‘Nemesis’ Episode 8 Recap: “Zugzwang”

This thing has spun way, way – WAY – out. By the Episode 8 season finale of Nemesis (“Zugzwang”), Coltrane Wilder and Isaiah Stiles, its mainline nemeses, have been joined by lots of side-hustle nemeses. Last episode, we saw Coltrane kill Amos for the crime world sleight of being a loose end. We also saw Candace go full gumshoe on Ebony, wearing the bugged necklace to capture on camera her former friend’s admission of conspiracy. And now, with the LAPD finally issuing an arrest warrant for Trane, Isaiah realizes his son is on the streets, armed and searching for the man who murdered his grandfather right in front of him. Noah has become Little Nightmare. Coltrane is now his nemesis, too.   

Detective Stiles has been done so dirty by the department. His obsessive quest was valid, and he was arrested for it, temporarily lost his police powers for it, and is still being denigrated for it, even as the cop brass moves on. “Fuck Noah Stiles and his crazy father. If Wilder was the fourth gunman in Century City, he’s a cop killer, and that’s the headline that gets us all promoted when he goes down.” Captain Seales is appalled. He has been a professional mentor and father figure for Isaiah. But this isn’t even about defending the detective’s character. Combine the deputy chief’s statements with Malik, via that blackmail text, choosing his career over doing the right thing, and we don’t trust the law enforcement management structure at all. 

Neither should Coltrane Wilder trust his. While Ebony, in police custody, calls Charlie’s spa service front to leave a coded message – telling Trane to get out of town – Charlie herself texts Harper. “New target.” Coltrane is now a loose end. On a hill overlooking the city, dotted with churning oil derricks, Trane and Harper fight, and he manages one of those too-easy-in-shows neck-snap maneuvers to end the threat on his life. For now, at least. Is Charlie gonna keep trying to take out her brother-in-law?    

And speaking of fighting, and nemeses…

Out of custody and packing to flee, Ebony finds Candace in the Wilder home, where she has found their doin’ crimes satellite hotline. The women fight, but their scrap is cut short by a cartel hit squad. Little did Isaiah Stiles know, when he made a final, desperate deal with Miguel Álvarez – “I need you to kill Coltrane Wilder” – that his wife would be caught in the crossfire. 

And this is crazy – we said Nemesis has spun way, way out – but the cartel shooters kidnap the wrong lady. They are using Candace as bait for Trane, not Ebony, but he doesn’t know that, and after killing Harper he takes out the cartel platoon to save her. Candace is mortified at Coltrane’s words. That it was her police detective husband who sent the hitters.  

Noah’s still on a solo kill Coltrane mission. Isaiah’s trying and failing to either stop the cartel hit so he can arrest Trane instead, and also looking for Noah. And Candace, with her heartbreak and confusion over Isaiah’s actions – “I don’t know who he is anymore” – has run to the arms of Malik.

But wait, there’s more crazy! This whole season of Nemesis was compounding, sometimes scene by scene, and in its final moments, it breaks this format wide open. Ebony was brought to the hospital under police supervision after the fight and cartel scare at her house, and Charlie has orchestrated an elaborate ruse to bust her out. Her crew of women specialists, including Tanya from the mansion heist in Episode 1, move Ebony from hospital bed to waiting ambulance right under the noses of the cops on duty, and Charlie is there for her sister. “Wheels up in 20 minutes, there is a doctor on the plane. You and your baby will be fine.” Funny how she doesn’t mention Trane.

Trane, whose run leads him to a confluence of people trying to either put him in prison, or the morgue. The cartel warriors have cornered him on a random sidestreet, and open fire. Noah and his Crip pals have arrived from a different direction, and also start shooting. And Stiles rolls up, leaps out of the Charger, and chases Trane on foot, who is already being chased by Noah and a cartel gunman. 

Isaiah’s obsession. Every decision he made, legal or not. The marital separation. The challenges in his home life. All of the men close to him who died, from Manny Shaw to Amos Stiles. It’s all flashing before his eyes as he sees the cartel guy shoot Noah in the leg, and Coltrane Wilder – his quarry! His nemesis! He’s finally right there! – cornered against an alley fence. Isaiah must choose to save Noah, or continue the chase. “Only two options! You make the call!” And wisely, he chooses his son. Season 1 of Nemesis ends with neither prison nor the morgue for Coltrane Wilder. The masterful crimer is still on the loose and on the run.

Cops & Robbers for Episode 8 of Nemesis (“Zugzwang”): 

• Nemesis Season 1 soundtrack album when? Episode 8 drives to its wild conclusion with the Sofi Tukker remix of Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.”

• “In conflict, I got you to come back.” We don’t know yet about a Nemesis Season 2, but we’re definitely hoping. In the meantime, check out this really interesting interview with series co-creator Courtney A. Kemp. Those burning-question, real-time endings of each episode? She was brilliantly gaming how we even watch Netflix shows.

• We’ll also pitch a few Nemesis Season 2 storylines. We’d love to see some flashback action, delving into Ebony and Charlie’s lives as career criminals from birth. We also want to read more of Coltrane Wilder’s journal. His philosophies on that thief life. And in the present, as Nemesis ends with both Trane and Ebony running free, we want to see what winning looks like, and whether it’s a victory at all.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.