I've just watched this series in the UK where we've got it on the BBC for some reason 18 months after it premiered in the US. For lovers of historically based fiction and it how it relates to our modern world it was certainly enjoyable and dramatic in places. I enjoyed some of the acting particularly from Michael Keaton , Rory Cochrane and Tom Hollander. If these 3 men were more photogenic, or we did'nt live in such a superficial world , I 'm sure these fantastic actors would have a lot more exposure than they have had done and bagged a lot more high profile roles , instead of the ludicrously over-hyped likes of Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio. Also this series gave us a look at some of the espionage machinations and seminal events shaping the Cold War.
However it had numerous rather large flaws. Firstly the series insulted the intelligence of the viewer by being too overly pro CIA in viewpoint in places. The CIA were portrayed as basically good guys laying it on the line to defend capitalism, valiantly soldiering on despite betrayal by self serving politicians and shady moles. This overlooks the numerous morally questionable and some might say ultimately self defeating operations and strategies of the CIA during the cold war, which anyone with a reasonably inquisitive mind can find out about. It is of course a good thing that America "won" the cold war, and on balance even with all its flaws , democratic capitalism was and is a superior system to totalitarian communism. However the filmmakers should have trusted the viewers to come to that conclusion themselves without overly trying to force it. The film The Good Sheperd which covers some of the same ground as this series was far more effective in highlighting some of the shady ethical ground America covered in trying to win the Cold war
Secondly I think the series was too ambitious in trying to deal with such an important and long period of history in such a small running time. The Mini series should have been longer and this I think would have given us a more nuanced and detailed look at the time in history
it covered. Also some details of the storyline were incredulous and have been mentioned on other posts. Finally I think Chris O'Donnell was a wrong choice to play the main character of the series. His limited acting range lessened the impact of several key dramatic scenes he was involved in . He was just about adequate in the role but there are much better character actors who could have been brought in instead of a past his best film star( nothing personal Chris ) . So in all a decent series , but if you want to learn about the cold war , your best bet remains a wide range of books from your local library or bookshop.
However it had numerous rather large flaws. Firstly the series insulted the intelligence of the viewer by being too overly pro CIA in viewpoint in places. The CIA were portrayed as basically good guys laying it on the line to defend capitalism, valiantly soldiering on despite betrayal by self serving politicians and shady moles. This overlooks the numerous morally questionable and some might say ultimately self defeating operations and strategies of the CIA during the cold war, which anyone with a reasonably inquisitive mind can find out about. It is of course a good thing that America "won" the cold war, and on balance even with all its flaws , democratic capitalism was and is a superior system to totalitarian communism. However the filmmakers should have trusted the viewers to come to that conclusion themselves without overly trying to force it. The film The Good Sheperd which covers some of the same ground as this series was far more effective in highlighting some of the shady ethical ground America covered in trying to win the Cold war
Secondly I think the series was too ambitious in trying to deal with such an important and long period of history in such a small running time. The Mini series should have been longer and this I think would have given us a more nuanced and detailed look at the time in history
it covered. Also some details of the storyline were incredulous and have been mentioned on other posts. Finally I think Chris O'Donnell was a wrong choice to play the main character of the series. His limited acting range lessened the impact of several key dramatic scenes he was involved in . He was just about adequate in the role but there are much better character actors who could have been brought in instead of a past his best film star( nothing personal Chris ) . So in all a decent series , but if you want to learn about the cold war , your best bet remains a wide range of books from your local library or bookshop.