Spy/Master

It's a good show, but it has some glaring flaws.

Don't get me wrong, it's ultimately an interesting show, with a story that is gripping and has its fair share of tension and suspense. Most of the settings (although most are indoor) are visually believable, costumes are ok for the most part. The characters, for the most part, seem believable, but with some exceptions.

I am Romanian and it's obvious to me that no Romanian screenwriters were involved. The Romanian language dialogue is stilted, artificial, no Romanian talks that way, especially those that lived in the period the show takes place. No Romanian uses those turns of phrase, those expressions, that manner of talking overall. How can I explain it? It's like the actors are reading through literal Romanian subtitles from an American movie. At some point it gets a bit grating to my ears.

Moving onto the authenticity and historical parallels, it is also obvious that the character of Victor Godeanu is inspired by Ion Mihai Pacepa, a real life high ranking Communist official who defected to the US. Although Pacepa was a member of Ceausescu's inner circle, I feel the closeness between the Godeanu character and the Ceausescu's couple is a bit exaggerated, compared to the real life counterparts. Then again, this is a work of fiction and I guess this is warranted. Also, I am adamant that no one called either of the Ceausescus by their first names except themselves one to another.

Moving on to the portrayal of the Ceausescus themselves. Elvira Deatcu does a decent job capturing Elena's mannerisms and her domineering presence over everyone she meets and over Nicolae himself. Her entitlement as well. The only thing I think that could have been emphasized more is her lack of education, manners or culture. In real life, she was barely literate and her speech was littered with gramatical and morphological errors.

As for Nicolae, I think his portrayal is my least favorite thing about this show. Not necessarily because how he was written, but I think actor Claudiu Bleont (a very good actor otherwise) does not do a very good job. Real life Nicolae Ceausescu had a number of speech impediments. In real life, apart from his rather poor command of the Romanian language (just like his wife's), he could not properly pronounce the "R" sound. The show captured this aspect, but the actor's delivery is very inconsistent, this impediment disppearing completely in some scenes or even lines in the same scene, but where he does capture this speech impediment, the delivery is a charicature. It's Elmer Fudd-ish and grating to a Romanian ear. I would also mention real life Ceausescu's minor stutter but cannot blame the show's crew for this. The Romanian Communist Party were very, very careful about the portrayal of Ceausescu in the media, so sources of him actually espousing this are extremely rare.

As a conclusion, I am always very excited when quality Romanian (or involving Romanians) films and shows come out and especially when they have an international reach. Despite everything I have written above, Spy/Master is a good show, worth watching and I hope we can see more of the actors in the future.

Wonderful to watch something European - in spirit and in the setting. It's even better to hear Romanian (and German) spoken and not yet more American English - not that I understand it but it's very refreshing and adds a real cold war touch to the whole thing.

The production quality is high, and you feel transported back to the 70s where everything seems just a little bleak and tasteless in an authentic way.

The plot is relatively simple, and sometimes the details are a tad far-fetched. It has American producers and this shows in places where the suave Europeaness gives way to some more brash action and plot vehicles.

In that sense it probably deserves only a 7, but because of the overall classic and classy feel (and because they speak Romanian) I'll give it an 8.

The true story of Pacepa is much more impressive. I don t understand why the director had to add a lot of non-sense when the trues story is much more impressive. I could say that other than that is a nice high budget small series to watch. The soundtrack is really good and some actors play good. But my good.. how anyone with a ID card can enter anywhere in the US embassy in Germany is truly out of this world. The costums, the cars, the decor, the collors are really awsome. I could add that there is no info about what happend afterwords. And this is very important. Pacepa give to USA not only all the agents of Romania but agents from the comunist block. This was a huge hit to the comunist world. Hundreds being arested. Only about this you could make a movie.

Fictional in a sense, but also inspired by the true events about Ion Mihai Pacepa, the Securitate general from the very top entourage of the (former president of Romania for some, for others the dictator) Nicolae Ceausescu who defected to the U. S. For a few a hero, a traitor for others, from a time when Romania used to be a player on the world stage. The characters and the institution involved in the plot, the KGB, STASI, the Arab terrorists, CIA, BND, and Romanian Securitatate from the '70s gives the story some historical and political weight. The series follows Pacepa's book "The Red Horizons" published in 1988, a year before Ceausescu was killed.

At first, I was a bit confused by the switching from one language to another, but with the subs turned on, it all became clear. I'm not a fan of subtitles, but for me, they were essential and didn't detract too much from the suspense of the storyline.

It's a great spy series and compelling viewing. The characters are believable and well-rounded, the story is interesting and different, and the dialogue excellent - delivered in a great deadpan style that suited the atmosphere.

The whole series knitted together nicely, and it is refreshing to see new-to-me actors doing a great job. The period atmosphere and the settings made the whole thing believable. I particularly liked the fact that the characters were able to project the nervousness of that moment in time.

Loved it and can't recommend it highly enough.