The surface of the story is about espionage and counter-espionage agents surviving in a post-9/11 world (circa 2006).  However, underneath this “false reality”, it is about death. It is about the single destination every living creature on Earth must eventually confront—one’s demise. The streaming series format fits best the concept of the Fourth Horseman,  facing one’s mortality and the lives of friends and loved ones. Former Soviet spymaster Yulien Leontiy (false name: Jean Richaud) is dying and wants his former protege (and surrogate son) Vladek Zhukov (false name: Jon Oslander) to be with him near the end.

The story is not solely about a “Bang-Bang-Boom” storyline, even though that was part of their professional lives it no longer has sway over any of them. Vladek/Jon, deep down, wishes to come to terms with his wife and six-year-old daughter’s death.  His frustration and deep-seated anger about their deaths is in part fueled by his in-laws. Isadora (aka Malvina) and Marvin (aka Alexi) are ex-Soviet spymasters, living in exile and misguided by fear of lost privilege and power in that world. Their ability to hold sway and rank within their former government is gone. It had driven them both to the brink of a violent madness, an attempt to ignite what had been lost to time. They eventually believed that Russian Intelligence, once the lone source of their core beliefs, had been the ones solely responsible for the deaths of their daughter and granddaughter. It is they who maintained the deep-seated anger, and in turn, added fuel to the fire at the center of Vladek/Jon’s emotional pain. He rejects them and rebukes their attention but he feels connected only through the mutual grief they all share. As the show’s plot progresses, they discover something else altogether about themselves with the real grieving and the guilt coming slowly to the top. It is the fear of the truth and the refusal to face reality. This deepens external and internal loathing of themselves, their former profession, and life in general.