The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The head judge, the President, gently asks Liz questions about her background in the Communist Party, until Leamas angrily shouts at him to leave her alone. After silencing him, the President assures Liz that her honesty is critical to advancing the cause, but that they cannot tell her all the details of the case in order to ensure her integrity. Karden then begins questioning Liz about her relationship with Leamas, who offers one more outburst, and Liz struggles with the inquiry, both because she does not know the stakes and because Leamas is standing behind her, so she cannot look at him. Under further questioning, she admits that Leamas gave her the money to purchase food and medicine when he was ill, and that a friend came by after Leamas’s arrest to take care of his remaining bills, but that she knew nothing of this friend. Karden then gets an increasingly distressed Liz to reveal that someone, ostensibly a charity organization, paid for the remainder of her lease. She admits she assumed the money had something to do with Leamas, since the grocer received compensation as well. Liz initially denies someone paying her a follow-up visit, but then she has to admit that George Smiley came to talk to her. Karden continues to press her on why she did not visit Leamas in prison or seek him out after his release, and she admits that he said goodbye the night before his arrest, and that he promised she would be taken care of. Karden icily concludes that Liz’s foolishness and Leamas’s sentimentality were human frailties that fortunately foiled the plot. Leamas, stunned at the turn of events and wondering how the East Germans could have known so many details, stands up and walks back toward the stand yet again.

Leamas declares that he will tell all so long as Liz can go free, as she is genuinely innocent—a fact Fiedler confirms. Leamas recaps to the judge the origins of the operation, how Riemeck’s death shattered their German network and how they decided to go after Mundt. He describes how they retrofitted existing intelligence to prove Mundt’s guilt, and details his choreographed fall from grace at the Circus. He does not understand why Smiley would pay off his bills, surmising that it may have been a bite of conscience from a burnt-out agent, and he insists that Fiedler was operating in good faith, hating Mundt for his vicious antisemitism rather than any hostility to the Party. Fiedler adds that London must have had operational reasons for paying off Leamas’s debts and Liz’s rent, after going through so much effort to build up Leamas’s image of penury. Leamas believes that the operation simply spun out of control, but Fiedler finds it suspicious that Mundt had so much knowledge about what was going on in England. Mundt offers a weak response, but the President nonetheless relieves Fiedler of his duties barring a further hearing, and will consider a sentence against Leamas. Looking at Mundt, Leamas suddenly realizes the truth of what has transpired.

Liz is in prison. A woman tells her to eat, as there is no food left for workers in England. She tells Liz that she is in the company of spies and traitors whom the Party imprisoned because it must eradicate all obstacles to socialism. The woman is the commissar, a political officer, and she tells Liz that Fiedler and Leamas will both be shot, Leamas for killing the guard, Fiedler for making a false accusation, which the commissar takes as confirmation of her antisemitic views. Liz mourns her inability to do anything for Leamas, not having known which lies might have saved him. She also feels tremendous guilt for being partly responsible for the condemnation of Fiedler, who was kind to her, and she is glad that Leamas and Fiedler became allies. The commissar informs her that she must remain in the prison while the Party decides whether they need further evidence. Later, at some time Liz can’t determine, she hears a noise. Mundt opens the door, and she fears the worst since she knows his reputation for antisemitism. He hurries her out of her cell, leading the way and checking to see if the path is clear. He leads her out of the prison and to a car, where Leamas is waiting. The two men meet briefly, and after making one last antisemitic remark, Mundt tells her goodbye, and Leamas demands she get in the car without waiting for an explanation. Leamas drives, at first ignoring Liz’s many questions, only telling her that they will make Berlin in five hours. She keeps asking him questions, and he finally responds that Fiedler will be shot, Mundt is in fact a British agent, and the whole point of the operation was to save him from Fiedler’s investigations.

Leamas reveals to Liz the whole of the Circus’s scheme to the best of his understanding. To protect Mundt, they needed Fiedler to be publicly discredited so that no one else could pick up on his suspicions. As Leamas ruined his own life as a prelude to the operation, the Circus directed him to Liz so that Mundt could later discredit his story. Even if they had not formed a relationship, the Circus could have invented an infatuation and paid for her lease after Leamas went to prison, and it would have accomplished the same end. Liz asks why she was let go, especially as a Jew, and Leamas surmises that Mundt can use their escape to falsely accuse and destroy other “traitors.” Leamas regrets that others will die, but their part of the operation is over and he will not lament what he cannot control. He rebukes Liz for her sentimentality, since the whole point of communism is that the good of the whole must always supersede that of the individual. London likewise secured a large gain at an acceptable cost. Liz is still aghast that decent people suffered, but Leamas insists that espionage is a game for moral degenerates. Liz keeps insisting on the injustice of the situation, but Leamas tells her that such violence is the only thing holding the world together. Leamas sees a man standing in the road and gets out to meet him. The man instructs them where and how to approach and climb the Berlin Wall; they have 90 seconds to get over it. Leamas drives, and the man directs him through East Berlin, cutting their headlights as they approach the wall. The man promises that the wires are cut where they plan to climb, bids them farewell, and leaves.

Leamas and Liz wait for the searchlight to pass before they attempt the wall. They approach, and the passing of the searchlight leaves them in darkness, but when Leamas gets to the wall he can see the spot where the wire has been cut. They begin to climb, but suddenly they are awash in light, and sirens are blaring. As Leamas struggles to pull Liz up, the guards start shooting. He hears voices on the other side calling for him to jump, as well as Smiley asking about Liz, but he looks down and sees that Liz has been shot and killed. Instead of jumping, he climbs back down to her side and is shot.