WARNING: Spoilers for Hunters season 1.
During the 10-episode Hunters season 1, the titular squad tracks Nazis across the eastern United States and hopes to prevent the rise of the Fourth Reich. A Jewish man named Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) assembles a diverse team, including Lonny Flash (Josh Radnor), Roxy Jones (Tiffany Boone), Joe Torrance (Louis Ozawa), Sister Harriet (Kate Mulvany), Mindy Markowitz (Carol Kane), and Jonah Heidelbaum (Logan Lerman) - the grandson of Holocaust survivor Ruth Heidelbaum (Jeannie Berlin). In side narratives, a Nazi going by Biff Simpson (Dylan Baker) attempts to flee America, while Neo-Nazis led by The Colonel (Lena Olin) and Travis Leich (Greg Austin) plot against America with a plan that will affect inner cities all over the country.
Operation Paperclip Explained
Operation Paperclip was a covert U.S. government program that brought German scientists to America after World War II. The goal: to help defeat the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It’s been estimated that Operation Paperclip - which was aptly named after officials identifying potential recruits by attaching paperclips to their files - involved approximately 1,600 German nationals, many of which were former Nazis. Most people associate the program with Wernher von Braun, a German who helped the Nazis build the V-2 rocket. In America, he’s known for running the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and for developing the U.S. space program.
What The Nazis’ Plan Is To Create The Fourth Reich
The Nazis secretly plot to “purify the world” through the company Schindler Corp. They previously enlisted von Braun to create “The Solution,” a pathogen food substitute used in corn syrup. Specifically, the Nazis want to target inner city communities across America in their quest to build the Fourth Reich. It’s their way of culling the population from the inside out - a disturbing, perfect solution in their eyes. By using corn syrup, they managed to convince corporate executives that they’re saving money while convincing the general population that the new formula would be better for them. And according to Sister Harriet’s contact, no one would know that they had been infected until it’s too late.
Of course, using von Braun’s formula in corn syrup was only the first step, as the Nazis were hoping to truly establish a Fourth Reich that would one day take control of the world. So while the U.S. government thought the Nazis were helping them with their plans to defeat the Soviet Union, the Nazis were really biding their time, infiltrating some of the highest positions in the federal government, and slowly but surely laying the foundation for their plan of attack. With operations in America being run by The Colonel - whose name is really Eva Braun, the longtime partner and later wife (though only for a short time) of Adolf Hitler - Hunters season 1 focuses mainly on the Nazis’ plan in the United States, but clearly, with Hitler being alive, there are bigger plans at play.
How The Wolf Became Meyer Offerman
Throughout Hunters season 1, Meyer tells Jonah numerous stories about a particular Nazi named Wilhelm Zuchs, who tormented him and Ruth at Auschwitz. The story goes that The Wolf forced Meyer to kill other prisoners, hoping to break his spirit. In short, The Wolf was obsessed with Ruth and systemically tormented Meyer out of jealousy. When the war ended, The Wolf was allegedly arrested by the Russians and presumably moved to America under a new identity. As it turns out, the doctor that Jonah identifies as The Wolf turns out to be a doctor that gave the infamous Nazi a new “mask.”
When Meyer confronts and kills the doctor, Jonah notices that he didn’t say a Kaddish prayer, as promised. Since the real Meyer had dreamed of this moment and always said the prayer in his dreams, this Meyer not saying the prayer was all Jonah needed to realize Zuchs was Meyer. And so, the real Zuchs, The Wolf, revealed that he fled from the Russians, killed the real Meyer, and wrote a note as Meyer for Ruth. He then escaped to Berlin and realized that he needed surgery after being spotted.
