This is a solid espionage tale, with Australia and China playing the primary roles and the U.S. mostly lurking about in the background. Anna Torv once again comes across as competent and cool as ice, this time as a renegade reporter for a major Australian newspaper. The story centers around Canberra and Torv's Dunkley character, and many of the alphabet agencies mentioned throughout are surely familiar to Aussies if not to me, but I'm okay with accepting that they're, more or less, the counterparts of the likes of the F.B.I. and C.I.A. and Homeland Security.
It's a conspiracy tale, so it's probably a non-starter for opponents of conspiracy plots out there, but those like me who like their spies and lies will appreciate this one a lot. And it's international intrigue and skulduggery rather than just the national or interagency sort, which is a critical distinction for me. I had a few eye-rolling moments with a few plot points but decided not to rush to judgment and, sure enough, those things were explained in the finale and it all made sense and I was able to stop rolling my eyes.
Overall, this one's a perfect example of why I think that journalists make terrific protagonists in fiction. I'm looking forward to the second series on Netflix (later this year?) and highly recommend this six-episode series one.
Review by Jim G.BlockedParent2018-07-12T03:28:44Z
This is a solid espionage tale, with Australia and China playing the primary roles and the U.S. mostly lurking about in the background. Anna Torv once again comes across as competent and cool as ice, this time as a renegade reporter for a major Australian newspaper. The story centers around Canberra and Torv's Dunkley character, and many of the alphabet agencies mentioned throughout are surely familiar to Aussies if not to me, but I'm okay with accepting that they're, more or less, the counterparts of the likes of the F.B.I. and C.I.A. and Homeland Security.
It's a conspiracy tale, so it's probably a non-starter for opponents of conspiracy plots out there, but those like me who like their spies and lies will appreciate this one a lot. And it's international intrigue and skulduggery rather than just the national or interagency sort, which is a critical distinction for me. I had a few eye-rolling moments with a few plot points but decided not to rush to judgment and, sure enough, those things were explained in the finale and it all made sense and I was able to stop rolling my eyes.
Overall, this one's a perfect example of why I think that journalists make terrific protagonists in fiction. I'm looking forward to the second series on Netflix (later this year?) and highly recommend this six-episode series one.