What Really Happened To Prof. Mallinder & Safiya In Prime Target?

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Prime Target's episodes 1 & 2.Prime Target's first two episodes leave viewers with more questions than answers, with one revolving around Professor Mallinder's fate and his connection with Safiya. Streaming on Apple TV+, Prime Target initially focuses on the day-to-day snags of a brilliant mathematics postgraduate student, Edward Brooks, who seems deadset on finding a pattern between prime numbers. However, his narrative takes an intriguing turn when his research seems to align with the markings on a prehistoric wall in Baghdad.

Ed is forced to question the nature and implications of his research when one of his professors, Mallinder, dies before burning down his research and asking him to stay away from the prime numbers. Although Prime Target episode 2's credits start rolling before it can delve into the details of why the number research is dangerous, it confirms that the story has many underlying layers. It also hints that Professor Mallinder's concerns surrounding the prime numbers research had something to do with his past with Safiya.

Professor Mallinder Was Seemingly Killed - But Why?

Taylah Sanders Discovers The Truth About His Death

Prime Target's Taylah Sanders works for the NSA (National Security Agency). Her job as an NSA agent is to keep an eye on academicians of elite institutes. This is done because it is believed that, in the digital age, mathematicians could come up with the means to take down everything from power supplies to military systems. As an NSA agent, Taylah has to look at CCTV footage from the professors' homes and offices and inform higher authorities if she spots anything suspicious.

When she notices Professor Mallinder working on an equation written on his dining sheet, she reports his actions to her superiors. Moments later, Mallinder receives a warning from an unknown figure who asks him why he has started working on prime numbers again. With what follows, Mallinder not only discourages his student, Edward, from continuing his research on prime numbers but also sets out to destroy everything Ed has done. From his computer files to his research papers, Mallinder eradicates everything before being found dead in his car.

His demise is ruled as suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, Taylah notices something strange when she looks at the last footage of his car. She realizes that someone externally edited the footage, hinting that he might have been murdered. When she goes through his final voice message for his family, she also learns it is AI-generated and has a looped coughing sound in the background. This almost confirms that Mallinder was murdered because someone believed he was working on prime numbers.

Was Safiya Killed By The Same People Who Murdered Robert?

The Circumstances Around Their Deaths Seem Similar

After learning about Safiya's complicated relationship with Mallinder and the fact that she was also researching prime numbers, Edward sets out to find out more about her. From a Cambridge librarian, he learns that Safiya died 30 years ago by suicide. Noticing that the circumstances around Mallinder and Sofiya's deaths are eerily similar, he wonders if they were both killed for researching prime numbers. Both of them might have also been murdered by the same people because they died after picking up the mathematical research.

These developments in Prime Target's episodes 1 and 2 suggest that someone does not want mathematicians to crack the code behind the pattern in prime numbers. Since the pattern could potentially give one the power to control all digital systems across the globe, some forces ensure that mathematicians, like Safiya and Mallinder, who get close to cracking the code get eradicated before they can misuse their discovery. Since Edward, too, has been working on the same model, he is also in danger after the story developments in Prime Target's first two episodes.

Why Was Ed Told Safiya Is Still Alive?

Mallinder Did Not Want Him To Dig Too Deep Into Her Life

Ed was clueless about Safiya's death because Mallinder and his wife, Andrea, talked about her like she was still alive. Mallinder likely never disclosed Safiya's fate to Ed because he knew it would prompt him to dig deeper into his past, leading him to her dangerous research on prime numbers. He wanted to stop Ed from meeting the same fate as Safiya, but little did he realize that destiny would eventually lead him to the same prime numbers research.

Since Apple TV+'s Prime Target has not confirmed Safiya's fate, she might have also faked her death to save herself from the forces hunting down mathematicians like her. If this is true, Edward will eventually cross paths with her during his hunt for answers.