It’s a web of lies, deceit, betrayals and fierce emotions too. The CIA agent codenamed Martian (Michael Fassbender) might write in his journal for his daughter, “We are taught that emotions are not the truth”, but the star-studded espionage thriller has as strong an emotional core as the fascinating spy games. The title track ‘Love Is Blindness’, performed by Jack White, conveys the emotional minefield of its characters led by Martian.
As ‘The Agency’ enters the second season, we are once again led into a captivating terrain where suspense remains thick, tension-fraught moments abound. Operations are in full swing. John Magaro’s Owen is being prepared for a very dangerous mission. To trap Viking, a mercenary within the Russian-backed organisation Valhalla, he befriends a female nurse Robyn, sister of the man the CIA wants at all costs.
If you have seen the first outing, you know Sudanese Dr Sami Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith) is in trouble for which Martian holds himself responsible. To get her out of captivity in Khartoum, he breaks a rule or two and is in cahoots with MI6, the British spy network. Playing a senior official of MI6, Hugh Bonneville’s James Richardson has the necessary craft to extract his pound of flesh.
Meanwhile, Danny aka Gremlin (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), who is undercover in Iran, is very close to learning about the country’s nuclear programme. Right now, Iran is at the centre of world attention. But when a series obviously made some time ago pushes the Islamic nation centre stage, you can only laud its uncanny foresight. Lines like “Iran is a nine-dimensional chess game, you move one wrong piece at a wrong time, it gets taken and you don’t even know who took it…” depict its fault lines as well as the makers’ understanding of its volatile temper.
Of course, in the series, war is not in sight, yet Danny is at great risk and her handler Naomi (Katherine Waterston) wants her out. Only Martian outwits Naomi for selfish reasons and ensures Gremlin remains on the trail of an important Iranian minister’s son.
At the very least, at any given point, there are three areas of action. Superb editing takes you on a rollercoaster from one country to another with excellent cinematography. From the CIA office in London to Iran to the Central African Republic, the focus shifts but your interest in the series does not flag. More than being action-packed, the series is about the games agencies and those at the helm play.
Nothing is black and white, no one is above reproach, least of all the intrepid hero. What would a man not do for the love of his life? But has he betrayed his country, the USA, as his boss Jeffrey Wright’s Henry Ogletree thinks?
So much is happening in the series — geopolitical battles for rare earth resources, blood diamonds and more — that you blink and miss. Russia remains an enemy but players like China too are certainly involved. Interestingly, the Indian spy agency also finds mention. Many events have an eerie resemblance to the real world. ‘False Flag Attack’, ‘Officially a Ghost’… the names of episodes carry as much weight as the series on the whole. Assets, targets, undercover, decoy are not just words, but loaded with gravity. Spies here are people with real feelings, fears and secrets.
Much of the drama might rest upon hide and seek, yet it’s not just agents and their bete noire who play cat and mouse but different agencies too are competing and cutting each other out. Double agents at play ensure a double take.
Beyond geopolitics, the series is as much a psychological peep into the minds of spymasters, enhanced further by the presence of clinical psychologist Dr Rachel Blake (Harriet Sansom Harris). She is both a coping mechanism for the field agents and an investigator poking deep into their minds. But, can she really get to the bottom of the truth in a world where lying is an art, deception the rule of the game?
Martian mentors a young agent with words like “To make people believe your lie, you have to learn to lie to yourself, you are the first person who needs to buy that lie”. Much keeps you invested, including the sterling writing by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, also the creators.
Performances are superlative. If Fassbender is at once steely, inscrutable yet emotive, you see Magaro’s Owen’s vulnerability and fragility writ in his mobile face and body language. Leon’s beauty is complemented by her survival instinct. For Richard Gere fans, let it be said that though consummate, he does not hog the limelight.
Finally, the 10-episode series is best savoured at your own pace. Indeed, the temptation to watch it in one go is very strong as each episode ends on an intriguing hook. So does the series. Clearly, Season 3 is in the offing and we don’t mind its continuation at all. This Agency certainly has agency of drive and intention, making you sit on the edge all through its dramatically twisty runtime.