The Last Frontier season 1 episode 9 ending explained: Did Bradford find Sidney?

The Last Frontier season 1 episode 9 picks up its plot right where it left off in the previous episode, where Havlock and Sidney confronted each other in the prison van, and he handed her the Archive 6 drive. However, we didn’t learn what their plan was, but by the end of the episode, we see Havlock standing right next to Sidney. 

The episode begins with Sidney calling Frank and warning him to stay out of her fight with Bradford. But Frank knows how many people have suffered because of her plan, so he refuses and says he is coming for her. He won’t let her go that easily, especially after she has turned Fairbanks upside down just to expose Bradford.

Right then, Bradford arrives in Fairbanks to stop Sidney from exposing the CIA (basically to protect her own secret). With Frank’s team and Bradford trying to find Sidney, Frank shuts down Bradford to take over the case, as they don’t have any legal jurisdiction in Alaska. But throughout the episode, she outsmarts the marshals and keeps them from reaching Scofield first, all to protect herself and to prevent the Archive 6 from being exposed. 

Frank learns the truth about Bradford in The Last Frontier season 1 episode 9

As Bradford finds out how Havlock got the data even though the dead man’s switch was paused, she quickly realizes that Scofield has it. In today’s episode, both the CIA and the marshals are focused on one main goal: getting to Sidney Scofield.

Meanwhile, Havlock is arrested, and he tells Frank that they must reach Scofield before Bradford does. He explains that Bradford isn’t trying to stop Sidney; she wants to finish her. Taking Archive 6 won’t just silence Sidney; Sidney now knows everything Bradford has been doing, including how she betrayed her father and her family. The only way Bradford can protect herself is by eliminating Sidney. Havlock warns, “If she dies, the truth dies with her.”

Soon after, Bradford arrives to meet Frank and says she needs to take charge and talk to Havlock. But Frank refuses. He tells her clearly that she must get a court order first and, until then, stay out of his command centre. Bradford even tries to threaten him for going against her, but Frank already knows her secret, how she labels people as enemies and gets them killed without any legal process. He says she only cares about saving herself, not about protecting the CIA from being exposed.

Shutting her down doesn’t stop Bradford. After she leaves, the marshals get a tip from a witness who says she saw Sidney at Schiller’s Pharmacy. Bradford hears this on her car radio, even though she doesn’t reach the pharmacy before Frank and his team, she still manages to find a lead. She drives to the back door of the store and asks someone about Sidney. The person tells her that Sidney was talking to Haroldo, an employee at the store.

Bradford catches Haroldo, and he tells her he only helped Sidney buy some red hair dye and showed her the way to the Fairbanks Depot for the Denali Star train. Bradford is also trying to figure out where Sidney might go to transmit the data, because she needs the SIPRNet network for that. After dropping Haroldo on the roadside, Bradford orders her team to head to the Denali Star, and they even get on the train that Sidney boarded.

But Sidney manages to escape and gets off at Healy. Bradford looks around for possible places from where Sidney could send the data, and she finds the nearest option: the Nenana Hydroelectric Dam.

Meanwhile, Frank’s team is delayed, and during that time, they lose Havlock. He overpowers an officer, changes into his clothes, and, with Thiago’s help, creates a diversion to escape. Frank tells Jane that Scofield is the priority and refuses to split the team to look for Havlock. Just like how Vivian Pike (fugitive from the plane) once called in a tip about herself, Sidney does the same. Frank and Hutch hear the 9-1-1 call, and they realize it was Scofield who reported her own location.

Frank understands that she wants them to follow her. But when Sidney reaches the dam, Bradford is already there waiting for her. Soon after, Havlock appears, and the scene cuts to black. What their plan is, how they will expose Bradford, and what role Frank will play in all of this will be revealed in the finale episode of The Last Frontier.