You have “the instincts of an operative, the brains of an analyst: where were you in the mid-90s when I needed you?” spy boss Peter Moira (Brian d’Arcy James) compliments field agent Alexander Hale (Simu Liu) while sitting opposite him in an anechoic chamber, or SCIF.
In talking to his operative, Moira lays out the dynamic of the Peacock sci-fi espionage thriller “The Copenhagen Test.” It’s a complicated brain teaser over eight episodes, and an action film that breaks into impressively choreographed fight scenes. Kitchen knives and AK-47 bullets fly with an unsettling regularity.
Of course, Moira’s lying, or half-lying, or manipulating, or sending poor Hale to his untimely and possibly grim death at the business end of a silencer. No one knows all the puzzle pieces or how they fit together in this smart, dense, original thriller.
Liu’s patriotically named Hale is a first-generation Chinese immigrant. His father and pregnant mother escaped the political unrest of China’s Tiananmen Square massacre. They’ve placed their hopes and dreams on their only son. He will be an American, but as the child matures, he realizes that, unfortunately, his ethnicity may throw his allegiance to our flag into question.
Especially in his chosen field: spy-craft. Choices are as critical in the unfolding thriller as they are in the original “Sophie’s Choice” where Nazis force a mother to choose between her two children, one will live the other will head to the ovens. “The Copenhagen Test” is itself one of these: Will a soldier under fire in enemy territory rescue an American adult, or a foreign child, if his orders are clearly to save his fellow citizen?
Hale’s response to this choice, and its aftermath, inspires panic attacks and a spiraling fear that he can’t control himself in stressful situations. His career path — to be a man of action defending America — temporarily benched. He aspires to be part of The Orphanage, the super-secret department charged with broad oversight of all the other intelligence agencies, like internal affairs for spooks. But he’s afraid he’s damaged goods. He tries his hardest to conceal the mental cracks.
Concealing personal weakness becomes increasingly difficult as the typically stone-faced Hale discovers that — the sci-fi leap — his brain has been hacked. An enemy of The Orphanage has coopted his eyes and ears, so that everything he says and does, from reading official memos to bedding his friend with benefits, is transmitted to this unknown fiend with a grudge against the department.
As bad as this is, as vulnerable as it makes Hale, it’s the side effects that trouble him. He’s getting horrible headaches, blurry vision and what appear to be mini-strokes. This doesn’t help his pre-existing anxiety — and transforms him into a ticking time bomb exploited by The Orphanage to identify and bring down their wily enemy.
For Simu Liu, who also produced, this is a terrific way to leverage his career after playing Shang-Chi in the Marvel movie hit “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” While his kung fu chops have already been exploited, this series builds on them and allows the actor to show off his intelligence and emotional range. He also demonstrates leading man charisma. Wisely, the series, while it has romantic elements and sexual encounters, doesn’t ever get soppy or sappy.
Standouts include the great Kathleen Chalfant (currently a Best Actress longshot for “Familiar Touch”) as St. George, as in the dragon fighter. She’s the elusive head of The Orphanage. Her presence brings a sense of surface tranquility, a calm born of years of dangerous dealings that have buried many enemies, but have also left hanging threads whose primary mission is to dethrone her. She’s not one to be argued with, and whether she plans to use Hale and then dispose of him, or protect him, is a source of constant narrative tension.
D’Arcy James is reliable and relatable as an administrative spy who’s witnessed decades of deception, and has a driving ambition to ultimately replace St. George and run The Orphanage. The ensemble is diverse and dedicated: Melissa Barrerra is an assassin as untrustworthy as she is appealing; Sinclair Davis is the new girl on the team able to take fresh approaches to old problems and intuit her subjects’ actions before they unfold; and a crusty Saul Rubinek as the Hale family’s oldest friend in America, a senior spy with fuzzy allegiances.
“The Copenhagen Test” premieres surfing the espionage series wave, from “Slow Horses” to “Andor” to “The Day of the Jackal.” The creator Thomas Brandon (“Legacies”) and his writers’ penchant for time shifts — two hours ago, eleven months before, yesterday — can make the complicated plot hard to follow and lead to binging vertigo. And yet, it satisfies our spy TV jones, and Liu passes the test as a dynamic leading man.
“The Copenhagen Test” premieres Saturday, Dec. 27, on Peacock.
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