The Agency (1×04) Quarterback Blitz Review

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

Seemingly finding its groove narratively, coming off the heels of its premiere. This latest episode of The Agency keeps moving the story and its characters along in a compelling way, leaving room for suspense and some spy antics. As it should be, the formula is Michael Fassbender’s Martian, and then everything else. For viewers eagerly anticipating all its moving pieces coming together, slowly but surely, they are though as much as one thinks they know what is truly going on, another layer suddenly appears. The latest example comes from Sami, whose true business in London was revealed. However, that, in and of itself, presented itself as yet another can of worms that Martian found himself in. Continuing to trace the arc of he and Sami’s relationship from Ethiopia to now in London, the filling of those gaps has been interesting to watch. That being said, the season still has a long way to go to develop that dynamic. Clearly trapped in a situation out of her control, Martian’s feelings for her made it difficult for him to walk away.

Little did Martian know, Sami was retained as an expert to offer her insight on Sudan in the midst of a civil war as part of backdoor negotiations in London between the country’s feuding factions and the Chinese regarding investments and gold and oil rights. A deal where billions of dollars were on the line, there were real stakes on the outcome of that deal therefore the secrecy, ensured by a man named Osman (Kurt Egyiawan) who viewers may have noticed in last week’s episode. A voice of the opposition, there were even more stakes for Sami, as she saw her new position as an opportunity to save herself and her country. Following the resumption of ‘Felix,’ Martian and Henry had clean slates with one another which was vital as a Belarussian delegation arrived on their doorstep. Forced to prevent a diplomatic incident, they saw it as an opportunity to leverage the situation for intel on Coyote so Martian did what he does best but Henry was no slouch either.

Meanwhile, Daniella’s first mission was underway, under the watchful eye of Naomi. Her task was to infiltrate the National Institute of Geophysics as a research associate and be chosen to go to Iran. Getting a crash course on the playing the field, Daniella appeared to be ready and had luck on her side, handling herself well until things got to real for her.

Back to Sami, Osman would prove to be a hurdle as far as she and Martian were concerned. Less protective of her and more protective of what she knew, his suspicion grew as Martian caught on to being tailed by him while he was spending time with his daughter at a shopping mall. Their outing was his first step in trying to reestablish their relationship. Still holding back from Dr. Blake, his deflecting was not going to work forever as his side investigation into her added some more context to their relationship.

Leaving viewers on quite the cliffhanger, a late night heated confrontation between Osman and Sami where he confronted her about her perceived misgivings led her to reveal that she had been seeing Martian (or his alias, Paul). Arriving to her hotel room just ahead of Osman, Martian got away just in time but as far as the near future is concerned, that remains to be seen but it will be exciting to see how it plays out.

In the end, this latest episode follows up a strong episode with another. The shortest episode of the season so far, the only drawback was whether or not Daniella was necessary, unless it could have found a better way to integrate her subplot. In addition, the chemistry of Fassbender and Jeffrey Wright never fails.

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.