Cast: Margarita Levieva, Cillian O’Sullivan, Lydia Fleming, Stasya Miloslavskaya, Alyona Khmelnitskaya
Director: Adam Glass
Genre: Spy, Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Episodes: 98 episodes, 50+ minutes each
Now streaming on Netflix
In From the Cold is about Jenny (Levieva), a single mother who arrives in Spain with her daughter, Becca (Fleming). While there, she is kidnapped and comes face to face with Chauncey (O’Sullivan), who claims to be a CIA agent looking for a Russian spy from the 1990s known only as ‘The Whisper’. He accuses Jenny of being the said spy, threatening hers and Becca’s life if she doesn’t fess up to this, and help the CIA track down a Russian drug lord. This takes a turn from there, taking us into a world that is a Russia-US relations conspiracy theorist’s dream come true. From human bio weapons to US election interference, the series covers it all.
The plot is definitely interesting, especially at the beginning. As the story unfolds and we see flashbacks from the 1990s putting present-day events in perspective, our curiosity is peaked. So the movie gets kudos for keeping us interested in the next episode. The cast is not too familiar, except for the lead actress, Levieva, who we recognise from guest starring in a string of TV series, including Revenge. It’s nice to see her in a leading role, and she does play the part well. Seeing Adam Glass as the creator/writer of the series is a sign that it will have surprises (see his work on Supernatural, Deadpool and Luke Cage for reference), which there are.
However, the surprises are a little expected. You know those surprises you don’t see coming but when they do come, you’re not too surprised about it? That is what the plot twists are like in the series, especially in the last episodes. So while I enjoyed the show, it left me worried about what to expect in Season 2. It would have to be pretty mind blowing stuff for me not to feel like this could just have been a good film instead, not a show. All in all, this is a decent-ish first season. Prepare to read subtitles because half the dialogue is not in English.
–Grace Kenganzi
Don’t want to miss out on any story? For updates on all Sqoop stories, follow this link on Telegram: https://t.me/Sqoop
