This is one of the best espionage dramas ever produced. There are no cliches, no contrived plots or unnecessary melodrama, in my opinion. Geopolitical issues are deftly handled, without the heavy-handedness that you would expect to see. The closest comparison would be perhaps Spooks (aka MI-5). This is not Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne.
While it's still a TV show and likely very simplistic versus real life intelligence work, the drama is gripping and feels realistic, dealing with the balance between personal and professional lives of intelligence agents, loyalty and morality, about doing things right vs. doing the right thing. There are no over-the-top "evil" antagonists here, and even the protagonists are deeply flawed--these are just people serving the interests of their respective countries that have different notions of right and wrong, human rights, and their place in the world (though, obviously, the show is from the French perspective).
The story makes the most of France's unique place in world politics--a western nation with diplomatic as well as cultural ties to Syria, Turkey, Iran and other nations in the Muslim world, that allows for stories that involve gathering intelligence, not just about SEAL teams or special forces dropping in and shooting/blowing up things.
I truly appreciate shows like this that do not treat its audience like simpletons, boiling down everything to good vs. evil, right and wrong, black and white. This is a show worth investing your time into.
While it's still a TV show and likely very simplistic versus real life intelligence work, the drama is gripping and feels realistic, dealing with the balance between personal and professional lives of intelligence agents, loyalty and morality, about doing things right vs. doing the right thing. There are no over-the-top "evil" antagonists here, and even the protagonists are deeply flawed--these are just people serving the interests of their respective countries that have different notions of right and wrong, human rights, and their place in the world (though, obviously, the show is from the French perspective).
The story makes the most of France's unique place in world politics--a western nation with diplomatic as well as cultural ties to Syria, Turkey, Iran and other nations in the Muslim world, that allows for stories that involve gathering intelligence, not just about SEAL teams or special forces dropping in and shooting/blowing up things.
I truly appreciate shows like this that do not treat its audience like simpletons, boiling down everything to good vs. evil, right and wrong, black and white. This is a show worth investing your time into.