The Writings of John Ryan Sullivan

(This post contains spoilers)

First things first, this image, which is the main one used for the show, is terrible. It makes Michael Fassbender look gaunt and scared. If you watch the show he does’t look like this (he looks like he always does and certainly never scared). That’s my main issue with this image, although the fact that Richard Gere has a small role (I am sensing a pattern here of late) but is on the poster makes sense in marketing way but not in terms of story. Having these four characters featured like this gives a false impression of what to expect from the show and that irritates me. This isn’t of the utmost importance but each time I see this image I am annoyed so I am writing about it here. I digress.

I made a mistake with the Agency, I started watching the show before all of the episodes were available. I never, ever do this but I when I looked on IMDB I thought there were only six episodes in the season. I mention this because viewing a television show in this manner changes how I experience it and I know my experience was lesser because of the time in-between episodes.

That being said I think The Agency is excellent. In large part I think that because Michael Fassbender is an incredible actor and giving him more screen time, to do anything, is a great idea.

https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/video/Mh3dnXa__x7UnZ3ThzZK3e8coo2gfo_m/

I don’t seem to be able to embed the trailer here but the official trailer #2 is excellent and gives you a fairly good idea of what to expect from the show. Is it perfect? No, but then no show is (even you Firefly). The imperfections are more apparent watching the way I did, which is why when thinking of what to write my mind keeps drifting to storylines that were never fully resolved.

If you watch the trailer a summary of the show is unnecessary. The short version is you have a main character, code name Martian (Michael Fassbender). When we meet him he’s just come back from being in Africa for six years undercover. He’s stationed in London, trying to reconnect with this daughter and is being closely watched by his employers (the CIA) to make sure he’s mentally sound.

What I like about the set-up of this show is we know fairly quickly he isn’t all right. He’s paranoid but living in an apartment that is bugged. He watches the surveillance teams watching him and despite telling his handler that he’s over the woman he left behind he isn’t. So while elements are introduced that are meant to establish his mental state and a voice over/interview device is used so Martian can narrate from the future, we the audience are in the mix with him as he navigates his day-to-day making questionable choices.

Of the many things I enjoy about this show, the best aspect may be getting to see Michael Fassbender be emotional. He himself has mentioned this is the biggest critique people have of his performances, that he often comes across as wooden or robotic, and while I do not find this to be the case he is certainly more effusive and vulnerable in this role than in any I have seen before.

The main reason for this vulnerability and open display of emotions is his relationship with the character Sami, played by Jodi Turner-Smith. The Agency does a wonderful job of establishing quickly that neither character is done with their romance (despite what they tell themselves). With numerous plot lines and intrigues unfolding I know I certainly was eager for the show to return to Martian and Sami’s whenever it drifted elsewhere.

Which, sadly, it does quite often. There is an entire subplot concerning a new agent who is being trained for her own mission. Aside from one sequence when Martian is training her, the character Danny exists in her own parallel narrative. Which ordinary would be fine, except other than one shared character there is no connection between the main storyline and this one and at the end of the season there is no payoff for having spent time on what is, essentially, a diversion.

Which is interesting as there are multiple stories unfolding, Martian’s personal life being only one of them. That he’s involved in all but Danny’s makes sense, as, it is his story being told. With the conclusion of season one the CIA-related storylines are all in wonderful shape. They are either concluded or in a place where stopping makes sense and feels rewarding.

Sadly the Martian/Sami storyline has no resolution. Which, from a writing perspective, I respect. There is something impressive in telling a story for ten episodes and then telling the viewer, “I’ll tell you more about that in a bit…”. I can appreciate the thought but it is something I would not do because as the viewer I finished the season feeling unfulfilled. I’m not sure how many hours it takes to watch the ten episodes but I would guess at least seven. That’s a fair bit of time to walk away wondering what is going to happen and why did I spend my time watching this show?

I don’t wish to end this on a negative note. The Agency feels like a wonderful follow up for Michael Fassbender after The Killer which I wrote about in a post last year (and given that his next film with Steven Soderbergh will see him playing a spy opposite Cate Blanchett it would seem others agree he is well suited to this kind of role). He’s a formidable actor and getting to play a spy allows him morph and behave in all manner of ways without it feeling showy or egregious.

An unexpected highlight of The Agency is the father/daughter relationship Martian has. When Poppy is first introduced it feels like a typical television set up. She’s got a chip on her shoulder and is angry with her absentee father. He feels guilty, tries to compensate for his lack of involvement and she takes advantage. Only the relationship does not develop in the way I expected because Martian does not behave as I expected.

The best part of The Agency is none of the relationships fall into the typical tropes and patterns of television. It is refreshing to watch something where the people in the show behave like people and not like preprogrammed beings. There is a freshness and realness to the relationships that makes watching them unfold and develop rewarding.

Several of the supporting characters in the show have moments of true, ahem, agency, where they behave as a real person would and not like a character in a story furthering the plot. A noticeable exception to this would be Jeffery Wright’s character. When the show begins you have a sense of who he is quickly. We go to his home, see him violate a rule from work because of his interpersonal relationships and see that he’s a caring individual in a difficult job.

But somewhere in the middle episodes all that this set up stops mattering in terms of his character as he becomes middle management trying to keep that gosh darn Martian in line and getting yelled at by his boss. In fact, the reason for his rule violating behavior is a brother-in-law on a top secret mission that he should not know about but does. Only for several episodes we don’t see much about the brother-in-law or secret mission, only for it to become an integral piece of the final plan. What I’m trying to say here is by the end of the first episode you get who this guy is and by the end of the season you’ve forgotten that he was supposed to be important. This is disappointing considering what a tremendous actor Jeffery Wright is.

It feels like I’m waffling writing about this show and I can’t help but wonder that if all the episodes had been available the case would be different. Often the momentum of watching at my own pace allows for rough patches to be smoothed over or for the internal logic of the show to do the thinking for me. Nothing is more annoying than when I start to analyze something I am watching, as a writer, and questioning the choices being made on screen and if I would make the same.

All this being said I am pleased I watched season one of The Agency and I look forward to what comes next. If a show like Lioness can get Morgan Freeman to do nothing for one season and then hand him a show-stopping monologue the next then I have hope that there will be justice for a few of the actors in The Agency.

As exciting as I find the idea of Richard Gere getting to do something like his performance in Red Corner in season two, I’m honestly just hooked for more Martian and Sami. The two actors work well together, the relationship is just complicated enough that the realist in me believes it won’t work out and the film-watcher hopes it will. That’s always the perfect mixture for watching cinema and I happy this show has given it to me.