Rubicon, Unraveling the Tangled Web

Rubicon is the new series currently airing on the AMC network which delves into the world of global conspiracy and the system of intelligence gathering by a private and government sanctioned ‘think tank’ known as API,  the American Policy Institute. Throughout the season it’s proved to be an intriguing piece of entertainment akin to a great game of chess with each move carefully planned in advance. It moves along at a steady pace that heightens the tension and creates a believable set of events.

The story follows Will Travers played by James Badge Dale whose character lost his wife and child during  the world trade center attacks,  and emerges from his despair when he stumbles upon clues to a conspiracy after his supervisor and father in law (Peter Gerety) dies under suspicious circumstances.

The show has been described as moody evocation similar to Three Days of the Condor and more particularly as an ‘introspective drama’ set in the world of espionage in a post 911 era. Rubicon is also effective as a psychological portrait of the individuals within the story and for the actors it can be a difficult task to portray. TV squad recently spoke to star Dale about making Rubicon:

Being an intelligence analyst is ‘a very strange life’ …..In some ways, it’s the antithesis of the human experience — you voluntarily put yourself into a void, into a vacuum.

The series also stars Miranda Richardson as Katherine Rhumor whose husband commits suicide in the initial episode after noticing a pressed four leaf clover in the morning newspaper. It served as a message which is part of the mystery which Katherine now pursues and is finding  connections that exist between her husband and a group of childhood friends who are all players in the intelligence community. Truxton Spangler (Michael Cristofer) is part of this group and the head of API and brandishes a diabolical contempt for those around him and exudes a considerable level of intellectual superiority whilst keeping his workers under surveillance.

Arliss Howard as Kale Ingram , Michael Cristofer as Truxton Spangler & Roger Robinson as Ed Bancroft

Kale Ingram (Arliss Howard) is a supervisor at API and has began to distrust his old friend Spangler and tries to steer Will’s investigation in the right direction and possibly out of harms way. Though unsure of his intentions, Will has sought the help of Ed Bancroft (Roger Robinson) a former analyst of API and a friend of his father-in-law to help decipher the clues.

Check out an exclusive scene from episode 5 – Connect the Dots…

[jwplayer config=”tv_wide” mediaid=”1913″] Courtsey of AMC

What makes the world of intelligence gathering at API feel so authentic is the building located in lower Manhattan which was actually converted to house most of the production and the network  encouraged the performers to create their characters in this environment. Dale recalls:

AMC wasn’t hanging over our shoulder, saying ‘Do this, do that.’ They gave us this kind of positive environment, a playground and said, ‘We’ve hired you, now do what you do’

Grant Test (Christopher Evan Welch), Will Travers (James Badge Dale), Tanya MacGaffin (Lauren Hodges) and Miles Fiedler (Dallas Roberts)

Like most TV productions the actors only had the initial scripts with which to work and so there was a  great amount of  inference on their part to imagine where their characters might be heading.

It’s not like you show up and they give you all 13 episodes and tell you, this is where we’re going to end up.. So we sat down and we really tried to figure out, ‘What are these characters’ struggles?’ So we as actors have a place to go… Although the conspiracy is the A story line…they’re dealing with their own sets of personal problems and trying to overcome them…that’s the B story line.

TV Squad also interviewed executive producer Henry Bromell about the new show and asked how the story would evolve as it approaches the finale.

The final four episodes are driven for the most part by the conspiracy and the main spy story weaving together into a single threat. But there is also a lot of character development, especially in the final episode…Will and Katherine come together in episode 10 and are in a way side by side through episode 13.

Bromell said that he has a lot in store for fans in the next season which will be a unique story of its own similar to how this season has developed,  and he mentioned how his connections in the real intelligence world have praised the restraint and down to earth portrayal of this community.

I just last week got an email from an friend high up in intelligence in DC who said more and more of his colleagues are watching the show and that they think we’re doing a good job portraying that reality, which I found very exciting to hear.

Rubicon is a refreshing and restrained look at the conspiracy genre without the hi-jinks or unnecessary plot twists found in the usual TV show and offers a progressive story which involves the viewer in a complex mystery,  requiring considerable effort to decipher the clues within it’s  narrative. Though as the puzzle becomes somewhat clearer each week, it’s gradually building to an inevitable event that will be highly rewarding for fans of this mind-bending show.

Rubicon airs Sundays on AMC and you can also head over to their website to catch up on missed episodes, well worth it.