‘STATE’ OF CONFUSION
Ex-MI6 agent forced back into service in conspiracy thriller
IfDonald Trump produced “24,” it would look like “Deep State.”
Epix's new conspiracy thriller might be the first drama with the president squarely in mind — and as it turns out, a significant character, albeit off-screen.
Here's a show that leads with the spoiler in its title. That's its first mistake, as you can easily guess where all its mysteries lead, but the payoff can seem like a slog, especially in the early episodes in which there seem to be about 36 levels of betrayal, give or take.
It opens with our faux Jack Bauer, Max Easton (Mark Strong, “Low Winter Sun”), an ex-MI6 operative who left the field a decade earlier and resettled in Nice, France, with his second wife, Anna (Lynn Renee, “Mercy Street”), and their two young daughters. Max has done some Very Bad Things in the line of duty, and now he'd much rather make eggs for his girls and watch them eat, but his nasty ex-bosses make him an offer he can't refuse.
A black ops team in Beirut carrying out assassinations seems to be turning on themselves. One member has already been killed — Harry (Joe Dempsie, “Game of Thrones”), Max's son from his first marriage.
Max doesn't need any more incentive to get back into the field, only now he has to explain himself to his wife, who thinks he worked as a banker. Oops. Max underestimates Anna, who gets to work unraveling his past, and both are about to find out how far MI6 and the CIA will go to make sure Max's secrets stay buried.
Max finds in Beirut that there's much more to Harry's murder than he could ever imagine, and the show's dogged use of flashbacks in the opening episodes seem like an epic — Epix? — exercise in misdirection.
It's no spoiler to reveal that MI6 — at the behest of our CIA — is involved in some regime-crippling shenanigans. As for the president, “The man tweets like a teenage girl — you really think we're gonna leave it up to him,” one baddie sneers. The villains of the story are trying to push him to declare war and will produce any sort of evidence — including blackmail photos — to sway him.
“People aren't interested in the truth anymore. It doesn't play like it used to,” a senator tells Max.
Cynical shows can be fun; “Deep State” is undercut by some atrocious acting. One character seems to be the love child of Larry Hagman's J.R. Ewing and about 180 pounds of ham. The faux Texas accent might cause your eyes to sting.
The drama ultimately poses one question: Can the family that slays together stay together?
That answer might hinge on whether Trump tweets that “Deep State” deserves a second season.