'The Assets' review: Cold War saga
"The Assets" series premiere, "My Name is Aldrich Ames": As the Cold War enters its final act, the CIA is sent scrambling when a rendezvous with a prized asset goes horribly awry. CIA officer Sandy Grimes begins her investigation into the source of the problem and quickly discovers that this lost asset is just the tip of the iceberg. Little does she know that this is just the beginning of a decade-long mole hunt, and the mole is one of her cohorts - Aldrich Ames. This episode of "The Assets" airs at 10 p.m. EST Jan. 2 on ABC. Credit: ABC
That big real-life '80s CIA mole case forms the basis for this eight-week tale of Cold War dead drops and executions, Russian country fishing trips and late nights at the office for Sandy Grimes (Jodie Whitaker). Your everyday suburban wife and mom, Grimes works overtime to nail her country's biggest turncoat since Benedict Arnold.
Like "Broadchurch," Whitaker's previous limited-series mystery, "The Assets" isn't flashy, but boy, is it effective. It just grinds away, laying down intriguing details of "asset" care and feeding, made vivid through determined performances and intense crescendos.
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