The Enemy Within Season 1 Finale: The Crucial Lie

I thought The Enemy Within season 1 finale, on earlier tonight, kept true to all of its bases and then some.

Shepherd turned out to be loyal to her single-minded goal of killing Tal.  She does this by giving Tal some crucial information (which doesn't ultimately get in the way of the FBI's preventing a massacre of CIA brass) and by shooting Keaton (to make it look for a moment like she killed him, even though the bullet would cause no lasting damage).  And [spoilers ahead] she indeed kills Tal in the end.

But Tal tells her something before she kills him - about a very high-level operative in U. S. Intelligence - and Shepherd lies by omission in a subsequent conversation with Keaton, when he asks her if she learned anything from Tal that Keaton needs to know, and Shepherd declines to reveal what Tal told her about the U. S. operative.

That lie is crucial.   Shepherd, on her way to being under lock and key again, needs something she can use for advantage with Keaton.  That's the formula, after all, that worked so well, this year.  And, by the way, I think it did work well.   The fate of this series is still unknown.  But Shepherd's lie of omission to Keaton sets up a second season perfectly.   The two will hunt the high-level traitor in the U. S. with Shepherd behind bars when she's not out working with Keaton, but Shepherd is in possession of some crucial information unknown to Keaton.

I should also mention that I thought the action tonight was top drawer.  Two desperate operations in two different places, with bullets flying galore.   The storyline always veers close to credibility, which is just the way it should be.  I hope to see more.

See also The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI ... The Enemy Within 1.5: The New Mole ... The Enemy Within 1.7: The Conversation ... The Enemy Within 1.8: Oranges (Think About It) ... The Enemy Within 1.9: CIA vs. FBI ... The Enemy Within 1.12: Razor's Edge

 

The Enemy Within 1.12 Razor's Edge

I figured I'd check back in with a review of The Enemy Within, which posted its next-to-last episode of the season on NBC last night.  It was a good episode in its own right, and, even better, continued keeping us on the razor's edge about whether Shepherd is really working for us or Tal.

On the specific story last night: I like a Congresswoman who turns out to be former CIA black ops and can tote and shoot a gun with the best of them.   One of the most enjoyable facets of The Enemy Within is the way it's been able to introduce compelling new characters.

On the question of Shepherd's loyalty, which is the essence of the series: it seems to me that the only evidence we have of her loyalty to Tal are the conversations she's managed to have with him, by stealing a phone or whatever this season.  And I right?  Did I miss something?  Because if I didn't, there's not all that much reason to think her ultimate loyalty is to Tal.  After all, she could've been lying to him in those conversations.

There's of course no doubt that her goals are not identical to the FBI's or Keaton's.  Shepherd and Keaton both want Tal dead.   And Shepherd, rightly or wrongly, probably rightly, has more confidence in her ability to do that, than she does in Keaton's.   Or, at very least, she has more confidence in her ability to think-through how to get Tal.   And it's also likely that she's concluded that such a plan requires her to escape FBI confinement at the appropriate time.

That would result in the FBI, including even Keaton, turning against her.   I don't see how all of this can be resolved in the one remaining episode, and, at present, there's no word on the fate of the series.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next week, and to seeing a season 2 of The Enemy Within next year.

See also The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI ... The Enemy Within 1.5: The New Mole ... The Enemy Within 1.7: The Conversation ... The Enemy Within 1.8: Oranges (Think About It) ... The Enemy Within 1.9: CIA vs. FBI

 

The Enemy Within 1.9: CIA vs. FBI

There's always been a tension between the CIA and the FBI on The Enemy Within, to say the least, but it was drawn much more sharply in last night's episode 1.9.   Unsurprisingly, the FBI knew and did what was best.

Of interest, though, was how incompetent the CIA seemed.  They not only were behind the ball most of the time.  They were stubborn, and repeatedly jeopardized the mission.   I usually prefer more subtle distinctions, but 1.9 was a pretty strong episode anyway.

Shepherd, of course, is (former) CIA, now working, in chains, for the FBI.   Come to think of it, there's not much subtle about that, though there's plenty of complexity, and secrets within secrets.  For the past few episodes, The Enemy Within has gone out of its way to show us that Shepherd is actually working with Tal.  But I don't believe it.

I mean, she's working with him, sure.  But the question is for what purpose.  I'm thinking she's connecting with Tal as the most effective way of getting to him, so she can kill him.  With just a few episodes left this season, I'm guessing we won't see that this year.  Instead, I expect the season will conclude with Shepherd appearing to escape and joining forces with Tal.

Will Will Keaton be aware that Shepherd is working with Tal to take Tal out?   I hope so.  Keaton's come a long way in understanding what makes Shepherd tick.  But he's not there yet.  And, who knows, I could be wrong about this theory.

At very least, I hope The Enemy Within is renewed, so I can see if I am right.

See also The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI ... The Enemy Within 1.5: The New Mole ... The Enemy Within 1.7: The Conversation ... The Enemy Within 1.8: Oranges (Think About It)

 

The Enemy Within 1.8: Oranges (Think about It)

An excellent episode 1.8 of The Enemy Within tonight, which via flashback provides a big missing piece of what happened three years ago to Shepherd, which resulted in her betraying Laine and three other CIA agents to the notorious Tal.

We already knew it was to protect her daughter.   Her blurting out the names of the four-member CIA names to Tal, as he was counting down to when he would kill Shepherd's daughter Hannah, makes perfect sense.  What doesn't make as much sense is why she didn't try to warn all four of them a little sooner - or why, after issuing the order for all four to abandon their current positions, she didn't follow through a little sooner with Laine.   I know, she had to confirm that her daughter was safe at home, but it isn't quite believable that a leader as effective as Shepherd would be so rattled that she couldn't have multi-tasked a little more.

