'The Copenhagen Test' Ending Explained: A Hacked Brain And 'Alexander's' Disturbingly Abrupt End

The Copenhagen Test is here, and the fans are left on the edge of their seats by the eight-episode show. What started as a thriller turned into something more unsettling after 'Alexander Hale' (Simu Liu), a first-generation Chinese-American intelligence analyst whose life takes a terrifying turn when he discovers his brain has been hacked by unknown forces who can see and hear everything he does. The tale further takes a brutal turn when he's caught between his own agency and some adversaries and forced to act at all times.

'Alexander' works for a covert intelligence watchdog known as The Orphanage, an internal-affairs-style organisation created to monitor and police America's clandestine agencies. However, he finds himself in turmoil, as a company that largely deals in secrets is to identify compromised missions and potential moles, a mandate that becomes painfully ironic once 'Alexander' realises the threat isn’t external, but embedded inside his own mind. However, the question remains: how did we get from this to the ending we got? So, let's take a look.

The Copenhagen Test: a disturbing end that left us all confused

The Copenhagen Test closes with 'Alexander' making one final and extremely risky move to prove he hasn't flipped on the agency, even after everyone else believes that he has. After learning that a man named 'Schiff' is the alleged hacker and intends to kill 'Alexander's' parents if he doesn't do what he's asked, our lead turns on his handlers and agrees to lead the alleged hacker to the elusive intelligence leader known as 'St. George', in exchange for their lives. 

However, the betrayal is a calculated illusion, as 'Alexander' leads him to a decoy instead of the real deal. While the move works, 'Schiff' soon realises he has been played. Nonetheless, before he can do anything, he is shot, cutting the confrontation short and leaving 'Alexander's' future hanging. It turns out his agency has realised what he had been doing. How, you might ask? Well, 'Parker' pieces it together after our lead star talks loudly about betraying the company despite knowing his home is bugged, a signal to warn the team.

As the only analyst who suspected the hack from the beginning, 'Parker' becomes the person who understands him better than anyone else inside The Orphanage. The realisation is confirmed when she realises that 'Alexander' tells his parents he loves them in Haka, a language he only uses with his family when something is serious. 

How did things get more complicated for 'Alexander'?

Things further got more complicated for 'Alexander' as 'Michelle', a woman he thought he met by chance and later reconnects with romantically, actually turns out to be someone embedded by The Orphanage as a part of a long-running loyalty test tied to a past mission in Belarus, where 'Alexander' made an impossible choice that has haunted him ever since. However, in the finale, two devastating revelations leave us all shocked.

First, 'Alexander' learns that 'Rachel', his ex-fiancee, knowingly gave him anti-anxiety pills that allowed nanites to invade his system, therefore hacking his senses. For the unversed, it means she had been part of the operation from the start. And second, that 'Schiff' was not the mastermind behind 'Alexander' being hacked. The test was originally ordered by 'Victor', 'Alexander's' trusted friend and mentor, who engineered the experiment long before the latter realised he was its subject.

Who hacked 'Alexander', why, and how?

In the final five minutes of the show, it's revealed that 'Victor' hacked 'Alexander's' brain. The latter tracks him down and lays out what he has figured out so far. He tells 'Victor' that 'Cobb' was watching him the night he led 'Schiff' to 'St. George' and that 'Cobb' overheard 'Victor' making a call. However, while 'Cobb' couldn't hear everything, two phrases stood out: "carousel" and "he's injured", which to 'Cobb' sounded like someone calling in medical assistance and executing a plan.

While 'Alexander' directly asks 'Victor' whether 'Rachel' was a part of the ploy all along, and whether he was the one who hacked him, the hacker doesn't deny it and admits that 'Rachel' knowingly gave him the anti-anxiety pills and was in on the operation throughout their relationship, which is ultimately why they split. He admits that he ordered the 'Copenhagen Test' himself, insisting it wasn't personal but necessary.

'Victor' further leads 'Alexander' through the restaurant's tunnels, which conceal a large-scale surveillance operation. Screens light up with feeds from multiple other hacked individuals, all unknowingly serving as assets. He explains that the 'Copenhagen Test' was never about 'Alexander' alone, but about proving whether a human being could remain loyal, functional, and self-aware while living inside a fabricated reality, and 'Alexander' was simply the first successful iteration.

Is 'Alexander' still hacked by 'Victor'?

Even by the end of the show, 'Alexander' is still hacked. However, not in the same way. While he is still not completely free, his senses are no longer being broadcast. After 'Parker' and the agency realise 'Alexander' never flipped, The Orphanage ultimately saves him, but not without a little damage. However, he suffers a seizure and goes unconscious, and the team successfully saves him.

After coming back, 'John', who was leading the operation, explains that they implanted a neural 'governor' into his system while he was under, which will allow 'Alexander' to shut off the live broadcast of his senses, finally giving him agency over when others can see, hear, and experience the world through him. While 'John' hopes that 'Alexander' will do more work with them in the future, he gives him some time to get used to his new reality.

What are your thoughts on The Copenhagen Test's ending? Let us know.

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