Top Secret – Non Essential Fun Stuff
This area will be composed of a section I’m calling “Non Essential Fun Stuff”. Items in this section are not necessarily what our group would normally consider when coming up with examples of Top Secret game play ideas or suggestions. Sometimes there are slivers of good ideas that could be useful. Other times there are TV shows, movies, or books that might seem like they would be good places to find ideas that turn out to be not so much. Basically I’m including them here as occasionally I can obtain an idea or two that I could use in a TS module. Links will most frequently go to an IMDB page.
- Covert Affairs – Ran from 2010 – 2014 for five seasons on USA network. So I’ve been doing a little binge watching on this show. As far as a “thriller/drama” type show goes, pretty good. As far as spy trade craft examples go, OMG how many stupid things does this show do?!?! I’ve always had a “thing” for Piper Perabo (Annie Walker). She looks great in this show and the camera draws me to her. Her chemistry with a co-star, Christopher Gorham (Auggie Anderson) is palpable on screen. I’m not done watching the series yet so I don’t know how things will end. I love the use of languages on this show. I also like the back-stabbing and constant lies and mis-representations of the agency folks at all levels. Here are some things that drive me crazy. She won’t, or very rarely, picks up weapons. She consistently leaves witnesses behind with no regard for whether they can identify her at crime scenes. She ostensibly works for CIA but her agency consistently works within the US borders which as far as I am aware is NOT what they are to do. In only one case I can recall, does she disguise herself. Otherwise, it’s just like she assumes that once people see her, they’ll forget in 2 seconds and not be able to identify her. All-in-all, a fun show to mindlessly watch if for nothing else to see Piper in skimpy outfits, or sometimes, none at all. UPDATE: I recently completed viewing the end of Season 4. For the bulk of the series, there has been a particular character that is played as a really bad and obnoxious guy. Finally at the end of this season, we have a “resolution” to that story line. Maybe. Of note on things I appreciated, Annie now picks up and uses weapons!! Annie also has figured out she needs to change her appearance for a disguise! However, all she does is change her hair color; she doesn’t even bother to cut her hair!! (smh) While Season 4 was intense, there were so many things I was yelling at the TV that were so stupid for a spy as well as very heavy-handed story plots that bordered on ridiculous. I have no idea of what they’ll be doing in the final Season 5. I’m a little burnt out on this series for now so I’ll pick it up later.
- Alias – TV series that ran from 2001-2006. Series created by JJ Abrams and stars Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow. There is a recurring cast of characters that include Victor Garber as Jack Bristow (Sydney’s Father), Carl Lumbly as Marcus Dixon, Ron Rifkin as Arvin Sloan, Kevin Weisman as Marshall Flinkman among others. Overall, pretty good show. The series has a TON of plot twists, double backs and deceptions. Ultimately, the series is about a super secret spy ring that has ties to the CIA. Apparently Sydney must have been a popular girls name back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as this character is the second one (see Relic Hunter below) with this character name. Outside of the lead character, the other one I like the most is Jack Bristow. Victor Garber has such a stoic face and delivery that I wasn’t sure at first. His character warms up to the viewer though. The character I detested the most was Arvin Sloan. I can’t begin to explain how much I detested that character. There are plot twists involving that character but I always hated that character throughout the series. Another one I liked was Marshall. My biggest complaint with him was how awkward his character was written and played throughout most of the series. He is far more likeable than the Nigel character in Relic Hunter, though. Sydney knows how to use weapons and does so well. Again, I love the use of languages in this show from a lot of characters. Sydney also frequently uses disguises. Although she sometimes goes overboard with them. At least she knows how to use them, unlike Annie Walker in Covert Affairs. Enjoying the sexy costumes for Jennifer Garner was a huge draw to this show. However, the story is generally well done. One big thing I got to the point of loathing was the obsession with this mythical figure of Milo Rambaldi. I was pretty sick of that whole arc at the end of Season 1. No worries, that plot line draws out throughout the entire show series. (aaagghhh!!)
- Blood & Treasure – Began running on CBS in 2019. Season 2 was set to premiere in 2020 but due to ‘you know what’, has been delayed till 2021 at the soonest. This series screams Indiana Jones!! I have really enjoyed it so far. I’m still warming up to one of the main characters, Matt Barr as Danny McNamara. However, I’m steaming hot for the other main character, Sofia Pernas as Lexi Vaziri! Her screen presence is something that I eagerly await on other projects. She is amazing. Love the accent, eyes, hair, facial features, and oh yeah, the figure is nice too. I’ve finished Season 1 and based on how things ended, I still am of the feeling that I don’t see the series running too long unless they can figure out how to move the plot in a different direction for Season 2. I hope they can as I really enjoy watching Sofia Pernas. Whatever happens, I certainly hope that Sophia can land a job in another adventure-type movie or show.