On the other hand, it does make sense that once she was in the mode of protecting her daughter, Shepherd's other instincts were blocked.   Which brings us to the present.  We saw her talking to Tal in the present, last week, and again tonight.   But I don't think she's working for him.  I think she's playing a long game of working for Tal with the goal of his somehow getting her out of prison - as she tells him tonight - with the goal of killing him once she's out. 

By the way, it's good to see Lev Gorn from The Americans in action as Tal in The Enemy.   Not only is my oldest nickname Lev, but Gorn is a convincing actor.  He was a way of conveying a humanistic impulse, which is especially vexing when it's packaging the persona of a character who's a stone cold killer.

At this point, I'd say that The Enemy Within is the best espionage series that's come along on old-fashioned network TV in a while.  See you here next week.

See also The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI ... The Enemy Within 1.5: The New Mole ... The Enemy Within 1.7: The Conversation

 

The Enemy Within 1.7: The Conversation

A good Enemy Within (1.7) last night - sorry, I was out doing a reading in Philadelphia, and didn't have a chance to review last week's episode.  But in this week's, we learn that: Shepherd is still working for Tal!

Or, maybe not.  We see, at the end of the episode, that she's conversing with Tal - via a phone she picked up without the FBI's knowledge - and Tal certainly appears to think she's working for him. But she might be maintaining contact with Tal as a way of ultimately getting to kill him.

The bulk of last night's episode clearly showed Shepherd doing her best to get Tal killed - arguing against the consensus that it's not worth sacrificing an innocent life to get Tal (I agree with this consensus, btw).   Keaton tries to have his cake and eat it - protect the innocent life but continue the mission, that is, don't tip off Tal - but that doesn't work.  And it's hard to believe that everything Shepherd said and did with the FBI was an act.

If she's working with Tal, that would be a wild explication indeed of what Tal said a few weeks ago about there being more than one mole in Keaton's team.   Assuming he was telling the truth, I still can't see who that mole might be.  Everyone we've seen, including Shepherd, is apparently trying their utmost to get Tal.

Which adds up to a good spy narrative, which is what The Enemy Within not only is, but gets more so with each episode.  I just had another thought:  maybe that CIA woman who is trying to sour Keaton on Shepherd is the Tal mole?   That would certainly explain her behavior.

I have no readings of my science fiction next week, so I'll see you here with another review.


See also The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI ... The Enemy Within 1.5: The New Mole

 

The Enemy Within 1.5: The New Mole

I like a TV series that kills off a major character or two.   It keeps the show fresh, and us its viewers on edge, which is where we want to be.   Tonight The Enemy Within did that with Anna.

And she was a major character indeed.  A mole of Tal, right in thick of the team that's out to get him.  And Keaton feels something for her.  She reminds him of Laine.  Shepherd tells him to play that card, and Keaton does.  And it works - but only because Keaton really does feel a connection to Anna.

Her parting thus leaves The Enemy Within with a pretty big hole.   Tal attempts to fill it, when he asks Keaton at the end why he thinks Anna was the only mole.  The series, after all, is entitled The Enemy Within, so it wouldn't be shocking if there was more than one mole all along.

No one jumps out at this point, though.  Kate (well played by Kelli Garner) and Daniel (well played by Raza Jaffrey) both have gone out their way to help Keaton and the team.  Especially Kate.  I suppose Daniel's distrust of Shepherd could be a signal that he's working for Tal, but I just don't think so.  And nothing seems odd about the other two.   So who's the other mole?

It wouldn't be beyond Tal to spread discord be making Keaton suspicious, for no reason.  But I don't think that's the story, either.   So, we'll just have to see.   Not having too many answers at this point in a series is a sign that it's on the right track.   It certainly makes the series true to life.   If you think about the world in which we live, outside of espionage, just reported in the news every day, The Enemy Within provides a good approximation.

See you here next week.

See also The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI

 

The Enemy Within 1.4: Microsoft AI

My wife and I have been watching The Enemy Within and enjoying it - always good to see Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter - but I haven't yet a chance to review it.  Tonight's 1.4 had such an impressive ad for Microsoft AI - woven so well into the story - that I figured, hey, why wait.

First, the overall set-up of the series is good - in fact, a wrenching moral dilemma, or series of interlocking dilemmas.  Erica Shepherd (Carpenter) decides that, in order to save her daughter, she has to betray a whole bunch of American agents, who are killled by the mastermind terrorist Tal.  One of the agents killed is FBI special agent Keaton's fiancee, who was with the CIA.  Three years later, Keaton (played by Goliath's Morris Chestnut, who's always excellent) is focused on getting Tal, and to do so, he brings Shepherd, shackled, onto the team.  The rest of the team is split on whether that's a wise thing, and the team also has at least one active Tal mole.  The storylines and action are sharp.

But what stuck me tonight was the way that Kate the technical analyst uses Microsoft AI to help the team foil the kidnapping of a Senator and his daughter at the airport.  As she explains to Keaton after we see her deftly weave her way through three-dimensional images on her and our screen, Microsoft AI allows her to "stitch" together images from the airport to create a clear flow of three-dimensional images that show exactly what lies below and ahead of where the agents are running.   And right after that cool demonstration in narrative action and subsequent explanation in character, we get a real commercial for Microsoft AI and what it can do for human pursuits other than crime fighting - like display of sheer beauty.

Hey, The Enemy Within is on a commercial TV network - NBC - so, if  you have a commercial sponsor, like Microsoft, why not flaunt it by putting it right into the plot?  I'm all in favor, and I'll be back here sooner or later with another review.