Shockingly well made. Tense and intense, “The Agency” gives off “MI-5” and “Sleeper Cell” vibes

Paramount+ and Showtime's "The Agency" doesn't have the spy action that fans of "Mission: Impossible" or James Bond may expect, but I found the two episodes sent to press consistently riveting due to the sharp dialogue, incredible ensemble, and tight filmmaking.

Only four of the season’s 10 episodes were made available to critics, so this comes with a heavy caveat — a story can start out well enough and then struggle to live up to its ambitions — but I like what I’ve seen so far, with its world of operatives and handlers, of covert glances and back-channel subterfuge, laid out with a seductive urgency that gives a deceptively graceful quality to all this unseemly work.

The feature film-level aesthetics are impressive, but the multiple storylines are sluggish and in some cases difficult to follow.

Like we said, the cast of The Agency carries the show, but we’re not sure how much the stories will hold viewer interest unless they quickly get more interesting.

Like Slow Horses, it is also set in London. But it is an incurious, touristy version of London that lacks authenticity. And unlike in Slow Horses, nobody here has any discernible personality. This goes double for Fassbender’s character.

“The Agency” [is] the one thing a spy show should never be: boring. It’s a hurdle the show never clears through its opening stretch and makes it a tough one to recommend on any level (except, perhaps, as a way into the better French version).