worker that makes us fall madly in love with both of them, but it allows us to understand them better. Taylah and Ed are less of a mystery to us now.

The conversation starts with Ed simply asking her why she came to find him, and it ends up revealing a lot about Taylah’s motivations. She opens up about losing someone she loves in a motorcycle accident, and it’s clear that there’s a good bit of survivor’s guilt there. She won’t let someone die if she can stop it.

And on Ed’s side, his singular focus on finding the truth about primes without really caring about what it could mean is brought up again.

Because of this conversation and what we learn about both of them from it, her decision to withhold information from Ed doesn’t come across as sinister or as if she has some ulterior motive. It’s clear she’s just not burdening Ed with the information until he needs to know, letting him focus on the math.

Due to Taylah’s relationship with Jane and the fact that Jane/the NSA tried to kill Ed, it could have been very easy for Prime Target to cast suspicion on Jane, making us question her motives.

But the show plays it smart and realizes it’s much more beneficial for us not to doubt Taylah and to root for her and Ed.

There’s already too many questions about the “bad” guys right now — Kaplar, the NSA, and whoever killed Robert and Taylah’s former boss/co-worker — that Prime Target doesn’t have room to introduce anyone else. Taylah potentially turning against Ed would have been too much for the show to juggle.

Instead, the show appears to be creating friction in Ed and Taylah’s partnership in another way — by having Ed become suspicious of Taylah. This might be a manageable way for the show to create some tension without throwing in another potential “bad” guy. We’ll see if it is successful or not.

Stray Thoughts

• Taylah revealing that she knows about the assassination attempt to Jane is surprising. I figured she would have kept that a secret and tried to manipulate Jane a bit.
• I can’t wait to see what Jane does next.
• Andrea is a fun addition to Ed and Taylah’s conspiracy-solving team. I love that she gets one-on-one scenes with both of them.

What did you think of this episode of Prime Target? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Prime Target airs on Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

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