The Intriguing World of TV Spies

Recently I've watched a few different TV shows about spies and have been thinking quite a bit about the things that go along with being one. My aunt, uncle and I went to the Spy museum in DC back in the fall of 2006. It is a really cool museum. Unfortunately I don't remember that many details of our visit but I do remember reading a story about this couple (it's all a bit hazy so I can't remember everything) where the man was a Russian spy and his wife didn't find out until after he died! It must have been just so crazy to find something like that out after your husband dies. The next time I go to DC (and I do really want to go visit L. there) I will for sure go to the spy museum again.

D. and I started watching the show Homeland this past fall (we watched both season 1 which had aired the previous fall and season 2 which aired this past fall) and I am really into it! It has really sparked my interest in the CIA. I added some books about the history of the CIA to my Amazon wishlist and I look forward to reading them at some point. Claire Danes' character is an analyst - not a spy - as are most of the people she works with; so even though they are not spies I still think it works to talk about that show here. D. and I watched half (to be honest the movie was a bit slow and we just never went back and finished the whole thing) of the movie Fair Game which is based on that CIA spy Valerie Plame who Dick Cheney outed as a spy. Both Plame and her husband wrote memoirs about the incident (both of which are on my Amazon wishlist as well) which I am curious to read. Plame, unlike Carrie (Claire Danes' character on Homeland) was a spy, and thus could not tell her friends or family (including her husband and kids) about her assignments, where she was going, etc. Her friends didn't even know she was a spy or worked for the CIA. Spies had always seemed glamourous to me. (I imagined tall attractive people in trenchcoats walking down dark rainy streets.) The idea of continually getting to try different personas and be someone you're not at first seemed appealing. But when I think about it, not being able to tell people who you really are and what you really do seem like really acute downsides.

I imagined spies wearing trench coats like this.

Another show I've just begun to watch in the past few months is The Americans. I have long been fascinated with Russia/the Soviet Union and the Cold War and this show is all about that! It takes place during the early 1980s in Washington DC and is about a seemingly all-American couple named Elizabeth and Phillip who are actually secret KGB spies. Elizabeth is played by Keri Russell who I have loved ever since she played Chloe on Malibu Shores way back in the day. (Side note: the movie Salt with Angelina Jolie also deals with Russian spies in the USA and it is a really good movie!) The show is really interesting. In addition to all their spy work (which involves wicked disguises. Elizabeth and Phillip are constantly trying out different wigs, glasses, etc. each episode) the show raises a lot of interesting questions. Elizabeth and Phillip have two kids - Paige and Henry - who don't know their parents are really Russian. Elizabeth and Phillip are pretty different. Phillip seems to like living in the US a lot, while Elizabeth is completely devoted to Russia and her job as a KGB agent. Despite her hatred of all things American, Elizabeth convincingly plays the role of perfect American wife and mom. It's fascinating. She also doesn't seem to get stressed (or at least show her stress) by living under false pretences all the time. While she seems to genuinely care about her kids, it's clear that the KGB and Russia come first which is really interesting. Neither Elizabeth nor Phillip seem to give much thought to how their kids would feel if they were ever to discover that their parents were actually Russian spies which to me is crazy. Their poor kids would have their lives totally upturned if their parents' real identities were ever discovered!

Some of Elizabeth's various disguises. 

Keri Russell on Malibu Shores!

Two other interesting things I've noticed from The Americans: 1. KGB spies are trained really well and are amazing at hand to hand combat! It's always really interesting to watch how good Elizabeth and Phillip are when physically fighting others. 2. The show gives viewers lots to think about in relation to the role of women in early 1980s society, and in traditional male spheres like the FBI. Women are subjected to sexual violence - or feel the need to use sex in order to get information - on a regular basis. I'd like to think things have changed in the 30 plus years since then but the answer is probably that they have not changed enough. 


D. and I have also been watching this funny TV show called Archer recently. It takes place during the 1970s (except they have cell phones and the internet) and involves a spy agency called ISIS. The show is a comedy though, and is also animated. It is very funny. I always used to hear D. watching it and wondered what he was watching and laughing at. So I watched a few episodes with him and thought the show was actually really funny. We started at the beginning and are now in season 3 (there are four seasons and it's still going) and it's actually a really funny show. I love that they're spies/secret agents but my favourite character is the HR person at ISIS, Pam. (It's hard to pick a favourite though - all of the characters are pretty funny!) Mallory Archer, the head of ISIS, also  has been having a secret, many years on-going affair with the head of the KGB which is really funny too. Watch it! It is a light-hearted and fun spy show.

Here's Pam!

So far from my previous view of spies as alluring, attractive people in stylish clothes who jet set around the globe, these shows have shown me that the life of a spy can be difficult, amusing and at times seemingly mundane. Regardless, all of these shows reinforce the fact that shows about spies in any form are still a lot of fun to watch.