Paramount+ and Showtime’s “The Agency” doesn’t have the spy action that fans of “Mission: Impossible” or James Bond may expect, but I found the two episodes sent to press consistently riveting due to the sharp dialogue, incredible ensemble, and tight filmmaking. In an era of broad escapism like “The Night Agent” (which has value too, don’t get me wrong), it’s exciting to see something that feels more inspired by John le Carré than Ethan Hunt. And it’s clear that this intellectual approach drew some incredible talent. If this were an awards season movie, it would be a major player in the Oscar conversation based on pedigree alone. I’m not sure what it says about the current landscape that it’s getting buried on a streaming service most people don’t have. Someone should go undercover to figure that out.
“The Agency” is based on a French series called “The Bureau,” which was reportedly built from actual conversations with undercover agents. It tells the story of people so far behind enemy lines that we don’t even learn our protagonist’s name. The CIA agent with the alias “Martian” (Michael Fassbender) is unexpectedly pulled out of his current assignment, which has seen him in Addis Ababa for six years, where’s he’s fallen in love with a woman named Sami (Jodie Turner-Smith). When he returns to London, he’s forced to go through something called an “airlock” back into normal life, but things don’t seem quite right when he resurfaces into domesticity. For one, his apartment is heavily bugged. Why was he pulled out so quickly? And is it related to the urgent current matter: The capture of an agent named “Coyote”?
It turns out that Coyote had a dangerous secret: He was a recovering alcoholic. While that’s a noble fight, it’s a potential weakness for a spy if an enemy learns it and forces intoxication. The longer Coyote is missing, the more the CIA wonders if a bottle of vodka got him talking, spilling information about other undercover agents. It means Martian is coming back into a truly chaotic agency, which puts his suspicious situation on the backburner. Or does it? Are they connected? Why is he being so secretive about his time in Ethiopia, even to his handler Naomi (Katherine Waterston)? And is it possible that Sami herself hides secrets? When she suddenly appears in London that seems to be the case.
Analyzing and unpacking all of these twists and turns is one of the best casts of the year. Fassbender is excellent—first seeming a bit calculated a la his great turn in “The Killer” last year but quickly defining this as a different kind of antisocial animal—and Turner-Smith is wonderfully mysterious. In the office, viewers get to watch the always-great Jeffrey Wright square off with his boss, played by a perfectly irascible Richard Gere, before a wonderfully cast Harriet Sansom Harris jumps in as a doctor who has been sent to probe the surface of these masters of deception. Most effective is the increasingly engaging John Magaro as another handler who tries to connect the dots. Against this backdrop of a veteran spy and his veteran colleagues, “The Agency” also tracks a new agent named Danny (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), heading out on her first mission.
This incredible cast—there’s seriously not a weak link—is directed by the underrated Joe Wright, the man behind “Pride & Prejudice,” “Atonement,” and more. He knows how to conceive and execute a show like this, never talking down to his audience, presuming we’re smart enough to keep up with characters who don’t always explain what they’re doing or why they’re doing it. With so many programs feeling like constant exposition dumps, it’s enriching to see a show that understands that viewers can meet something like “The Agency” halfway, and characters that don’t over-explain everything are more fascinating than ones that merely serve the plot.
Some may consider “The Agency” overly familiar. After all, we’ve seen stories of how spies have been undone by personal connections for generations now. But we haven’t seen one that balances the complexity of the world of espionage with the humanity of the people who hold it together in quite some time. Le Carré himself would love it.
Two episodes screened for review. Premieres on November 29th.