Spy City

August 6, 2022 - Spy City really made it worthwhile for me continuing to subscribe to the service I viewed it on. I didn't know anything about the series but gave it a try and was extremely pleased with it. What I liked about the series - 1) The acting is very good,2) good directing, 3) the production values are very good, including extremely short video clips of street scenes and News footage from the 1960's. Which is the time period the plot takes place. 4) Very good and involving plot. 5) None of the usual tropes and memes that are seen in most drama series currently being produced. 6) While the actors making up the main cast are apparently well known. I didn't recognize any of them. This made the series more interesting to me, because there were no actors that seemed to be in every other film and TV series. I was stationed in Germany during the time that the events in the series took place, and I think the production company did a great job of recreating the time period.

Spy city tells the story of the secret services in Berlin shortly before the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The story is entertaining and is broadly consistent with the historical facts.

But the realisation was a bit sloppy. Suits, clothes and cars that are a bit too new for the early summer of 1961, a phone box and a record cover from the 1980s and a film that only had primiere months later. Not accurate enough to satisfy the history-minded viewer.

It just turned me off immediately after I watched the 1st episode. How could it possible that the guy wearing such trendy late 20th Century to 21st century suit like that?! It's just too modern, too unrealistic for the 1950s. If a drama series failed to do the correct costume; such a basic requirement, then the whole series is just a bust!

Another reviewer has said in a negative way, everyone's a critic. Isn't that the point of allowing comments? If someone doesn't like what they saw, their opinion is perfectly valid and if they take the time to explain why, probably even more so.

I have watched two episodes, the second was slightly better that the first.

Not convinced that Dominic Cooper makes the most convincing spy, especially in the first episode fight scene, the choreography was appalling.

I also feel that there is something odd going on, continuity is somewhat questionable, some costume choices strange both for the period and the setting, and I have yet to feel any empathy for any of the characters.

As I said the second episode was a little better and it's probably worth waiting for the next. If there's no improvement I won't care about it enough to carry on.

A moderately complex plot of quasi-realistic Berlin espionage shenanigans, with extra bullets provided just for juvenile video gamers. Both character and story development take more than the first episode. Give it three episodes to get sucked in. If you enjoyed Das-Re-Boot, then you will probably like this, which has more broad appeal, and fewer subtitles.

Dominic Cooper gives quite an enjoyable performance of serious material, unlike the disjointed ad-hoc goofball malarkey dished out by Seth Rogan in Preacher.

All the casting and performances are very good. The production values are top grade for TV -- a big nod of approval to the Czech crew. Locations and set design are excellent, but furniture and wardrobe design are exceedingly up-scale for the setting, as if being the only options available in the prop warehouse.

There are wonderful transition pieces with brief clips of Berlin from the actual story time frame. However, the color temperature / white balance, gamma curve, and color saturation of the old footage could have easily been adjusted to look closer to the image parameters set for the production.

For me, it was a binge watch -- sapio-tv. I wish there were a second series.