Which New Spy Show Should You Watch?
Espionage is en vogue. Three different spy shows with A-list talent hit the streamers within a month of each other late last year – Netflix’s Black Doves, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal, and Showtime’s The Agency, spawning articles like ‘Must-have genre’ for uncertain times: why spy thrillers have taken over TV and 'The baddies reflect the worries of today': How TV spy thrillers are booming in an age of distrust.
While there’s definitely something timely and resonant about these shows, the real reason for the boom likely lies in the streamers’ desperate hunt to find a model for television that works. Espionage shows are a classic genre, a prestige cable staple (think The Americans, Killing Eve, and Homeland) that aren’t inherently expensive and are inherently repeatable – there’s always a new bad guy to fight! It comes down to the streamers realizing that the best way to do TV is the way it’s always been done (however, this time with movie stars).
If you’ve been overwhelmed by choice, here’s your guide on the most recent crop of star-powered spy shows and which to watch:
BLACK DOVES (Netflix): A two-hander buddy show, Black Doves follows Helen (Keira Knightly) and Sam (Ben Whishaw), two members of the secretive Black Doves, a private spies-for-hire organization based in London. In the pilot, we learn that Helen, married to a British government official in order to pass UK secrets to the Black Doves, had an affair with civil servant Jason, who is killed by an assassin. As Helen relives her affair and mourns Jason, the Black Doves call in Sam to protect Helen and figure out who killed Jason.
This story construction oddly neuters its central female lead – her mission as a spy is to be the unnoticed wife and mother, she fails at that by having an affair, and then she spends the beginning of her show pining over a fling the audience has no context for or investment in, while her male counterpart investigates and protects her. The show also has a huge narrative roadblock in centering around a fake spy agency with no national allegiance and no real-world counterpart – there’s no inherent stakes or “peek behind the curtain” element that you get with projects set around real agencies. Ultimately, there was nothing in Black Doves that seized my interest – beyond Sam being an openly gay spy character, which was a welcome change of pace. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this one, unless you’re looking for a beach read kind of show.
PILOT TAKEAWAY: Light, quippy, basic cable drama with dark comedy elements.
THE DAY OF THE JACKAL (Peacock): Day of the Jackal is based on an acclaimed film and book, and you can immediately feel that narrative strength in the show’s DNA. A well-constructed two-hander, the show pits the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne), a villain figure and the best sniper assassin in the world, against Bianca (Lashana Lynch), a hero figure and the premiere weapons expert in MI6. The pilot starts with a bang – we’re dropped into a nail-bitingly tense 20+ minute political assassination sequence that shows the care and planning that goes into the Jackal’s hits, and this is contrasted with Bianca struggling to maneuver in the slow, stifling machine of British intelligence. Both the Jackal and Bianca are brilliant at what they do and operate in legal and moral gray areas, setting the stage for a psychological and action-filled series where the labels of “protagonist” and “antagonist” constantly switch.
The series is beautifully shot and acted – Eddie Redmayne employs his Oscar-winning skills to create a stunningly memorable character in the Jackal, who feels half human and half lizard. It’s also a global show, taking us around the world to far-flung locales from Munich to Spain to Croatia. Highly recommend if you’re looking for an exciting espionage show!
PILOT TAKEAWAY: Slick, cinematic, thrilling action drama.
THE AGENCY (Showtime): The Agency, based on an acclaimed French series, takes pains to distinguish itself as a different kind of spy series. The pilot begins with Martian (Michael Fassbender), an undercover CIA agent, being called back to London after six years spent living under a false identity in Ethiopia. As he struggles to readjust to his former life, it becomes clear that the lines between his uncover life and his “real” life have blurred – he doesn’t truly belong in either, and longs to be with Sami (Jodie Turner-Smith), the woman he fell in love with under his false identity.
Ultimately, The Agency is a workplace show, bringing us behind the scenes into the cold bureaucratic machine of the CIA, from office politics to showing exactly what it takes to be an undercover agent. In contrast to the loud characters of Black Doves and Day of the Jackal, Martian is more of an intellectual spy, almost an anti-spy, as his job is to passively gather information while being perfectly forgettable. Undercover statecraft is an entirely different game from the James Bond shoot-em-ups we know and love, and the series is subsequently slower and more meditative than others in the spy genre. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially anchored by an extremely watchable Michael Fassbender and buoyed by international story threads that span from Belarus to Iran. I would recommend only if you’re in the mood for something more intellectually stimulating than exciting.
PILOT TAKEAWAY: Intense, slow-burn, premium workplace drama.
Are you an espionage super-fan who’s already gobbled up these three shows? Not to worry, there’s plenty more out there – try The Night Agent, The Diplomat, Slow Horses, or Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Happy watching!