The Agency (1×05) Rat Trap Review

For our review of the last episode of The Agency, click here.

If the end of last week’s episode was any indication, Martian is now part of Sami’s business in London. And whatever was going on, he was going to put an end to it just as forces lined up to try and put an end to him. Pulling characters into wars on multiple fronts, in keeping up with the series’ need to keep viewers on the edge of their seats with its twisty turny spy story, an occasional lack of cohesion is often the end result. There has to be some sort of payoff for keeping up with it all. While Fassbender and Wright are undeniably great here, many will inevitably want a sharper focus on the whole rather than its individual parts. The acting from the aforementioned names, and the rest of the cast, is a given, however, in what can perhaps be considered impatience, the balance between character development and story is a fine line but one cannot work without the other. Finding its groove and planting its seeds across the first now five episodes, we should see the pace picking up.

As far as Martian is concerned, With Osman closing in, it is only a matter of time until his personal and professional lives clashed. Digging deeper into his alias, Paul Lewis appeared to be under serious threat. Seemingly working each other since the beginning, it’s unclear as to where Martian and Sami truly stood with another, but a potential triangle of sorts with Osman, and his mysterious motivations, created some tense and awkward moments. Continuing to do some digging of his own, Martian set a trap to confirm him being tracked and in keeping up with appearances, let himself get beat up for good measure. Meanwhile, he traced their deal in Sudan to the Chinese who were trying to broker it.

Owen got to leave the friendly confines of the London office for a mission to Belarus to find intel on Coyote as he knew him best, being his handler. In what was much different than sitting at a desk on the other end of a computer, he seemed to have things under control while investigating his vacant apartment, until the situation escalated following the arrival of an unexpected guest. Though burned by the London station’s new backchannel contact, the mission did turn up a few leads in a message on a mirror and a psychiatrist who Coyote had been seeing in Belarus.

Daniella’s mission saw her acquire some leverage over her Iranian university professor boss Reza (Reza Brojerdi), the only one standing between her and a spot in their exchange program with Iran. However, a snag that found her captured and interrogated about Reza’s alleged ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and her part in his suspected plan. Unflinching despite taking abuse over multiple days, she passed Naomi’s test. Little did she know, Daniella’s relationship with her temporary captor would lead to something more. Hopefully, whatever her subplot leads to will bear more fruit in the near future as it has yet to find its place in the story as a whole. Perhaps the back end of the season will work to rectify that because as good as Saura Lightfoot-Leon may be in her limited screen time so far, she feels wasted.

An ominous tone dominated the end of the episode as Martian’s mugger found Poppy’s ID card in his stolen jacket just as Osman sought help with taking somebody out. However, he may get that done on his own as he geared up and entered the line of fire.

In the end, this latest episode takes a step back and is relegated to more set up as the season moves back and forth, the season needs to start moving forward at a quicker pace. The pieces are there, they are just not utilized to their full potential as the writers arguably have too much on their plates. That being said, Fassbender remains a compelling presence that can do no wrong.

still courtesy of Paramount+ with Showtime

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.