The Agency (1×10) Overtaken by Events Review

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

The slippery slope that Martian has been going down is far from being over if the season finale of The Agency is of any indication. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as the extent of where this path will ultimately take him remains to be seen. Giving viewers the kinds of things one would expect from a season finale. Everything has been leading up to this and while it does a more than adequate job at wrapping up the events thus far, it still leaves the door open for plenty more intrigue. It is the CIA after all. The journey to find and retrieve Coyote has been a long and arduous one, full of twists and turns, so it only makes sense that the final stretch throw in a few more seeing that as much one may think they have the situation under control, that situation can sometimes find itself overtaken by events. This fact, as the episode title clearly indicates, is apropos since the spy world is very much a fluid one where everyone has an angle. When it comes to this series, it is cautious as to what it puts on the table because it is hard to truly know what is going on in the heads of its often complicated characters.

Overtaken by Events doesn’t waste any time by revealing how Martian found himself injured and in a hospital bed, seemingly under interrogation, for most of the series. A flashforward of course, an unfortunate (or not) motorcycle accident put him out of commission for some time, which was also the time when he was needed the most. The operation to rescue Coyote near a clinic in Ukraine was ongoing but the Felix operatives’ mixed feelings about their new mission threatened to complicate things. As the Valhalla contingent and the Russian defense minister and his entourage approached the clinic, all hell began to break loose. The chaos up ahead complicated the situation for the former but it was all about getting them in the kill zone and extracting Coyote, a mission for which they would be successful. Meanwhile, Daniella being radio silent since hopping a plane to Iran worried Naomi. In fact, she was being tested by Iranian IGRC. Passing that test, Naomi’s concern was all for naught

Digging deeper into Martian’s motorcycle accident, his desperation to get Sami back quick led him to look elsewhere for help after being turned down by his own people. His next attempt was to force the hand of the British. Richardson, a man with his eye on a leadership position at MI6, concocted an operation to use Martian as a British double agent in exchange for assistance in retrieving Sami from a Sudanese prison. Presumably as a means to facilitate this arrangement, the motorcycle accident allowed Richardson and co. to extract information from him, which viewers may have noticed as he recounts his thoughts and feelings, and the events behind everything that has happened thus far, essentially his backstory. Once Richardson appeared to get all he wanted from him, Martian was given his next set of instructions, return to work and move up in the hierarchy of the London station.

In the end, how Martian will work as a plant has all the makings of an interesting new dynamic come next season and whether or not Richardson and the British will live up to their side of the deal and save Sami is unclear at this point. Looking to perhaps move on from the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Chinese remain on the horizon while Daniella’s subplot in Iran has only just begun. If there is one suggestion that could be made for next season, it’s to narrow the gap between the subplots, or cut down on the subplots so the season doesn’t take as long to come together. Already planting seeds this season, this issue will hopefully be less prevalent in season two as it will come in presumably running on all cylinders.

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.