Tranquil, predictable, and mundane. These were the typical New Jersey mornings Anya_ I mean, Jenny had grown accustomed to after so many years. And although she sorely missed the comfort and familiarity of mother Russia’s crimson soul soil under her feet, the peaceful family life she’d garnered herself far outweighed the blood soaked past she’d left behind… or at least that's what she tells herself. But whatever the truth may be, reality for the moment remained a mixed bag.
An American dream home masking a rocky marriage destined for divorce. A prodigy ice skating daughter pushed over the hill into her resentful, rebellious phase. This and more made Jenny almost long for the simpler days of backroom assassinations and high stakes espionage. But coincidentally enough, as these dark clouds loomed overhead, a man in a black van parked across the street intently listened in to every verbal dagger exchanged, all through the bug he’d planted inside the home so many months ago. But what was he listing for? For intel, in some respects. But mostly for opportunity, opportunity that finally came about when he’d caught wind of Jenny planning a trip to Spain with her daughter.
That’s where he’d make his move. And although he’d come rather accustomed to his daily check-in’s from his van, he couldn’t deny the excitement he felt to finally put all his months of planning into action; if not also to finally meet the ex-Soviet spy, Anya “The Whisperer,” face to face.
In From the Cold is a Netflix Original series about Jenny, a single mom who’s just trying to chaperone for her daughter’s international ice-skating competition trip. However, when she suddenly gets ousted as the ex-Soviet spy, she finds herself quickly swept up into an anti-terrorist operation that holds the future of Spain in the balance.
I have to say, Netflix has had a fairly interesting run of limited series as of late and all differing in genre. There's the Arthurian epic, Letter to the King. The anime vampire war drama, Vampire in the Garden, and now the Cold War era spy thriller, In From the Cold. However, unlike the two former, In From the Cold is a bit more of a mixed bag when it comes to delivering a fully satisfying experience for its genre.
So to me, a spy thriller needs to have some or all of a few key elements to really elevate it: a gripping mystery/conspiracy with a sense of urgency, inventive and/or intense espionage, great moments of action (which doesn't necessarily mean a lot of action), intriguing twists, an engrossing spy world, and a compelling spy to follow. In From the Cold, for me, has the median version of all of these, with the exception of the character, our titular spy, Jenny.
The entire series, down to the wire, splits time between two separate narratives. One is the current spy caper where Jenny is forced to reawaken a darker, colder persona as well as a rusted set of highly unique skills, and all while juggling her life as a single mom. The other is a flashback to her earliest years as a young-adult spy, where she’s only beginning to explore the boundaries of her ruthlessness and skill, if not also romance, dangerously compromising as it may be.
Together, these two threads weave a thrilling, intertwined tale that holds together enough and, dare I say, can even be riveting at times. More importantly, it makes Jenny a hero anyone would want to root for as she navigates this wretched world of death and deception all in the name of love in various forms. However, I will say that between the two coinciding narratives, I found the “flashback” arc far more compelling and satisfying, especially on a character and espionage level. That may not appear too big of an issue at face value, but when the “current day” arc holds far more twists, higher stakes, the majority of the action, and screen time, it IS a problem. Now, I will admit that that’s probably due to the “flashback arc” being a much more focused story, dealing with far fewer elements, but here we can begin to discuss the sort of “meh” to decent entertainment value of the rest of the show.
Like I said, the show as a whole is a bit of a median experience. But what does that mean? Well let’s refer back to that check list. Compelling spy to follow? Check. Aced it. Sense of urgency? Spain’s in danger, daughter’s in danger, and there are some ticking clock elements sprinkled into the narrative. Triple Check. Gripping mystery? ... Sort of. Let’s start there. (Warning: Mild spoilers for the set up of the show, but nothing detrimental to the experience. It will be vague. I promise.)
So the basic understanding of the conspiracy is that there are several unrelated instances of random people attacking and sometimes killing other random people, before offing themselves. It is theorized that these instances must be linked to some sort of terrorist plot. But how and why? Well, those questions give us our compelling mystery. Couple that with Jenny’s mysterious past and you now have a strong start with a lot of potential. However as the story progresses, it’s somewhat disheartening to find much of the story delved out via a litany of lengthy exposition linked by moments of inconsistent action. This isn’t always the case, but it’s enough that it affects the level of investment as well as maintaining any sense of tension in the espionage sequences. Because now characters aren’t unraveling the mystery via their espionage, but rather, they’re expositing it before or after the fact to move the story along, a story that I will come back to towards the end. But for now, I want to talk about the inconsistent action I mentioned earlier.
In a world of shady government oversight and secret terrorist plots, forces inevitably collide, no matter how careful operatives care to tread. And the semi-fascist Spanish underground of this series' story provides us with plenty of opportunities for it. However, my biggest gripe with the action isn’t a matter of gratuity, but rather its style because it comes oh so close to something great many times over. In fact, there are some sequences like Jenny’s initial showcase of fighting prowess in Episode 1, as well as a thrilling throwdown in a luxury bath house later on that really crank the NOS on the whole experience. However, the majority of In From the Cold’s action falls guilty of that classic cardinal sin of implementing far too many cuts for chaotic effect, which is a shame when you compare those moments to the cleaner ones. So as it stands, it’s about a 50/50 split on the action overall. But I’m telling you, if you simply lock down the camera and let the brutality have its raw, unfiltered day in the sun, then you have a whole new experience.
Next, I want to touch on the espionage itself. As I mentioned before, it is somewhat hindered by gratuitous exposition. However, the show offers one unique twist that adds some exceedingly fun variables to every scenario Jenny finds herself in. At face value, I'm sure many viewers might think it too overpowering, but fortunately the show does a great job nerfing it enough to keep it from being the easy solution to every problem. Regardless, watching Jenny attempt to shake off the rust, throw back on her sexy, spy venire, and tip toe around her curious, but rebellious daughter, makes for some decent drama.
Lastly I want to bring it home with the crux of any good story, the characters. As in any spy caper, we have a slog of mysterious friends, foes, frenemies, and everything in-between. However here, none of them are terribly likable, but even if they are, they're nothing overly interesting. Sometimes even both. But what I can say is that they're all serviceable, for the most part. So seeing as how they all possess this what-you-see-is-what-you-get venire, I don’t think they warrant any sort of deep analysis. You'll get what you expect and nothing more.
Putting it all together, I can't say I didn't enjoy my time. I actually found myself fairly invested at points. But between these meh characters and their compelling, yet exposition heavy conspiracy romp that ultimately goes out with somewhat of a whimper, I can't say it's something I'd ever care to revisit. If the series picks up a sequel, which it both highly and confusing baits, I might check it out. But I will not hold my breath for it.
Levi (03/01/23)
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