The Agency is a series released by Paramount. It follows the story of a CIA agent who suddenly gets deployed to the CIA’s office in London following a six-year-long assignment abroad. Brandon, or Paul Lewis (Michael Fassbender) as his agent’s name was, had a relationship with a married woman, Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith), whilst he was on an assignment in her country. She was not a target of his intelligence activities, and she thought that “Paul” was an English teacher who moved to Jordan to continue his career.
Once “Paul” returns to London, he violates the rules and calls Samia and learns that she is in London too, allegedly attending training. As it turns out later, she was in London to consult on peace talks in her region and Brandon/Paul tried to figure out what was happening and how the CIA missed these talks. He does not disclose information to his bosses in the CIA but speaks with MI5 (I am guessing it was MI5, they do not explicitly actually mention who the British in the series were or, it was done so sporadically that I failed to capture that info) who then gets involved and stops Brandon/Paul from causing damage. Brandon/Paul is clearly compromised and keeps violating rules for Samia, which puts some operations at risk.
Apart from this love story of a compromised American agent, there are plenty of security operations we follow in The Agency, linked to intelligence work in Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war so the series tackles current events well. Plenty of action in the series, interesting details on how operations work, and some interesting things agents do to hide themselves and achieve privacy. The fact the series follows current events makes it more interesting and feels more real but I would have liked more involvement from the British throughout the series as the CIA is working in London.
There is an unexpected ending to the first season, and the British intelligence services gain a more prominent role as the series progresses. I am guessing this will be a more central feature of season 2. The relationship between the CIA and the British intelligence services (presumably the MI5) is an interesting one with the UK letting Americans work from London but expecting to know if something transpires in their territory, which Brandon/Paul essentially violated when dealing with Samia’s work without informing the British, or his CIA bosses to be fair to the Americans, about what is going on. Thus, the series also tackles the American-British alliance and how intelligence services from two countries work together but this needs more exploration in future seasons of the Agency. A more positive portrayal of US-UK collaboration would be welcome too 🙂
What was definitely missing in The Agency was Gary Oldman as a British operative. I would have loved some of the humour from The Slow Horses, but this is not a British series, so what can you do? Hugh Bonneville is excellent as a British operative, just that he is not a grumpy mule like Gary Oldman in The Slow Horses and, thus, not hysterical or aiming to be funny in any way. This also leads me to comment that the characters in The Agency lack personality if compared to The Slow Horses (and I have to compare these two series because both series are set in London). Also, non-touristy parts of London would be welcome for season 2. I’ve been to London many times, and the city is so much more than these central areas The Agency portrays. But overall, I liked The Agency and will watch the next season. Anyone enjoying the spy programme will like this. However, if you have never seen either The Agency or The Slow Horses then watch The Agency first so as not to spoil your experience by missing Gary Oldman 😊
Thank you for reading.