Spy/Master – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Here is the timeline we see in the credits that roll by in a flash.

• 1958  – The Soviets left Romania.
• 1964 – Romania excludes the Soviets from its foreign policy
• 1965 – Nicolae comes to power.
• 1967 – Romania opens an embassy in West Germany.
• 1969 – President Nixon visits Romania.
• 1977 – Nicolae facilitates Egypt-Israel peace talks.

The Present-Day in Spy/Master’s Universe

Victor Godeanu from Romanian Intelligence Service DIE travels from Bucharest, Romania, to the US Embassy in Bonn, West Germany. The year is 1978.

Victor is the personal security advisor of Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and the Deputy Chief of Romania’s Foreign Intelligence Service. He bids an emotional goodbye to his daughter Ileana at the airport.

At the Embassy, he asks to speak to Frank Jackson. But before Jackson can entertain him, Victor is gone, spooked by a familiar face.

Victor left the embassy when he saw a blonde woman looking suspiciously at him. He discreetly enters his hotel without alerting his Romanian counterpart, Sorin Rancea, who is waiting for Victor to go to the meeting for the Pilgrim’s program.

A bald man is following Victor, and they go to the Ministry of Interior in Bonn. The woman is Ingrid von Weizendorff, from Eastern European Affairs working at the Ministry.

Victor is only willing to accept 200 Germans but Klaus feels terms can be adjusted. She hands over a new list with 220 names. He stalls the proceedings as Klaus offers 3 million Deutsche marks for the deal. Frank wants the visitor list at the embassy to be triple-checked, but Victor is spooked by someone he saw that morning. They need to find out who. John finds Victor at the hotel and leaves him a message.

Victor receives a bottle of champagne when he gets back, asking him for a meeting at Kleider and Mehr that day at 5. Through the trial room, Victor is taken to meet Frank. Victor expresses his wish to defect, and says once he shares information with Frank, he’d want to bring Adela and Ileana to the US as well.

A deal is struck but Victor doesn’t tell him about Ingrid, the woman who spooked him.

At the Romanian embassy, he tries to find out more about her. Sofia Fahim, her housekeepe,r is Egyptian. He sends away Sorin to take photographs of the file and takes a photo with him.

Frank contacts Scott Dunlop at Camp David in Maryland. He wants to expedite the defection process. President Carter does not feel it is the right time for the defection. We see Ingrid being approached by a man who asks for another name to be added on to the list.

Ingrid is anxious to be seen with him but agrees to complete the instruction. Langley denies the request for Victor’s defection, but Victor is also being watched by Carmen.

He finds that his room was entered by someone as the piece of paper he stuck between the door and the frame was on the ground. He finds Ingrid inside, ominously pointing a gun at him.

Events leading up to Victor’s defection

Ten days before the present timeline, President Nicolae Ceaușescu seems worried. He thinks there are spies and traitors around but his wife Elena tries to play it down. Both the husband and wife are very close to Victor and see him as unassailable.

Nicolae wants Dan Banea off the Pilgrim negotiations with West Germany, but Banea hasn’t asked WG for enough money and Nicolae sends Victor to Bonn in his place instead.

It turns out that the mole Nicolae is worried about is Victor. He met with Soviet General Shakarov a few months back. Victor destroyed the photo of them together but another man claims that a French agent has the negative of it.

Moscow feels Victor’s getting sloppy and will get caught. The Romanian counterintelligence has its hands on the photo and has been plotting against Victor. He has been a double agent for almost 15 years, ever since the Soviets left the country.

Carmen Popescu (a director at the Ministry of Interior) knows about his betrayal. She is working with Mircea Voinea from Counterintelligence (on tape that Victor is hearing), but Mircea says they need credible evidence.

He is told by Carmen that they have the negative, and the exchange will happen in Vienna while Carmen will personally make the transaction. Voinea has left his own shoes for Victor in his office indicating that he knows Victor has bugged him.

Victor tells Banea he has to take over the Pilgrim’s program. Banea says he didn’t squeeze the Germans as the families on the list are desperate to be reunited. Ioan Albescu, the Deputy of the Party’s Security Committee, meets Victor. He is appointed to keep watch on intelligence agents and Victor is one among them.

During a wild hunt, Nicolae asks Victor to get rid of Banea. He has been informed that the man is a traitor, and although Victor tries to convince him otherwise, Nicolae is insistent.

The next day, Victor tries to convince Banea to hide in the new warehouse until things calm down but he doesn’t listen and Victor shoots him dead.

Six days ago in Vienna, we see Carmen meeting her French source and taking the negative of the photo. She was being watched and followed by Russians. Carmen tried to run but was assassinated.

It turns out that the woman the Russians killed was a decoy. Carmen is safe and communicates the information to Voinea. Victor is informed of this incident by his Russian contact, and that’s when it was decided they were taking Victor out.

The Episode Review

HBO has churned out another enthralling spy drama from the Cold War era. Even though the underlying dynamics are different here, the overarching narrative involves the Soviets and Americans.

Episode 1 is intelligently crafted with enough visual cues for you to follow the story. At the same time, it is complex enough to be mysterious and spark intrigue in you to follow it till the end.

Without knowing about the context of Victor’s real-life story, the makers ensure that you aren’t left scratching your head figuring out the details. Alec Secareanu is sensational. He proves to be a reliable anchor for the makers to ground their story in Victor’s tough situation.

HBO always has the highest production quality and episode 1 truly seems authentic.

Even after having seen so many spy shows this year, Spy/Master seems set to disrupt the trend and carve a unique place for itself.