TV-MA | 8 episodes | Thriller | 2025
Alexander Hale (Simu Liu) used to worry about whether foreign powers were watching him. Now, Big Brother is literally inside his head. Some shadowy hostile cabal hacked his brain with nanotechnology.
Now, everything he sees and hears is wirelessly transmitted to the sinister unknown party. Obviously, this compromises his work as an intelligence analyst. His ultrasecret agency opts to “keep the hack open,” at great risk to national security, in hopes of catching the nefarious party responsible, in creator Thomas Brandon’s eight-episode series, “The Copenhagen Test.”
Several years before he discovers the nanobots, Hale suffered from anxiety attacks. That is far from ideal in an intelligence career, especially since he aspires to graduate from his desk work to field assignments. Lately, his migraine headaches have grown considerably worse for reasons he will soon understand.
‘The Orphanage’
Rather inauspiciously, Hale’s hack represents his agency’s first breach in its history. Known as the Orphanage, the agency was supposedly established by President George H.W. Bush as a superagency above the CIA and the rest of the national intelligence services. This gave internal affairs-like powers of review over the subordinate agencies. Yet they still run their own field ops with little regard for their colleagues in other agencies.
Hale ought to be doing that kind of work, but he suspects his career has stalled because of decisions he made during his final Special Forces mission. With only one seat available on the evac flight, Hale saved an abandoned foreign-national child rather than an American citizen, whose face still haunts him. He eventually discovers the operation was, in reality, a so-called Copenhagen Test, designed to test his national loyalty under extreme circumstances.
Obviously, his questionable Copenhagen Test result casts an awkward shadow over his hack, leading to questions of his possible complicity with the foreign national. It also brings him directly to the attention of Peter Moira (Brian d’Arcy James), the Orphanage’s intense director of operations. While in the Wi-Fi shielded briefing room, Moira offers him a choice.
Hale can accept an honorable end to his intelligence career, or they leave the hack “open” to catch the hacker. Of course, the second option entails the deliberate (and borderline treasonous) exposure of classified information. This is supposedly for the sake of the greater good so the hacker won’t deduce that the Orphanage is wise to their scheme.
The mysterious St. George (Kathleen Chalfant), who has led the superagency since its creation, must make the difficult call regarding what (and who) they might sacrifice.
“The Copenhagen Test” probably represents the most paranoid thriller since the 1970s. The combination of intrusive and physically debilitating nanotechnology with uncomfortably murky deep-state ethics blends into an alarmingly potent cocktail. The battery of directors, including Vincenzo Natali (who helmed the science fiction thriller “Cube”), also stage several crisply executed fight sequences within each individual episode.
Some of the most intriguing characters happen to be the morally flexible Orphanage spy-masters. Both Chalfant and Brian d’Arcy James are delightfully sly and sardonic as St. George and Moira. Weirdly, their commanding arrogance also inspires begrudging confidence.
Tiananmen Subplot
Simu Liu (Marvel’s Shang-Chi) has solid action chops and the right physicality for a former commando like Hale. He also shares several touching scenes with his parents (Lauren Tom and Oscar Hsu), former Tiananmen Square democracy activists; they adopted the Hale surname when they were forced to immigrate to America. While Brandon and the team of writers make much of Hale’s supposed insecurity as the son of immigrants, the references to the 1989 massacre and subsequent crackdown add further tragic resonance.
The Tiananmen subplot also explains how secret agent-turned-restaurateur Victor Simonek (Saul Rubinek) became Hale’s mentor and sounding board. Rubinek, a veteran character actor, is compulsively watchable, constantly revealing to viewers how much more there is to Simonek than meets the eye.
The large ensemble cast is mostly quite strong and often very adroit at dropping dramatic surprises. A good case in point is Mark O’Brien, who plays Hale’s agency rival Cobb. While he initially seems like a predictably clichéd character, Cobb turns out to be one of the more engaging and relatable Orphanage agents.
The conspicuously unfortunate exception is Melissa Barrera. She develops little chemistry with Liu playing Michelle (or maybe Nathalie), the operative the Orphanage places undercover to act like Hale’s girlfriend and serve as his minder. Barrera isn’t convincing as either a femme fatale or an action figure.
Nevertheless, the sharp writing and chilling technological speculation make “The Copenhagen Test” timely viewing. It builds considerable suspense while exhibiting a good deal of brains and brawn.
Easily recommended for fans of espionage and techno-thrillers (despite a few questionable casting choices).
“The Copenhagen Test” streams on Peacock on Dec. 27.
‘The Copenhagen Test’
Directors: Nima Nourizadeh, Kevin Tancharoen, Vincenzo Natali, Jet Wilkinson
Starring: Simu Liu, Brian d’Arcy James, Kathleen Chalfant, Saul Rubinek, Mark O’Brien
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 8 episodes (approx. 50 minutes each)
Release Date: Dec. 27, 2025
Rated: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to features@epochtimes.nyc
