The Writings of John Ryan Sullivan

If the world were a just place we would have five Shang-Chi films at this point. Simu Liu would be in every fourth movie made and I would be eating soup dumplings at least one night a week. Alas, the world is unfair, Shang-Chi is nowhere to be seen and I can’t recall the last time I had a soup dumpling.

While I can rectify the menu for my meals there is little I can do about the conundrum which is – why isn’t Simi Liu in everything? If you haven’t seen The Copenhagen Test do you have a reason why? Are these questions rhetorical? I don’t know, it’s getting late in the day and I feel a bit punchy.

Perhaps there is a problem with Peacock (beside the name and their pricing) in how little effort they put into promoting their original shows. Most people probably don’t remember but for years Netflix did next to nothing to promote the movies and shows they were making. They didn’t call them originals or have a separate sections for them. No, these unknown little programs were sent out into the world to stand abashedly next to the well known movies and shows and hope that someone would pick them.

As you can imagine most were not. Which I think is what is happening with The Copenhagen Test as I’ve heard nothing about this show since it was released. So, let’s try and rectify that as I’ve seen it and liked it quite a bit.

First and foremost – this trailer only tells half the story of the show.

I want to be critical but I get it, there’s quite a bit to cover and they handled the main parts. What is not included is that Mr. Liu’s character, Alexander Hale, works for a government agency whose sole purpose is to monitor the other government agencies. He works in one half, which goes into the field and acts on the intelligence gathered by the other half, which actively monitors everyone.

The show starts with him on a mission, which, bear with me, is meant to look a bit off. I almost stopped watching because it felt poorly done but Mr. Liu made me stay and I’m glad I did. Stick with it if you have a similar feeling. It isn’t the filmmakers making mistakes, it’s meant to be the way it is.

What follows is Alexander Hale living his life, trying to get transferred to the other division of his agency. There’s a lot of paranoia and weirdness and you see that he’s keeping secrets from everyone because he wants to be able to get promoted.

I’m sharing all of this because it matters to the overall story and it is omitted from the trailer. Before the ‘hack’ is revealed, that someone has access to what he sees and hears, Alexander Hale is already being monitored by his employers.

My favorite thing about this show is that Mr. Liu gets to play to his strengths. There’s a lot of action and fighting and it’s done well. As Shang-Chi showed Mr. Liu is capable of doing intricate, impressive fight scenes. In addition to that Mr. Liu is very likable and, dare I say it, nice.

So we get to see a spy/espionage show where we like the main character and we believe, mostly, that he is a good person. Which given how many of these I’ve watched in the past year (let alone ever) is quite the rarity. There are certainly moments of doubt, where we question how well we know this character and who he really is. But I don’t think I ever questioned if I like the character because it is so easy to do.

As with so much of television now what impresses me is that they have the budget to tell these stories well. Huge action sequences and chase scenes, with shootouts and cars smashing into buildings/cars/boats/whatever happen throughout this show. It feels as big and as real as any of the Bourne movies, which is impressive given the difficulty television shows historically have with scale and budget.

I like the actors in this, particularly Brian d’Arcy James, Sinclair Daniel, Saul Rubinek and Melissa Barrera. Brian d’Arcy James brings an interesting quality to his part as he’s meant to be intimidating but he does so without being menacing. It’s a strange, off-balancedness he creates in his scenes that I think is really interesting.

Sinclair Daniel has an interesting role as the up-and-coming analyst/agent who is thrust into a new role being Alexander Hale’s handler. Ms. Daniel is a great choice to play opposite Mr. Liu in she has a similar likability and openness. Her character is determined and capable but also open and vulnerable. There is an unbalanced dynamic between their characters as she has unfettered access to his life and he’s largely unaware of her existence. It’s interesting to watch.

Saul Rubinek is always interesting and his role here is layered and enjoyable. He plays a mentor and former government agent who now works in his restaurant. There’s an interesting push and pull to his character’s relationship to Alexander Hale.

I haven’t seen Melissa Barrera in anything before this but I enjoyed how she played her part. Her character plays a character within the show and it’s always fascinating to watch actors do that. She manages to hop back and forth over the line enough times that at a certain point you aren’t quite sure where she’s actually standing. It makes me think of Deborah Kara Unger in The Game.

Lauren Tom and Oscar Hsu play Alexander Hale’s parents and I never doubted for a second that they were a family. Although their roles are smaller they are important and the chemistry between these three is fantastic.

The show concludes in a manner which makes it clear they had ideas for the next season but as I wrote this sentence I looked and discovered Peacock cancelled the show. Which is annoying. There was a pretty big twist at the end and in case my opening did not make it clear I think Simu Liu is pretty darn great.

So while I wrestle with the negative emotions that now consume me let me say I regret nothing (not even writing this encouraging you to watch the show). Even with the somewhat cliffhanger ending I think The Copenhagen Test is worth watching.