Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.There was a time when Michael Fassbender and director Joe Wright were front-runners to succeed Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes in the James Bond franchise. While neither is in the still ongoing conversation, they have ended up working together on a spy thriller after all in the form of The Agency, a new series produced by George Clooney. The 10-parter plays out just down the Thames from 007’s dust-gathering MI6 desk, over at the US Embassy in Nine Elms. Although it follows a CIA department, the show’s underlying story comes from only just across the English Channel. Fans of the hit French series Le Bureau des Légendes won’t need to be a sleuth to notice that certain plot lines have been borrowed whole, with some scenes recreated almost shot-for-shot.What has changed, however, is the geopolitical context. Instead of tensions in Algeria, here there are concerns about delicate ops in Russia. As a senior CIA figure played by Jeffrey Wright not so delicately puts it: “[The] Cold War’s back. Chilly as fuck”.Also returning to brisker climes is the inscrutable man known as Martian (Fassbender) who is back in London following an abrupt end to his six-year mission in Ethiopia. The shock of surfacing from deep cover and stepping into his old self leaves Martian feeling aptly alienated. This life now seems less real to him than the one he shared, as someone else, with the lover he was told to abandon. So when it transpires that Sami (Jodie Turner-Smith), an Ethiopian academic, is also now in London, Martian seeks her out — against protocol and against his own professional judgment.Suspicion and suspense abound in the first two episodes, which combine sturdy, assured direction from Wright with a promisingly slippery narrative (scripted by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth). Being surveilled by colleagues and possibly being played by Sami, Martian is also on the lookout for potential double agents in the CIA’s network in eastern Europe, where a CIA agent has gone missing.The show offers intrigue but it lacks energy. The gloomy atmosphere effectively captures current anxieties and dispels myths of espionage glamour, but it can feel stifling even this early on — especially when the psychological toll of the work, and its global repercussions, are solemnly spelled out.Despite the talky approach, the show has yet to work out what to do with the wider ensemble that boasts Jeffrey Wright, Richard Gere (as the bureau boss), Katherine Waterston and Dominic West. Spies may have to stay under the radar, but stars should be given room to shine.★★★☆☆Episodes 1 & 2 on Paramount+ from November 30 in the UK and on Showtime in the US from November 29. New episodes weekly
