The Agency 1.1-1.3: Sharp American British Spy Mix

I saw the first three episodes of The Agency on Paramount+Showtime last night.  It's a spy-thriller narrative, with John le Carré feel to it -- that is, a complex story, with several layers of characters, and a central character who, for whatever reason, is operating and living not completely in synch with his/her superiors in the agency.

And The Agency does have this particular twist: the "Agency" is actually our American agency, aka the CIA, in its critically important London bureau.  This affords The Agency the best of both worlds -- the easy rudeness or at least bluntness of Americans, working in the streets, and flats, and eateries of London.  In that mix, The Agency has connections with both the Americans in Sheraton Taylor's Lioness (here's my review of the first season, and I'll be reviewing the second season in the next day or so) and the Brits in Joe Barton's Black Doves and Debora Cahn's The Diplomat.   If this gives you the impression that spy thrillers are very much in the air these days -- or, more precisely, in the stream -- you'd be completely right.

All of these series also have top-notch famous acting, and The Agency is no exception.  Richard Gere plays the bureau chief, Jeffrey Wright is right below him, and Dominic West is right above him as the CIA Director (I'll just note that the first time I saw West in an American role was in The Wire, and his American accent was so good I was surprised to find out he was British).  Michael Fassbender plays the beleaguered  agent-hero, and does a good job of it, as does Jodi Turner-Smith as his girlfriend.

Now, you'll notice I haven't warned you about spoilers, because I don't intend to give you any.  But I will say that The Agency in its first three episodes offers a provocative blend of intellectual puzzling and life-and-death action.   I'll be back here with more when I see more of the series.  In the meantime, I highly recommend it.

The Little Drummer Girl: Big, Riveting Story

My wife and I binged The Little Drummer Girl on AMC the past few nights, and much enjoyed it.  It's based on master spy novelist (e.g., The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1963) John le Carré's 1983 The Little Drummer Girl novel, but since I haven't read it, I won't offer any comparisons.  (I haven't seen the 1984 movie, either.)

The mini-series covers the same political, emotional, ethically quandaried terrain as Spielberg's superb 2005 Munich - mining, in particular, the differences in Mossad about what kinds of retaliation are warranted in the aftermaths of the Munich massacre, and in the case of Drummer Girl, in the wake of a Palestinian bomb that kills an outspoken Talmudic scholar and a young girl.  At what point does the Mossad team, in its lying and manipulation of those around them, and killing when necessary of terrorists, for the purpose not only of retaliation but prevention of future attacks, become as inhuman as those the Mossad is hunting?

Michael Shannon does a great job as Kurtz, head of the Mossad team, who will do whatever is necessary to stop Khalil, the "genius" (in Kurtz's words) responsible for the bomb that killed the scholar and the girl.   Alexander Skarsgård is similarly outstanding as Gadi, a lethally effective and charming agent who has a persistent conscience (he doesn't want to be part of the any retaliation killing).   But  Florence Pugh steals the show as Charlie, the young actress recruited by Kurtz and Gadi to infiltrate the PLO unit and bring down Khalil.   She not only lights up the screen in every scene she's in, but plays her transformations from star-struck ingenue to being almost politically seduced by the terrorists just perfectly.

The Little Drummer Girl is replete with shockers, and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.  Highly recommended.