Set in Romania during the height of the Cold War, this gripping spy thriller follows Victor Godeanu, a high-ranking intelligence officer torn between his loyalty to the communist regime and his desire to defect to America. As Victor navigates a treacherous world of double agents and political intrigue, his teenage daughter, Ileana, becomes entangled in his dangerous schemes.
In the second episode of this taut 1970s spy thriller , Romania n intelligence head and courtier Victor Godeanu (Alec Secareanu) takes his teenage daughter, Ileana (Alexandra Bob), from a luxurious classical music concert in honour of the state’s communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu (Claudiu Bleont), to the slums of Bucharest. This is where I come from, the father tells his daughter, but he’s not trying to inspire his loving but naive child. It’s a warning.
He understands their corrupt world, she doesn’t.“Keep your head low or you get it cut off,” Victor tells Ileana, unease crowding his voice. And, like much of what Victor says in this six-part Central European period drama, he’s already contradicted it. As Ceausescu’s closest aide – he counsels Nicolae as they play chess, then gossips about fellow apparatchiks with Ceausescu’s venomous wife, Elena (Elvira Deatcu) – he has his head way too high. Victor runs a smuggling ring, he’s a mole for Russians, and now he’s hoping to defect to America. Something, or someone, has to give.The series, which premiered in 2023, was commissioned by HBO’s now-withered European creative office. It is a suspenseful covert tale that carries the DNA of the genre’s historic greats, starting with the analog data-gathering and icy machinations of John le Carre classics such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but it’s distinguished by the cruel intimacy of the satellite setting. The KGB and CIA loom over Romania and Victor, yet his bosses are succumbing to megalomania. They run a cult of personality. “Long live comrade Nicolae Ceausescu!” all present chant whenever the president appears. Manipulating them is Victor’s greatest talent and most terrifying risk; eventually they will turn on him, especially with his rivals growing in strength. As a portrait of authoritarian rule, captures the petty cruelty and monstrous absurdity. Ileana, a talented artist, must paint a portrait of Nicolae to graduate. Her first effort is a caricature, but no one laughs. Victor burns it on the spot
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