The Sympathiser
Robert Downey times 6, The myth of 'Nam and ...the elephant man (?)
This is a show that starts vivid, as it’s set in an era that was indeed a vivid one in world history. The Vietnam war is the setting, that conflict that was a material and metaphorical mess for the US that continues to echo into modern times.
Hoa Xuande (Australian actor) plays “The Captain”, the titular sympathiser who juggles secrets and loyalties throughout the whole show. Nominally, he is a captain in the South Vietnamese army but is actually working for the Communist North. This may or may not be known by Claude (one of the six roles played by Robert Downey, who is excellent in all of them) [it is never made explicitly clear], the CIA contact who is running all sorts of agendas of his own !
The Fall of Saigon is imminent and one of Claude’s major collaborators in the South named The General, and for who The Captain acts as aide-de-camp, organise for an evacuation of his extended family via plane to the US. This doesn’t go exactly to plan and some people get left behind, causing ructions and other issues later on.
Once in the US, The Captain acts as an “agent provocateur/saboteur” and reports on The General’s activities to his contacts back in Vietnam via various means. The Captain undergoes some serious psychological journeys and physical hardships in his activities with the risk of being discovered always present.
While this was an enjoyable show and definitely one to watch if you are one for spycraft and political intrigue, I felt the final 2 episodes were a little rushed. These mainly dealt with “The Captain” going back to Vietnam for many different reasons and that is when he deals with a mysterious figure in an “elephant man” face sack.
This is essentially a psychological exploration of a man who serves too many masters and trying to then define what he actually believes in. There are many “flashback” sequences as well as “rectified and reconstructed” sequences to explain things and they can be somewhat distracting in attempting to follow the timelines.
As well as Downey, there is Sandra Oh who plays The Captain’s girlfriend although I really think she was extraneous to proceedings and also David Duchovny has a 3 ep cameo.
Rating - 3 thumbs, only because I felt the last eps felt rushed but definitely this show is worth a watch
Prime (AmazonTV), 7 x 1 hour eps
It is bingeable but it has some deep psychological themes to process so you might want to break it up to get the most out of the show