‘The Agency’ is totally worth every day of your free Paramount+ trial
I haven’t heard enough people talking about The Agency, which, despite my distaste for the political-thriller genre, is well on track to be one of my new favorite shows—and it should definitely be on your radar because it’s only getting better and better.
Months after its November premiere, three things inspired me to finally watch Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth’s new series, The Agency: 1.) Michael Fassbender = hot, 2.) the fact that I had nearly a week left to explore the Paramount+ catalog after signing up for a 7-day free trial solely to watch the Golden Globes, and 3.) I think I like the James Bond movies enough, and that’s got to count for something, right? So when wildfires began raging through my city, I holed up in my apartment and thought, what better time than now?
What I wasn’t expecting was a surprisingly nuanced, cerebral twist on the spy-thriller genre that grew on me as I binge-watched my way through almost the entire first season. The series balances suspense, nods to international politics, and well-written characters with far more depth than their 007 or BBC Sherlock (sorry, Tumblr dot com users) counterparts. This is thanks to a stacked cast that includes the likes of Jodie Turner-Smith, Richard Gere, Katherine Waterston, John Magaro, and Jeffery Wright, all of whom sufficiently distracted me from doomscrolling the news.
The Agency turns “The Spy’s Spy” archetype on its head
What I appreciate about The Agency is that it isn’t trying to make espionage look cool; yes, there are little blips of secret code names and spiffy spy tools—General Volchok’s boots, or the kind of “hacking into the mainframe” scenes we’re used to seeing in these kinds of things—here and there that make the job seem as flashy as Hollywood often makes it out to be, but really, the series is more interested in exploring the psychological damage of going undercover and its impact on one’s identity. The show makes mental health a focal point, and breaks down these very macho CIA agents to their cores, as seen through interviews with psychologist Dr. Blake (Harriet Sansom Harris).
Our leading man, “Martian” (a.k.a. Brandon), played by Fassbender, is a certifiable badass. He’s just returned to London Station after a six-year deployment to Africa, where he’s been gathering intel under the name Paul Lewis. At the same time, he also gets the proverbial s**t beat out of him by one of Osman’s (Kurt Egyiawan) henchmen in episode 5 and spends the bulk of each episode worrying about the safety of his situationship, Dr. Sami Zahir (Turner-Smith), and his daughter, Poppy (India Fowler), all while moping in his London high-rise listening to records, alone. He’s messy, morally gray, and loses all rationality when Poppy and Sami’s lives are threatened—a deadly guard dog type.
This departure from the image of your stereotypically suave spy helps make The Agency so compelling; Martian is absolutely not OK and he’s only “suave” on occasion. He grapples with his own perceived masculinity, exemplified by his reluctance to ask for help from those around him. Martian is fighting his demons alone, and his impulsivity and greed threaten to destroy everything he loves, on top of running the risk of blowing the CIA’s entire operation. Foreign affairs are a delicate thing, after all, and Martian’s “shoot first, ask questions later” approach will probably have some dire consequences, as we’ve seen foreshadowed in the series’ later episodes.
The Agency is a refreshing change of pace for the genre
The Agency has at least three plot lines overlapping at any given point, with the consistent B-story being the CIA’s race to retrieve a rogue agent known as “Coyote” before the KBG can get its hands on him. We also get to spend a lot of time with Ruiz (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), a new addition to the agency tasked with sneaking her way into Iran via a geophysics graduate program. Ruiz acts as something of an audience surrogate here, as we get to experience firsthand the personal sacrifice and ruthlessness it takes to survive as an undercover operative.
With Ruiz, I felt the stakes in my bones—every scene between her and her colleagues at the university is a masterclass in doublespeak. We watch as this once-innocent woman essentially falls from grace, landing herself in a situation she may never be able to come back from. If she continues down this path, she’ll resemble Martian or even her mentor, Naomi (Waterston)—the kind of shell of a human being who spends long days at the office, only to return home to an empty apartment and microwave dinners. It’s endearing to see all of our characters at different points in their careers and it makes you want to reach through your TV screen, grab Ruiz by the shoulders, and tell her to quit before it’s too late.
Suffice it to say, I like The Agency enough to shell out a whopping $12.99 for a month of Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, which is definitely saying something as someone who pinches pennies as much as myself. New episodes roll out every Friday, with the finale set to air on January 24. And good news for fans! The Agency has already been renewed for a second season, so feel free to become invested in the characters as much as you’d like.
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