Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Out for revenge ... at any cost
New eight-part FOX spy thriller Deep State stars Mark Strong as a former MI6 agent determined to avenge the death of his son
SPIES, lies and a dangerous past that refuses to be left behind.
That is the deadly combination against which ex-intelligence agent Max Easton finds himself pitted in the new espionage thriller Deep State.
FOX’s fast-paced eight-parter stars Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Mark Strong as Easton, a man whose old life comes back to haunt him when he is given the devastating news of his son’s murder.
Suddenly, the French idyll to which he has escaped with a wife and two young children is invaded by old ghosts from his brutal former world. His family are threatened and Easton is forced to step out of retirement to exact vengeance at any cost. But in a covert intelligence war, conspiracies are everywhere so the question is who can he trust and are the good guys really as good as they appear?
Deep State has more twists and turns than a cornered snake, racing across continents and a tight timeline, ricocheting between Easton’s Pyrenees home, the frenetic chaos of the Middle East and the MI6 base from which the strings are clearly being pulled.
From the opening scenes, as a black-clad motorbike rider pursues him and his daughters and he receives a mysterious text – “It’s been a while Max, call me” – the tension and plot complexity builds sequence by sequence, demanding your undivided attention.
SUSPICIONS
With his wife of 10 years unaware of his true motives but driven to investigate her suspicions, Easton flies to London to discover the details of the mission he’s been summoned for.
There, with all the familiar dark drama of an 007 Bond briefing, he is told by the chief why he must go to Iran – and why this is the most personal of scores to settle. Iran has apparently reneged on a nuclear deal and is weaponising uranium.
A team has been sent to neutralise the threat, but their operation has been compromised and one of them has gone rogue, turning on Harry, Easton’s son, who followed his father’s lead by joining MI6.
The action darts back and forth, piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of Easton’s character and his backstory. A meeting with political journalist Olivia Clarke (Amelia Bullmore) reveals she is Harry’s mother and her distraught reminder “He wanted to be just like you” steels Easton’s resolve to put things right. In Beirut in pursuit of two operatives, he gives a graphic glimpse of
what he’s capable of as he carries out a threat to pull out an informant’s fingernails.
A flashback sequence with Harry and his supposed killer delivers yet another revelation, along with a twist which throws into doubt everything – and everyone – that’s gone before.
Only time will tell… Could episode two of this gripping thriller hold the answer?