This is an entertaining, refreshingly slowed paced spy mystery series that I guess just didn’t capture enough attention to get a second season.

This is one of those shows with a lot of Guys Who Were in Those Things. I mean, a lot of them. At least some of the fun of watching this show is recognizing them. They include:

Michael Cristofer
David Rasche
Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Murphy Guyer
Michael Gaston
Peter Gerety
Harris Yulin
And probably more I’ve forgotten. Anyway…

I really like the pace of the show, it takes its time and is in no rush to get to the conclusion. Better yet, there is one over-arching plot, and there aren’t red herrings every episode. Yes, there are some people whose loyalties you doubt (one in particular) but the show doesn’t spend half its time trying to get you confused what is going on and who is responsible. I think this is a virtue.

I want to single out Arliss Howard, an actor I had mostly forgotten about, for being the best character here. It’s a unique role and he handles it really well. The way I feel about the character is probably a spoiler but I just wanted to say I appreciated the role.

12 years later, Will feels horribly naïve. Maybe things have changed but it sure feels as though he is perhaps a bit too unrealistically naïve about what he does and who he works for. He also makes some very stupid decisions, but I guess that’s typical for this kind of show.

Sometimes the behaviour of some of the characters feels a little bizarre and its not always easy to understand everyone’s motivations. Some of that is by design, of course, but it can make for the odd frustrating moment. (There is also one minor twist with a character that really doesn’t feel very believable given something else that happens.)

And then, there’s the ending, which I can’t talk about without spoiling. All I will say is that it’s clear the show expected to continue for at least another season and so I suspect the ending will be a problem for a lot of people. (About those expectations: I think the focus on the irrelevant personal lives of some of the supporting characters likely also comes from this belief in seasons.)