In the Dark Reviews

Kirk Boxleitner | Dec 05, 20240

Courtesy photo count

Michael Fassbender and Jodie Turner-Smith navigate a potentially perilous relationship in "The Agency" on Paramount+.

I took in two recently premiered streaming series over the Thanksgiving break, one very compelling indeed, and the other a bit of a disappointment given its pedigree.

Recommended: "The Agency" on Paramount+

It's remarkable how relevant the international espionage genre has remained through the 20th and 21st centuries, even decades after the Cold War peak of John le Carre's literary career.

"The Agency" is extremely up-to-the-minute, and thanks to the current real-world geopolitical climate, its depiction of revived hostilities and mutual mistrust between the NATO powers and the Russian diaspora nations is as contemporary as it is timeless.

After two episodes, the primary conflicts in "The Agency" seem to be centering on Eastern Europe, but with one character's lingering ties to Africa, and another's impending dealings in the Middle East, its map of dramatic complications is rapidly expanding.

What's striking about this series' cast is not just how talented they all are as actors, but how well-suited each of them is to their specific roles within this narrative.

Michael Fassbender's practiced confidence allows his passions to override his reason.

Jeffrey Wright's ruthless calculations of the risks facing his people and their missions has made him so cautious that it's looped back around to become a protocol-flouting recklessness.

Richard Gere constantly radiates a borderline infuriated irritation with how often his subordinates' heedless actions threaten to plunge his delicate operations into catastrophe.

"The Agency" they all serve is staffed by functionaries whose errors are as motivated by petty resentments and blame evasion as the employees of Dunder-Mifflin in "The Office."

One laugh-out-loud moment of pitch-black comedy juxtaposes the remote observation of an enhanced interrogation with one agent idly singing Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" to herself.

The underlying peril in so many spy stories is a warning against losing one's self in the name of state-sponsored subterfuge, and Fassbender's secret agent appears to have spent years in a self-induced state of deliberate dissociation, to the point that even his reunion with his long-estranged daughter sees them devote most of their dialogue to heavy dollops of self-conscious snark.

Perhaps the most refreshing presence in "The Agency" is the breathtakingly beautiful Jodie Turner-Smith, here playing an elegant enigma who both recalls and subverts the femme fatales from classic film noir.

I have no idea where the plotlines of "The Agency" might be headed, but it's already mastered the art of sustaining my attention and my tension, with little more than subdued, subtext-laden conversations in relatively nondescript meeting rooms.

Not necessary: "Dune: Prophecy" on Max

"If you like barren landscapes and minimalism, you'll be very happy."

It's hard to imagine this line of dialogue wasn't written to preempt potentially negative reviews of "Dune: Prophecy," whose aesthetic actually lives down to the desaturated drabness that Denis Villeneuve's two "Dune" films were occasionally accused of exhibiting.

It's a shame, because this show headlines the considerable acting talents of Emily Watson, whom I've loved since Alan Rudolph's "Trixie" in 2000, and Olivia Williams, who won me over with Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" in 1998, but everything about "Dune: Prophecy" feels like Max mistook it for a "Game of Thrones" spinoff set in the future.

"Dune: Prophecy" may be set in Villeneuve's cinematic universe adaptation of Frank Herbert's "Dune" novels, but it is inspired instead by the "Dune" prequel novels of Frank's son, Brian Herbert, and Brian's co-author, Kevin J. Anderson.

As such, "Dune: Prophecy" suffers from several prequel-itis symptoms, including didactic backstories for elements that not only did not require such labored explanations, but whose origins arguably possessed more power as intentionally indeterminate allusions.

Another prequel-itis symptom is the creation of new characters to fill the roles of familiar favorites from the original story's setting, and "Dune: Prophecy" casts a twitchy Travis Fimmel, of the History Channel's "Vikings," as Desmond Hart, a loyal soldier who's essentially a post-Ghola-awakening Duncan Idaho, which is a string of seemingly random words that I swear makes total sense to those who have read Frank Herbert's "Dune" sequel novels.

Oh, and between playing the Emperor in this series, and pinch-hitting for John Turturro to play Carmine Falcone in Max's "The Penguin," Mark Strong seems to be reclaiming his former seat as a lord of "prestige television," but only in the same sense that Candace Cameron Bure is the reigning queen of Hallmark Christmas movies.

Every time I see Strong onscreen, I can't help but suspect he was the backup choice for a role written for someone like Jason Isaacs instead, which makes him all too fitting for "Dune: Prophecy," which can mostly only aspire to emulate more well-told tales of medievalist intrigue.