Article first published as THE ASSETS Review on Seat42F.
There is a fantastic new series about spies set during the Cold War era on television. The Americans and Soviets clash, tensions run high, espionage is especially dangerous, plots are layered and intricate, loyalties are divided, and the characters engaging in this battle are well acted and well written. It’s a heck of a good show, and one you should definitely be watching.
THE ASSETS airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
There is a fantastic new series about spies set during the Cold War era on television. The Americans and Soviets clash, tensions run high, espionage is especially dangerous, plots are layered and intricate, loyalties are divided, and the characters engaging in this battle are well acted and well written. It’s a heck of a good show, and one you should definitely be watching.
It’s called The Americans, and the second season will soon be coming to FX.
THE ASSETS, on the other hand, ABC’s
eight-part miniseries premiering this week based on real events and set
during the same time period, isn’t very good. It’s melodramatic, over
the top, and unnecessarily campy. When you think the story is moving in
an interesting direction, it ruins the good will it has built up
quickly. In short, it’s extremely disappointing, and it’s puzzling why
ABC would even attempt this weak series when there’s currently an
example of what it should be on another channel.
THE ASSETS stars Jodie Whittaker as
Sandy Grimes. Sandy is a CIA operative who wears the pants in her
household, and then second guesses whether that bothers her husband,
Gary (Julian Ovenden, Foyle’s War), or not. In fact, she asks him
straight out in the pilot, “My Name is Aldrich Ames,” if her personality
makes him feel bad, and of course he replies that he loves her for who
she is. Is this meant to call attention to the fact that she isn’t a
‘typical’ woman in the 1980s? It not only seems like an outdated
stereotype, even for that time, but also paints her character as weak
and unlikeable.
I know Whittaker can perform well; she
did a terrific turn in the British series Broadchurch last year. Yet,
here she yells in scenes where she shouldn’t and, in general, overacts. I
wonder if it’s the direction or the writing that leads her to make
these decisions. Her American accent is passable, but the way she plays
the role takes away any points Sandy might score with viewers.
This is very unfortunate because Sandy
is our plucky hero, the one in THE ASSETS who fights for what is right,
even when her superiors don’t agree with her. While we should be
admiring her intelligence and how she can keep her home and work life
separate, instead she comes across as a stereotype played badly. THE
ASSETS should rest on the strength of a multi-layered, compelling Sandy,
but that strength is sorely lacking.
The villain is just a little bit better.
Aldrich Ames (Paul Rhys, Borgia) may be Sandy’s co-worker, but the very
beginning of “My name is Aldich Ames” lets the audience know right away
that Amex is actually a mole, subverting the Americans from the inside
as he helps out the Soviets and the Russians. Revealing this could be a
really cool approach, except it takes away a lot of the depth and
mystery in the way that it unfolds.
Now, no character suspects Ames of being
dirty, and it’s easy to see why. He’s a geek in glasses, not one who
would risk life and limb to take the big risks. Yet, because we know his
secret, one wishes Ames would pull back a bit on telegraphing things.
His tale, in real life, is an intriguing one because he did fool all his
co-workers. What we are seeing wouldn’t fool anyone. Except maybe this
watery version of Sandy.
The spy games are equally trite and
nonsensical. In one scene, an operative loses his tail by turning back
in the middle of crossing a street. So not only does the fellow
following him appear unobservant, not keeping an eye on the guy, but he
also is unable to follow from across a few lanes of traffic for a few
blocks as the other man doubles back, and then cross later? I thought
these were professionals?
THE ASSETS just plain doesn’t live up to
its potential. As a concept, it should work quite well. In execution,
it fails miserably. Perhaps I am influenced in my opinion because I have
The Americans so readily available to compare it against, a much
superior effort. But so does every other TV viewer, and the network
should have known that before putting this on the air. I wouldn’t say
THE ASSETS is the perfect example of how broadcast has become a paler
imitation of great cable dramas because I don’t think that statement is
completely true, but in this case, ABC is doing itself no favors.
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