The Agency – Episode 2 “The Wooden Duck” Recap & Review

The Wooden Duck

Episode 2 of The Agency begins in the Ukraine with a doctor called Charlie doing what he can to help. Now, working as a doctor is actually his cover and part of the wider picture. It could also be linked to Operation Felix too. His cover isn’t blown, at least not yet, but things are definitely tense.

Meanwhile, Martian and Samia make love but the former is now suspicions of his lover. He’s not sure if she’s working against him or not, but when she leaves the hotel (after Martian fruitlessly checks her phone to see the origin of three missed calls) his two tails wonder whether Martin may be seeing a hooker. Paul though, burns his receipt and heads back to work.

As Dr Rachel Blake shows up at the agency, Martian goes over the current Coyote story with Owen and Blair. The assessment here is that he got drunk, blew his cover and from the police station, was taken to a counterespionage unit. The Belarusian intelligence service managed to get him sober… and then he went AWOL? More than likely he’s been killed but given he was at the agency for 16 months before being deployed, the current worries here is that he may have divulged that amount of info to foreign agents.

Different agents out in the field are notified, but one in particular seems to be spooked. This is Alexei Orekhov. He manages a trucking company for Russian mercenary groups and Martian sees an opportunity and decides they should use him as a “Wooden Duck”.

When Martian brings this to Henry, the superior wants to talk about the night he spent at the hotel, but Martian cleverly diverts the conversation over to the current operation. He claims he’s been training his security detail, hence the theatrics with losing them, but Martian is definitely not done here.

Blake shows up with news that she’s here to do a psych evaluation on everyone. Martian though takes her into the conference room and shows her the tape of Alexei to assess the situation. Of course, she decides they need to get him out and use him as an asset to try and get Coyote back. Unfortunately, this happens too late as Alexei goes off-script and shows up at the airport.

It’s frantic as the agency work to try and stop him leaving the country, while also bringing him in. Owen’s approach doesn’t work, so Blair takes over, causing friction between the two. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen in enough time as Alexei is taken out the airport and from a taxi, bundled in the back of a truck. 

With the men speaking Russian, he’s left tied to a chair and interrogated. Of course, all of this is spearheaded by Martian to see if he’s been compromised. Alexei isn’t in Russia, he’s in London, but he’s not to know this at well. They grill him pretty hard, making sure he’s still playing on their side.

According to Martian, this is their game of Wooden Duck. If he quacks by pushing him through interrogation, then they’re in a lot of trouble and he may have been compromised. Which also means that Coyote could have been compromised too.

Alexei reveals himself to be straight, although he divulges critical information in Russian – including supply drops for medical supplies. This immediately puts their team in Ukraine – with the doctors – in the firing line. Charlie, the leader of this group, receives the covert signal and they pack up their things and leave.

Unfortunately, Charles and the duo accompanying him find themselves confronted by a Russian roadblock. All the military guards there surround them, and it soon leads to the trio racing out and a gunfight ensuing. Thankfully the agents manage to make it out in one piece.

While this is going on, Dani is given her cover and the target she needs to glean information from. Her old life is gone now and her identity shredded. She’s going to be thrown in the deep-end, with Martian overseeing her deployment. For now though, her target is a Professor Reze Mortazevi.

He runs an exchange program between the London School of Sciences and he comes to London every two years to lecture at the Institute of Geophysics. Dani’s job is to be hired and convince him that she’ll be joining him in Iran. This is a big ask of course and she’s pretty shocked at how cutthroat this world is.

As for Martian, he does his intel on Samia and she appears – at least on the surface at least – to be completely legit. They haven’t been able to track down her phone details though as it’s encrypted. However, this is also a test as the man he’s hired to get the info, does so outside the agency in a dingy, secluded spot. Martian knows how dangerous their job is and after all, if he’s willing to do this for Martian, he could do it for anyone right? Martian warns the guy that if he does this again, he’ll be fired.

However, there are niggling doubts surrounding Sami’s validity, so he decides to investigate further. Martian shows at the college Sami is enrolled at. The trouble is, she hasn’t been seen since the first day, She’s definitely registered there, which would allow UNESCO to validate her visa, but beyond that, it seems she’s a ghost.

As the episode closes out, we cut across to Martian in a hospital room in the future, with a drip, narrating how hope can be a dangerous thing. It’s clear that something very serious went down… but what?

The Episode Review

Alas, the plot thickens. So the interrogation goes awry and it seems like there’s more going on here than first meets the eye. Quite whether Coyote has been turned as a double-agent or not is anyone’s guess, but the reveal at the end with the War and Peace names for Alexei at least confirms our wooden duck isn’t talking and can be used as an asset for them.

As for Samia, there are definite warning signs pointing to her being some sort of agent or working undercover, but right now it’s unclear how this plays into the bigger picture. There are some big question marks hanging over her and Martian’s ties, and we’ll have to wait and see what happens with that one.

The show has been a compelling watch though and when it comes to the camera work, it’s worth noting that there’s a constant motif of using zoom shots to heighten the drama. However, it does feel a bit overkill at times and once you notice it, it’s very hard to ignore! I’m hoping it doesn’t distract from the main narrative though, because so far that side of things has been really good.

All that being said though, there’s lots to whet the appetite with this one, although Danielle’s story feels a bit disparate to everything else going on. I’m guessing this will likely tie into Sami’s story but we’ll have to wait and see on that front!