Rubicon

When I saw this series advertised in the TV guide I thought I'd give it a go even though I hadn't seen any trailers on TV and it was being shown on BBC4; a channel usually showing 'cultural' programmes and the occasional subtitled European series... certainly not where one would expect to find a US spy drama. I'm glad I did watch it as it was gripping through out even though it had little of the action typical of the genre; in fact much of the drama took place in an ordinary looking room where the characters discussed various pieces of intelligence they had received. The series follows Will Travers, an analyst at an intelligence agency in New York, who finds himself promoted to head of his department when his friend and mentor is killed in a railway 'accident'. He and his small team follow a lead that starts in the Middle East but leads to an imminent terrorist attack in the United States; if this isn't enough for him he is also investigating a local conspiracy which will put him personally in real danger.

I've tried to keep plot description to an absolute minimum as this is the sort of series best watched with no prior knowledge of what is going on; that way the story will slowly draw you in and as each episode draws to a close you will be left wanting to know what happens next. Of course a good series needs more than a good plot; it needs a great set of characters and it has them here; Will Travers, played by James Badge Dale, might not be an action hero in the Jack Bauer mould but he is believable and doesn't seem invulnerable. The rest of his team are equally ordinary; they are after all analysts, it is their job to identify threats, not to eliminate them. The only character that has any real sense of danger about him is Will's superior Kale Ingram, excellently played by Arliss Howard, you get the sense that he is the type of person who knows how to make people disappear. The only disappointment I had with this series was learning that it had been cancelled after only one series... without a proper resolution.

I'm evaluating the whole series here, not just the first episode.

It's a darn good show - really darn good. Well worth watching in 2018, and also worth rewatching, which I plan to do in a few months once the show isn't so fresh in my mind anymore.

There have been many TV shows about spies and subterfuge (Homeland, The Americans) and terrorism (The Looming Tower, The Unit, 24, etc.). But this show filters America's "war on terror" through an intel analysis firm, where brilliant and bookish individuals sift through raw intel to give recommendations for America's NatSec apparatus. And that's only part of the show; the other part involves a creepy, wide-ranging conspiracy that's ever bit as exciting and scarily omniscient as the ones you'd find in those classic 70s conspiracy flicks like "The Parallax View" and "All the President's Men."

The writing is thoughtful and the dialogue is rich; there's so much of substance here, and the show doesn't need big explosions or shootouts or anything like that to sustain an intricate, fascinating plot and rewarding character arcs. Everyone is interesting, from James Badge Dale as the paranoid, hyper-focused analyst Will Travers to Miranda Richardson as widow Katherine Rhumor, who is trying to figure out why her rich husband suddenly took his own life.

Special commendation, though, has got to go to Arliss Howard as Will's supervisor Kale Ingram: the coolest, most fascinating, chilly and badass middle-aged gay character I think I've ever seen on an American TV show (refreshingly, Ingram's homosexuality is simply presented as is, with no frills or B.S., something shows in 2018 still struggle to do). And Michael Cristofer as the cigarette-smoking weirdo and head of API Truxton Spangler is another winner: every scene he's in positively crackles, and his true motivations will keep you guessing.

From the cinematography (you'll think you're watching a Hollywood movie half the time, it's so good) to the writing to the performances, this is a show to treasure and savor. Budding screenwriters simply must study this show's scripts, and the show overall is is one of the most wickedly smart things I've ever seen on American TV. Shame there's only the one season; it could've done a lot better if it came out today on a streaming platform.

Do yourself a favor and watch Rubicon, if only to see just how good TV can be.

A truly excellent series, splendid characters and actors particularly Michael Cristofer as the wonderfully eccentric Truxton Spangler and Arliss Howard as Kale Ingram. It was television drama at its best, the sort that needs one to concentrate on the dialogue. For me they got the pace spot on.

Whilst initially I was disappointed that there was no second series, in retrospect it was right to bring the story to a close as it did. A second series would have undoubtedly lost its impetus and at least one vital character Certainly the best English language series of its kind so far this year.

This series, short-lived as it was, holds up well. I'm watching it for the third time (thanks to Amazon Prime Video). With its pace, its characters, its dialog, even its cinematography, it all comes together nicely.

Actors Christopher Evan Welch, James Badge Dale, Arliss Howard, Annie Parisse, Dallas Roberts (especially) are all excellent. Jessica Collins is hot (watch and see if you don't agree).

The plot is outlandish, but so what? Edward Snowden has made such outlandishness seem all too possible.

Not many such series are watchable over and over. This one has proved itself an evergreen.

Put it on your Watchlist; it's worth it.

The intricate plot of RUBICON tells the story of a complex conspiracy. Therefore, and very differently from most other shows of this kind, it has courageously chosen to be complex itself. The story lines, the characters with their intricate relationships and histories, are told in a great depth. Lives of people include boring or uneventful moments, yet in RUBICON, as in real life, those moments are not cut away, on the contrary, they are narrated at their full extend. And as in real life, as insignificant they might be, there is always some reference to the characters profiles and what they might do - or not do - next. If you look for an action packed spy story, RUBICON is probably the wrong show for you. But if you want to get into intelligence reality as it "really" might be, than this is a great series to watch. At episode 12 now, I have enjoyed every second of it and do hope that AMC does not let it die at the end of season one. Well done.