I usually love a slow burn, especially in a spy thriller series. However, The Agency, a new series developed by Showtime that will stream on Paramount+, is a drawn-out progression that gives new meaning to the meandering way incense burns. In other words, the show is all atmosphere, just for show, with very little substance.
The Agency suffers from a severe lack of motivation. The characters are poorly developed, and there is no payoff after the first episodes, where a pilot desperately needs to draw the viewer in with exciting plot developments. The lack of tension and intrigue makes the batch of episodes available to critics feel boring and stagnant.
Showtime and Paramount+’s The Agency Review and Synopsis
The Agency is an espionage thriller that explores the intimate and intricate nature of a department that trains and handles agents operating deep undercover. The hook is that agents must give up their individuality—a self-imposed act of subjugation. As the pilot shows, Martian (Michael Fassbender) is pulled from his assignment and breaks up with his girlfriend, Sami (The Acolyter’s Jodi Turner-Smith).
Martian returns to meet his daughter (India Fowler) and his long-time handler (Katherine Waterston). As he transitions to desk duty, he works with the CIA Director of Operations (Jeffrey Wright) and the London Station Chief (Richard Gere) on the fallout from an undercover operative with a drinking problem. Martian also takes a new agent (Master of the Air’s Saura Lightfoot-Leon) under his tutelage who is about to embark on her first mission.
Showtime and Paramount+’s The Agency is a Stagnant and Boring Spy Thriller
And that sums up the first three monotonous and borderline tedious episodes of The Agency made available for critics. The series has such a lack of compulsion that I want to prescribe a healthy dose of Ritalin. The series obsesses itself with an under-the-radar romance between Fassbender’s character and Jodie Turner-Smith’s Sami, which is listless at best. There is simply nothing exciting, even torrid or genuine, in the subplot.
Is this “The Spy Who Loved Me” or a CBS procedural? If you answered both, you would be correct. The small handful of episodes has a single story the agency tries to solve instead of building up to a central mystery. This is a workplace series without any trust issues or loyalties being tested, which, in turn, lacks suspense. Also, make no mistake, this is not a critic writing about a different show. The writers and directors genuinely fail in this regard.
Is Showtime and Paramount+’s The Agency Worth Watching?
Considering the lack of episodes made available to critics, it’s hard to call The Agency a failure. However, the fact is, the chapters offered make the series not worth watching. This is surprising, considering the series is from George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s production company. Not to mention, Joe Wright (Atonement, The Darkest Hour) also directs the first two chapters.
Sadly, the series, from Fair Game’s Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, is predictable, and its underwhelming setup cuts the series off at the knees. The pacing is slow. The cast, particularly Fassbender (with the exception of The Killer), needs career intervention when picking out scripts. His performance is obvious, heavy-handed, and offers little surprise.
Simply put, The Agency is one of the year’s most disappointing series.
You can stream/watch The Agency on November 25 exclusively on Paramount+! Three out of ten episodes reviewed.
The Agency Review — Michael Fassbender and Richard Gere Star in a Stagnant Spy Thriller
Sadly, the series, from Fair Game’s Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, is predictable, and its underwhelming setup cuts the series off at the knees. The pacing is slow. The cast, particularly Fassbender’s performance is obvious, heavy-handed, and offers little surprise. Simply put, The Agency is one of the year’s most disappointing series.
