Rubicon

"connect the dots, work the dots" "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer" "find out who he sits and moves with" - FWIW. anyway - I for one applaud these folks for the slow pace a lot of folks have a problem with - we are bombarded with half hour or hour shows where the formula is presented - "all is relatively quiet, then chaos erupts, then there is a mad scramble to put Humpty back together,and in the last 45 seconds Humpty is restored, followed by a communal sigh of relief" - (break for commercials, then trailers, a swell of music, roll credits, on to the next predictable time waster) also i like the critic who opined that this is the "anti 24" - so what if Rubicon doesn't have the guns blazing and mouth breathing - been there, seen that. hope the powers that be don't cancel this show because of the current low ratings, but won't be surprised if they do.

I have finished watching the first season of Rubicon, and I am in love with the show. I am in love with the atmosphere, the tension, the amazing subtle and effective writing. Let's start from the beginning...

The Pilot of Rubicon is a very good opening, although flawed. You can immediately tell that this is a show more worried about telling a good story than action, which is all to good, yet is also backtracks on itself. The Pilot is the one that opens a mystery, and for the first few episodes it might seem like the show has nowhere to go, but keep in mind that it is a very carefully paced show. By episode 5 I was hooked. From then on, the show gets better and better, leading up to amazing story lines, and not just having to do with the overall mystery. The last four episodes of the season are masterful, as perfect as television can get. There might be a problem in that many viewers after 2 or 3 episodes might decide to give up on it simply because of the slow pace, and if that is the case then what a shame.

Another thing that has to be noted about Rubicon is the great cast. James Badge Dale is very effective and a great lead, and Miranda Richardon does great in her limited screen time. Lauren Hodges as Tanya is the best of the females, carefully portraying a confused and misguided analyst who is not sure what her life should be. Arliss Howard and Michael Cristofer are the best in the series, for the fact that they are two of the most interesting and intriguing characters in TV in years. They masterfully play their characters to the highest order.

Along with the great writing and acting, we have the great cinematography, which is the quality of the best films out there. It is on par with AMC'S other great series, Mad Men. Ultimately, Rubicon stands as one of the strongest shows I have seen in years, but it's slow pace, while completely refreshing to me, will give it a harder time to find a larger audience, which will then be the reason for it's demise. If that's the case, then we have a great mini-series, and the last scene plays perfectly for that, leaving viewers in a state of desperation.

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.

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.

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.