Behind Enemy Lines
Episode 2 of The Spy begins in June 1961 with Eli having drinks with a newspaper owner. Later that night, he meets with another agent, Julia, who gives him an invitation to an important party. She explains that he will need to pay attention to Syrian military members and in particular the attaché, Amin Al-Hafez. She berates him for writing to his wife as he has to stay in character the whole time and tells him he needs to take what they do more seriously as they are risking their lives. As the party in the Syrian Embassy gets underway, Eli meets with attaché Amin. They discuss politics and Eli’s family before Amin questions Eli in detail, as he knows there are many spies in Argentina. Amin then explains that the people want Syria to become more powerful but only one party will be able to do that – the Ba’ath. Eli replies that he wants to go to Damascus to invest his time and money for the cause. Eli then sneaks into Amin’s office to gather some Intel but almost gets caught by his head of security, Suidani. After narrowly escaping, he steals a journalist’s camera and heads home to develop the pictures. He later meets with Julia at a bar, closely followed by another man from the party. When they realize they’re being watched, they soon start chasing after him. The chase ends in a building where a fight ensues between all three of them. Eli and Julia manage to get the upper hand and push the man to his death over a window. Back in Israel, Dan is starting to worry and tells Jacob that Eli might not be the right agent for the job. However, Jacob insists that he is and that they don’t have time to waste due to growing issues with Syria. The next day, Julia relays to Eli the new orders. After what happened the night before, they need to lay low for now. However, Eli defies this order and decides to go visit Amin. He brings him gifts and explains that he is trying to gain entry to Syria. He then slyly explains that he will be by his side when the time comes and when he will need allies to be able to rise to the position he needs to be in. In Israel, Nadia goes into labour and while in Switzerland, Eli finds out about the birth of his daughter. He’s then finally able to go back home to see his baby girl and after spending some time with his wife and daughter, he asks to meet with Dan. He tells him that he wants out but Dan reminds him of the importance of his mission and the lives they are saving. The Spy continues on with another good episode here, one that sees Eli slowly getting closer to completing the mission he’s been given, while taking some risks which may prove to be costly later on. There are some tense moments too; seeing Eli almost getting caught in Amin’s office and going against the Mossad’s order were particular stand-outs here. All of this adds to the gamble and sacrifices he made to bring invaluable information back to Israel. It’s not all tense moments though either and seeing Eli only finding out his wife was pregnant after she gave birth, was a sad segment and really gives an emotional edge to the show, doubling down on this tragic vibes running in the background of the show. While we, unfortunately, know what will inevitably happen to Eli, it will be interesting to see how the show will reach that ending and if it will do the real story justice by the time the final credits roll.
