One of the Spies
I guess I got it from my dad, but I’ve always been fascinated by spy-related TV shows (and movies) and earlier this month, I binged on the latest season of Amazon’s Jack Ryan. It doesn’t hurt that John Krasinski is a great embodiment of Tom Clancy’s often portrayed lead character. Just the right amount of brains and a brawn that’s understated.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the first season and while on holiday earlier this month, the second season dropped. It was perfect because I was coming down with something towards the end of my trip and needed to be a bit more chill so given the shorter days and the cough I nursed, Jack Ryan kept me company on his crazy ass missions.
SPOILER: I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of Abbie Cornish in season 1 as Jack’s love interest so I was pleasantly surprised to see that she wasn’t in the cast for the second season. End of Spoiler I do love the addition of folks in the cast like Michael Kelly (I know him from House of Cards) and Roomi Napace (THE girl with the dragon tattoo — Swedish version) alongside old hats like Wendell Pierce (who I will always think of as Megan Markle’s dad on Suits).
Other than Jack Ryan, I’ve fallen in love with many other spy-related movies — from comedic to serious to out of this world bananas. Here are some of my other faves.
Alias
In 2001, and in the time of collecting DVD box sets of TV shows I enjoyed, Alias came into my life and brought with it, my love, Jennifer Garner. This is possibly one of my most favorite series ever just because of how ridiculous things got. Sydney Bristow’s wig collection and undercover looks were out of this world. The Rambaldi conspiracy and all the damn plot twists would make your head explode if this show was shown today, but back then? It was glorious.
I read that JJ Abrams came up with the plot for Alias as what if Felicity (another show I LOVE) turned out to be a spy and boy what a logline that was. You also realise in hindsight how jampacked the stars were on this show — Bradley Cooper, Gina Rodriguez! But also how memorable the characters were, Jack Bristow, Sark, Vaughn, Dixon, Irina! I honestly could re-watch this again and again. It’s just so much fun.
Chuck
Then 2007 came and downloading TV shows off the internet was at its highest for me. NBC’s Chuck was a show you’d think was a 30 minute show and yet it was a full hour of fun! You can’t help but get endeared to lovable Nerd Herd manager, Chuck Bartowski played by the adorable (and then turned hunky) Zachary Levi. I was in the middle of college when this came out and I just wanted be as fit as Sarah Walker and funny as John Casey.
Morgan Grimes was a treat. Chuck’s sister Elie and her husband Captain Awesome were always underutilised but it was always fun to go on missions with Chuck, Sarah and Casey and I saw them as a unit. Lasting five seasons, the conceits were turned on its head and still stayed entertaining though supremely more fantastic till the end. I would definitely re-watch alongside Alias to balance the drama.
Homeland
The longest-running one of the bunch (and still ongoing!!!), Showtime’s Homeland started in 2011 and I’m so excited to catch up on the latest season next year. I’m kind of annoyed that there wasn’t a season this year but I’ll be patient. Leading the cast was Carrie Mathison (played by Clare Danes), this show has gone through EVERYTHING.
From falling in love with the good guy/bad guy, Brody to having his baby and just everything changes so quickly that I can’t tell which season I’m most in love with. I will say, I got more interested in season 4 after all the Brody drama mess was over.
With characters like Saul Berenson and Peter Quinn, it was nice to see people support and surround Carrie especially because of how unstable things could get for her mentally. Their portrayal of her bipolar-ness was also pretty intense but amazing to watch. Bring me season 8 already, please.
The Americans
The most serious one, I’d like to think was the Americans which came out in 2013 and had the most amazing cold war retro vibe. I wish it were the 70s or even 60s but instead we got the 80s and we saw Keri Russel rock all the best 80s fashion while also the craziest wigs and disguises.
Despite the seriousness of this show, I love it so much because it brought Keri together in real life with on-screen husband, Matthew Rhys (aren’t they adorable in real life!)! I love the dynamic of them being put together and having to pretend to be an American married couple and have covers so deep they end up making a family. And really, who isn’t a sucker for a love story. The only annoying part of this for me was the kids as part of the storyline. I’m always generally annoyed by kids in storylines so this wasn’t a big jump for me.
But it definitely is the best written and just most compelling series that felt like a really good snapshot of life on the other side (Russian side). We always see very America-centric spy shows so seeing the KGB side was an awesome reason to tune in.
Berlin Station
The most recent one in 2016 was also the shortest lived one (lasting only three season) on EPIX network (I didn’t even know about this network until I found out about this show), is Berlin Station and you know I got into it because of Richard Armitage. I really do wish it lasted more than 3 seasons because he was fun as hell to watch. And hello, Mr. Armitage is a good reason as any.
But it also had Richard Jenkins (hello dad from Six Feet Under), Rhys Ifans (who I will always remember from Notting Hill) and Ashley Judd (just everything!!!). It also featured a city I ended up visiting because of all the TV I was watching about it — Berlin!
Which leads me to my excitement over the new USA network TV show, Treadstone. An spin-off of the Jason Bourne movies, this goes into the origin story of the program that brainwashes humans and makes them into superhuman killing machines (a la Bourne).
And though I’m not familar with most of the actors — I’m only vaguely aware of Jeremy Irvine (because Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!) and Michelle Forbes (because of my love for Berlin Station; see above), I’m really hoping this is a good and interesting show they can sustain for more than a season (i.e. Quantico — not so much).
I definitely have Killing Eve on my currently catching up on, god knows why I got on this bandwagon late. Anyone else into spy related shit that can recommend me shows I have yet to check out?
