The spying game
THE SYMPATHIZER Holiday Monday, 9pm, Sky Atlantic & Sky Showcase Thriller (box set, Sky Box Sets & NOW) A 1970s-set darkly comic thriller follows a double agent who’s embroiled in intrigue...
Ayoung spy faces danger in the aftermath of the Vietnam War in
Sky Atlantic’s darkly comic new thriller The Sympathizer.
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, the seven-parter centres on the Captain (Hoa Xuande), an aide to South Vietnamese secret police commander the General (Toan Le), who’s allied with America.
But, unknown to his boss, the Captain is a communist double agent passing information to the Vietcong.
As Saigon falls in 1975, the Captain flees with the General to the US, but will his loyalties come into question?
‘The Captain is trying to survive the struggle of war and find the best outcome for those he cares about, and not rock
the boat,’ says Hoa. ‘But then he’s dealing with survival in LA, the enemy territory…’
Along the way, four very different American authority figures – a ruthless
CIA operative, a flamboyant professor, a demanding film director and an ambitious congressman – all played by
Robert Downey Jr. – try to mentor and manipulate the Captain. Meanwhile,
Sandra Oh portrays the professor’s spirited Asian-american secretary Sofia Mori, who falls for the Captain.
‘Sofia’s defiant and liberal,’ explains Sandra. ‘But through her relationship with the Captain, she questions what it means to be American, and how much she’s lost her own history.’
The cast hopes the show will offer a thought-provoking new take on the complexities of the Vietnam War. ‘It’s often been depicted through the Western perspective,’ says Hoa. ‘But Vietnamese people, who bore the brunt of the trauma, never really had their voices heard. This is refreshing.’