Binged The Copenhagen Test -- eight episodes -- on Peacock the past the two nights. It's billed as a spy thriller, which it certainly is. But in as much as Alexander Hale (powerfully played by Simu Liu, pretty much first time I've seen him, ok I saw him in Barbie) is a spy who discovers he's been hacked -- everything he sees and hears is streamed by his brain to whomever has the receiver -- I'd say The Copenhagen Test easily qualifies as cyberpunk, a well-known branch of science fiction. I mean, I guess this kind of neural hack is related to Elon Musk's Neuralink, but that's a very first step, and the hack in The Copenhagen Test is already serious big business for the Orphanage, the US spy agency that monitors the CIA, the FBI, etc.
Now, I'm not going to tell you anything about the plot, because one of the many strengths of The Copenhagen Test are the twists and turns which multiply faster than Frank the Bunny in Donnie Darko. Indeed, just when you think you've been told the whole story, you're dealt another curve ball, and the only way to really know the story is over is when the eighth episode is completed, and even then, well ,,,
Along the same lines, the morphing of heroes into villains and vice versa is the most I've seen or read in any story. But it all makes pretty much sense in the end, and my only regret is that The Copenhagen Test didn't have the Beach Boys' "Heroes and Villains" as its theme song.
About the acting: As I said, Simu Liu was superb. So was Brian d'Arcy James as Peter Moira, someone pretty high up in the Orphanage, whom my wife immediately recognized from The Family McMullen, which we saw last week. Sinclair Daniel and Melissa Barrera were both indelible in their parts, and you can't go wrong with Saul Rubinek, especially when there's so much action in his character's restaurant.
And trust me, if you're a fan of spy narratives and cyberpunk, even if you're not, you can't go wrong with The Copenhagen Test.
