Citadel: Diana episode 1 ending explained: Two deaths, a proposal, and an alliance

Major spoilers ahead for Citadel: Diana episode 1

Citadel: Diana is off to an intriguing start with its premiere, "Split in Two," which is a reference to the dual life of a spy, the two timelines in this series, and the weapon that our lead gets her hands on when she's on a recon mission for Manticore Italy.

The opening shot of the episode shows us Diana in the aftermath of an altercation. She's had to shoot someone and in order to cover it up she shoots herself in the arm. Storytelling in this series isn't linear so when the narrative backs up, it's not immediately clear that what we see unfold next isn't the aftermath of the shooting but rather the hours before it happens.

She and her fellow agent Luca, known as 301 since the agency discourages the use of names, have been tasked with spying on a meeting between Alex Moreau, a French Manticore agent and Rainer Weber, a German Manticore operative. While there, Diana realizes the "apple" the agents are discussing is actually a weapon that has two parts. They each have one. Noticing the importance of this exchange, Diana acts against orders and opens fire in the middle of the Lugano square.

Who dies in Citadel: Diana episode 1?

Diana shoots Alex in the head but Rainer manages to make his escape. However, the French spy isn't her only kill in "Split in Two." She swipes Alex's half of the weapon and gets an earful from Luca as they speed away in a stolen car. He's worried that disregarding their orders will get them killed and so he makes a fatal mistake once they've driven to a deserted area.

Luca, figuring that if he takes Diana out he may walk away with his own life, pulls a gun on her. But she is more skilled than he is and kills him instead. It's unfortunate because they were friends, but it was him or her. In order to cover up what happened, as we saw in the opening, Diana shoots herself in the arm.

When interrogated she lies and says that Luca was the one who initiated the attack in the square. To sell her story, she mentions that he'd met a woman, disclosing that perhaps he was tired of being treated as less than by the agency and that's why he acted rashly. Diana didn't say that he was dead only that he'd run off. Because she passed the lie detector test and they'd been instructed to turn off their comms and the surveillance cameras during their mission, there was no evidence of her actions.

As this was happening, the Zanis were meeting with the heads of the French and German Manticore families, Cécile and Wolfgang, and got the carrot and stick treatment. The "carrot" being an inducement to align France and Italy's branches.

Cécile proposes to Edo

During the meeting, we learn that Manticore Italy has been sanctioned by the European Manticore council for the last 8 years. If you've seen Citadel, you know why this is significant. That's when their rival spy organization was systematically dismantled and thousands of Citadel operatives were murdered. Considering the trigger for the attack happened in Italy, the Zanis were responsible in some fashion but "Split in Two" doesn't reveal how.

Whatever happened, Manticore Italy was punished for recklessness and that's still the case in 2030 as the council has decided to extend the sanctions for another three years. It's news that neither Edo nor his father Ettore, the head of the Zani family, is pleased with. When Ettore asks why the sanctions are continuing, Wolfgang answers that it's because they still haven't learned their lesson.

It is his belief, and Cécile's, that the Zanis should be grateful that they were allowed to keep their agency and their arms business which is far reaching and influential. But, potentially, there's something that Wolfgang doesn't know. France is looking to expand and they'd like to do so with Italy. Cécile makes this known to Edo when she stops him as they're exiting the secret hideaway their meeting took place in.

Lacking romance but full of intent, she proposes to Edo. Together, they could rule over Manticore France and Italy, uniting their families. Cécile and Edo once tried to make a go of it, but their relationship didn't work out. Still, he entertains her offer, telling her he'd have an answer by the following day.

His lack of leaping at the chance irritates Ettore as a marriage between the two branches is just the thing the Zanis need to get back into the thick of things. For eight years they've been kept from voting and being a part of Manticore's global strategy, and now they face another three years of the same with the extension of the sanctions.

Ettore's pushing, however, tips Edo off that he knew about Cécile's proposal and perhaps even suggested it. At their family home, his mother Julia listens to his position on the matter but it's clear that she would like this union as well. Edo doesn't think it'd be a good match because he and Cécile don't share a similar vision for Manticore.

He wants to shape the spy network into what his father told him it would be: An entity designed to make the world a safer place. That's not what Manticore is doing but that's the direction he wants to take the Italian branch in once he's the head of it. Presumably, that's why he's aligned himself secretly with Diana but her decision to work with him is far more complicated.

Who is responsible for the death of Diana's parents?

The flashback sequences in "Split in Two," which take place in 2017 and 2021, give us our first introduction to the reason why Diana became a spy. She and her sister, Sara, were orphaned after the plane their parents were on "crashed" in the Alps. However, four years of digging by Diana, uncovered a conspiracy.

They died tragically, yes, but it wasn't an accident nor was it a crash. Someone blew up their plane. Diana was determined to find out who gave the order, but she was intercepted before she could confront the person. A man named Gabriele gave her three options. She could proceed with her plan which would end badly for her, change her mind and go home which would be the safer option, or come learn the truth of what happened from him.

She chose the latter, meeting Gabriele on the roof of the building he called her from. He explained that he works for an organization named Citadel and that they work to stop people like the ones responsible for the deaths of her parents and the 80+ innocents on the plane that was bombed. Who did it? The Zanis.

Knowing this, Diana's decision to give the French half of the weapon to Edo makes sense if she's trying to get close to the heir apparent to enact her revenge. It's now 2030, she's been operating on her own for eight years. What's sustaining her is a desire to seek retribution for her loss. But there are still pieces to the puzzle to ponder over.

Before she arrived at Edo's doorstep, Diana met with Rainer. She followed him after she spotted the spy outside of the hospital where she was being seen for Ménière's disease--a chronic ear disorder that causes vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness in the ear.

The two came to an agreement. She'd hand off the other half of the "apple" on the morrow in exchange for $20 million dollars. It's interesting that there are two major decisions set to happen the day after the events of "Split in Two."

But I do wonder if Citadel: Diana's is more non-linear than we might think as Edo starts the episode testing a weapon that's able to turn into any weapon in the Zanis arsenal and can't be picked up by a detector. Strangely, he told his dad that he didn't have a name for the material. There was something about it, too, that eerily was similar to the French half of the "apple."

Edo wanted to run more test but Ettore wanted to immediately work on production to entice new clients. Something tells me the new weapon is actually what Diana gave him which happens to be Citadel technology that Manticore France and Germany reverse engineered without telling Italy.

We're definitely in for a twisting tale with this series. Stay tuned to Americans Undercover for coverage. Follow us on X and Facebook for more content!