Rubicon

It looks like AMC is three-for-three with their newest original drama, Rubicon, a throwback espionage thriller that takes place in the present--if the present were more like the 1970s than the 2000s.

Rubicon is not a show for the impatience, and it has the kind of ambitions that could set viewers up for a letdown. But so far, I admire its intelligence.

It's a little aloof, a spy show without the usual espionage theatrics. That may take some getting accustomed to, but in these early episodes, Rubicon makes a strong case that it's a series that's worth the effort.

If you're a viewer into quick and easy answers and seek resolution at the 59-minute mark, this is probably not your show. But if you're interested in the notion that post-9/11 paranoia is justified in ways we haven't even realized (and perhaps it would be too chilling if we did), and you have a fundamental distrust of government doings, Rubicon could be your new mental puzzle.

Rubicon dares to be smart but, as conventional thrillers go, it's not very thrilling.

As it wrestles with Big Moral Questions, Rubicon is unquestionably smart but undeniably sluggish.

Turgid and plodding, Rubicon has the pace of an industrial-training film and the lucidity of a Czech art movie with the subtitles turned off. It would have to triple its pulse to rise to the level of lethargy.