- Relic Hunter – Another show with a little “Indiana Jones” flavor or like the video game “Tomb Raider’, this Canadian TV series and ran from 1999-2002 and starred Tia Carrere who played Professor Sydney Fox. I have recently been watching this show and I am now midway through Season 3. There is a male lead played by Christien Anholt (Nigel). For the bulk of the series his character is pretty much played as a bumbling fool who is virtually pointless. (I don’t like his character AT ALL.) Sydney Fox travels the globe and finds relics to return or place in museums or get back to their rightful owner. I can’t recall any time she picked up a gun and used it. It took a while but she finally acquired a small crossbow pistol which is pretty cool. She doesn’t use it to shoot people though. She is shown as a fantastic martial arts user and there always is the obligatory fight scene (or scenes) where she is flipping all over the room and kicking and knocking the bad guys down. Sometimes the show seems to go out of it’s way to have Tia Carrere in a situation where she has to remove her clothes. Now being it is a TV show of the time, nothing of importance is ever really shown, just hinted at. Contrivances such as dropping a towel when showering, or having to change clothes to something different in the same room as Nigel, etc. The Nigel character is EXCESSIVELY prudish as well. (another strike). There are also 2 other characters prominent in the show. One is named Claudia (played by Lindy Booth) for the first 2 seasons and the other is Karen (played by Tanja Reichert) in Season 3. Both characters are temporary assistants that answer phones, files things, and arranges planes for Sydney and Nigel. Both actresses are very easy on the eyes but the edge for me goes to Tanja. A key difference is that the Claudia character is never really used too much. She had a few adventures with the other 2 but generally is written as a silly, blonde bimbo. The Karen character has shades of the same thing but has a little more to add to the story. Plus, it seems that she has taken a liking to Nigel midway through Season 3. I’m curious to see where that ends up as it makes the Nigel character a little more tolerable. Regardless, the show is a mindless and enjoyable thing to watch. I can obtain some thoughts on traps for characters or interesting plot devices from some of the shows.
- Leverage – Series originally ran on TNT from 2008-2012. Main cast of characters include Nathan “Nate” Ford (Timothy Hutton)-Mastermind, Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman)-Grifter, Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge)-Hacker, Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane)-Hitter, and Parker (Beth Riesgraf)-Thief. The show is about this disparate group of “bad guys” who get together to use their various skills to takedown certain corporate or governmental people or entities when they inflict injustice against ordinary people. Generally interesting shows with some occasional twists and turns. I really like the various storylines regarding spying or surveiling the target. Most of the time, certain twists and turns in the plot are done quite well. Other times, things seem kinda forced. Most of the time when fighting needs to be done, it is by hand-to-hand. Sometimes gun battles break out but not often. The main strength of this series is the writers and their stories and the chemistry between all of the main actors. Sometimes the perceived justice to be meted out swerves into some moderately strong left-wing political commentary. However, by and large, the stories don’t get too carried away with that. The biggest undercurrent story is about Nate’s son as it relates to his death by a pharmaceutical company and the insurance carrier. You have to get all the way to the last episode of the entire series to get some sort of ultimate resolution to this undercurrent story. In 2021, there is a revival show called “Leverage: Redemption”. The Nate character is not involved as there were rape allegations swirling around actor Timothy Hutton when IMDB was planning on rebooting the series. This reboot version appears to have Nate killed off before they even get the other characters together. It’s left open-ended enough so there could be a return. There are several things I do not like about this reboot other than not having Timothy Hutton reprise his role. First, this reboot has the Hardison character virtually nonexistent in it. They have basically replaced his character with a young woman who is ostensibly connected to Hardison. She is ok but I really miss Hardison. The Parker character seems quite toned down from the original version. The series also has taken what I would call a hard core “woke-extremist” left-wing political viewpoint in most of their stories which is off-putting and distracts from the enjoyment of the show. I’m also not a fan of some of the characters they have brought on. Things I like about the 2.0 version is Sophie’s storyline and Eliot’s character gets fleshed out more and finally gets to have relationships. I mildly like the addition of the Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle) character. Some good stuff but his character is sort of bland plus I’m not really crazy about him being a lawyer. It fits the basic story plot but I’m not a fan of lawyers in general and it feels highly contrived. I watched all of the first season of this reboot but was so put off by the forced “woke” agenda they are promulgating that I don’t think I’ll watch season 2.