Zuchs transferred his life savings for plastic surgery, moved to America, and hoped to wake up from his “coma of hate.” In the process, he committed to the Jewish faith and manipulated Ruth by fully committing to his new persona. By becoming Jewish, he says he was able to understand his mistakes in life and sought to atone for them. That’s why, in 1976, the fake Meyer decided to form a Nazi hunting group after an inspiring conversation with Ruth. And when Ruth was later murdered, The Wolf aka Meyer recruited Jonah to help with a redemption mission 30 years in the making. Unfortunately for Zuchs, he’s subsequently murdered by his protege, a moment that establishes a new leader for Hunters season 2, along with a new mission.
Hitler Is Alive & Is “The General”
What’s interesting about this is that Hunters uses real-life conspiracy theories of Hitler being alive in Argentina as a foundation for the twist ending - and for the series as a whole. According to the TV series Hunting Hitler, Adolf Hitler escaped Germany and fled to Argentina via submarine shortly after World War II, and while he was there, other Nazis around the world were plotting for another war and the creation of the Fourth Reich. All of this has been disproved by historians and evidence that suggest Hitler was alive in the 1960s have been refuted. However, that’s not to say that Hunters’ Hitler didn’t do just that in this alternate reality.
There Are Two Nazi Hunting Groups Now
After Jonah kills Meyer/The Wolf, a meeting shows that Lonny, Roxy, and Sister Harriet are still part of the original Hunters squad. Based on Jonah’s actions, the group assumes that Joe left town and “found a way out.” Meanwhile, Mindy has moved to Westchester to be with her family. Jonah asks if anyone else wants to leave, and makes it clear that there are more Nazis to hunt. “They’re gonna keep coming,” he says, “they’re everywhere.” The team realize that Agent Morris will hunt them while they track down Nazis, but the thing is, they’re not the only ones hunting Nazis now.
In the Hunters season 1 ending, a member of Congress approaches Agent Morris and admits that Operation Paperclip is real. The Congresswoman doesn’t want to bury the information as her predecessors had done but would rather take on the Nazis head-on. So she tasked Agent Morris with putting together a team to hunt these Nazis at home and abroad. That means that there will not only be two Nazi hunting groups in Hunters season 2 but both of those groups will be hunting Nazis around the world, not just in America.
Is Harriet A Traitor (& Who Was On The Phone)?
In Hunters season 1, Sister Harriet often appears to be working against the Hunters or at least has different goals. At the very least, she’s hiding something. At one point, she makes a phone call and says “They’re getting closer” in German. She later tips off a Nazi, Kenneth Swiggens, in Alabama and tells him that “Juden are after you.” However, it’s later revealed that she took him to bring as a gift to Murray and Mindy. But then, in the Hunters season 1 finale, she has a cryptic phone call conversation with someone after Meyer is killed.
So, who was Sister Harriet speaking with? She begins her call by saying “It’s important to draw open the curtains every now and again. See that light still shines in the world.” On the other end, a woman with a British accent reacts to learning that the “Queen” - The Colonel - is seemingly dead, and then questions Sister Harriet about how she plans to fool “Offerman’s bandits” in order to carry out a “plan.” The woman also calls Sister Harriet “Rebekah” - a name she hasn’t used since she was a child, when she was still with her parents - and notes that a new dossier will be on the way.
It seems likely that there’s a religious connection between Sister Harriet and her mysterious contact. Meaning, Hunters season 2 may show that Sister Harriet is a double agent liaison that will help lead the fight against Nazis, all the while making sure other information is protected. Just as the TV series The Curse of Oak Island suggests that a secret European treasure was buried in Canada, it’s possible that Hunters season 2 will explore a similar concept. Sister Harriet might be even be trying to protect historical information rather than physical objects.
How The Ending Sets Up Hunters Season 2
Hunters season 2 will presumably take place in Europe and explore “Die Spinne” - a covert operation in which Hitler’s top eight lieutenants were secretly transported to different European locations. Sister Harriet informs the Hunters team about the aforementioned dossier, and suggests taking their expertise “across the pond.” So, the primary conflict will once again involve Nazi hunting, but in a new location. The underlying conflict will involve Sister Harriet’s motivations.
Next: What To Expect From Hunters Season 2
