What is the CIA really up to, and how many hidden wars are they fighting that we will never know about?
Those are two of the questions that might come to mind after watching the Audience Network's new spy series, "Condor."
The action-thriller, based on the 1975 film "Three Days of the Condor," premiered at SXSW March 10, 2018.
(SPOILER ALERT BEYOND THIS POINT)
As the star of the show, British-actor Max Irons, known for his performances in "Red Riding Hood" and "The Host," paints a vivid picture of the stomach-turning decisions that are made behind closed doors at the CIA to keep the public safe and save millions of lives -- hopefully.
Irons' character, Joe Turner, a savvy but lonely computer analyst who created a program for the CIA to detect likely terrorists within society, wrestles with the notion that his software could get an innocent person killed depending on how his algorithm sorts out. Between that problem and the reality that he can't share his secret identity with a potential love interest, the 30-something tech-wizard is about ready to hang up his CIA agent towel and do something else with his life by the climax.
Though by the end of the episode, the audience finds out Joe Turner's terrorist-finding program turned out to be a godsend and pretty accurate because it saved thousands of people at a football game from a bioterrorism attack.
We're talking about a new-age plague that has a 100 percent mortality rate, y'all! That's terrifying.
And all the while you're empathizing with Joe Turner and freaking out about the incredible weight of his life-saving technology, you're torn because suddenly you're seeing Brendan Fraser, known for his comedic role in "George of the Jungle" and heroic antics in "The Mummy," play the character Nathan Fowler in a totally different light. Do we dare say the villain behind the bioterrorism attack?
While the jury is still out on Nathan Fowler, all the red arrows are pointing towards big-bad for his accomplice, Gabrielle Joubert, played by Leem Lubany -- a 21-year-old Palestinian actress who's best known for her role in the Oscar-nominated film "Omar."
Joubert racks up a pretty large body count by the end of the episode while you really don't see direct blood on the hands of Nathan Fowler.
This isn't a show for the squeamish. Prepare yourself for an execution-style mass murder scene and a knife attack right to the jugular.
All in all, the show has potential to be an intriguing series that people want to tune into weekly if they're fans of top-secret government work and a young agent with the power to prevent devious acts of terrorism.
"Condor" premieres on The Audience Network, an AT&T owned channel available for DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, and DirectTV Now customers, June 6, 2018.
