spies and super agents have always been Hollywood's enduring film and television themes. In order to perform various tasks, agents can gallop anywhere on the earth, or foil conspiracies, save the world, or break through barriers and fight for freedom, and the protagonists often With extraordinary skill or talent in a certain aspect, no matter how big a crisis you encounter, you can always overcome danger after experiencing many difficulties.
This kind of work is generally intense and exciting in plot design, full of violence and personal heroism elements, it is easier to make the audience get sensory stimulation and satisfaction, and it is easier to achieve commercial success. Among them, the films that have become classics include the movie "007" series, "Mission Impossible" series, "Mission Impossible" series and TV series "24 Hours" and so on.
Among these film and television works, the "Spy Shadows" series is different. Its plot design is no longer a response to various terrorist threats that affect the security of the country or the world, or a spy game between superpowers, but focuses on The survival status of the agents and how to get rid of the control of intelligence agencies and fight against the dark side of the state apparatus. Although the subject matter is not new, the protagonist is alone, fighting against American power institutions with almost no foreign aid, but he highlights his personal heroism. Coupled with the wonderful performance of Matt Damon, the "Bourne Shadow" series of movies became a classic.
is different from the James Bond actor in the "007" series and the Tomboy in "Mission Impossible". Matt Damon is not so handsome in appearance, but he is more calm in temperament. , Introverted. There is no cool special agent equipment and sports car, but after long-term training, it has the skills and skill of the machine-like precision agent. This instead makes the audience feel more real and have a stronger sense of identity and substitution for the characters. The fifth film of the "Bourne Bourne" series has been filmed. Although the reputation of the latter two has declined, the special worker Jason Byrne has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and always exudes legendary charm.
In 2019, USA TV network scheduled and aired the first season of the derivative drama "Stumbling Blocks" from the "Bourne Shadows" series. This series is about the fictional CIA's "stumbling block" plan to train secret agents. Jason in the movie version · Byrne is the super humanoid weapon cultivated by the project. The TV series described the origin and current situation of the "stumbling block" project on the two timelines of the 1970s and the current one.
In 1973, it was during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union (Although the Cold War brought a huge crisis to world peace, it also became the source of artists' creation). The Soviet KGB first initiated a project to create secret special tasks for "killing machines" to perform special tasks, aiming to take the lead in the confrontation with the American CIA. The direct person in charge of the project is Petra, a young and promising female agent. After obtaining relevant information,
CIA sent an action team to spy on the details of the project in the former East Germany. John Randolph Bentley was one of the well-trained agents in the action team. Because East Germany was in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, the action team ultimately failed. Bentley was captured by the KGB and became a test product in the Petra project.
It turns out that this project is to use physical and mental torture, drug stimulation and other methods to make people lose their self-awareness and become a walking dead who is completely obedient. Most of the subjects failed the test. Petra's project was facing the risk of failure. Only Bentley persisted. He became the best hope for the success of the project. The final test of the experiment was to be able to obey the instructions and kill the captured companions without hesitation. Bentley did it, but he still found a chance to escape with a thought.
Because of Bentley's unique experience, after returning to the CIA, he became a key figure for the CIA to obtain the core content of the KGB project under the high-level design. Although Bentley and Petra are in a hostile state, they also have unclear and unclear feelings due to the day and night getting along during the experiment.
Petra was sent punitively to Kursk to guard a "dirty bomb"-"Dagger Six" because she helped Bentley escape and the project failed. She was turned into a local peasant woman by the KGB to perform this task. Forgotten 30year.
Timeline Back to the present, a white middle-aged man who killed 6 people with a gun in a convenience store caught the attention of the CIA. From the surveillance video of the convenience store, it was analyzed whether it was the speed of killing or the order of target selection. , All showed the professionalism and well-trained of the murderer, which did not match his apparent identity background. In fact, this person is exactly the "Zhizhe" agent trained by the CIA's "stumbling block" program. He usually lives like an ordinary person and is completely unaware of his identity as an agent when he is not awakened. The way
wakes up the agent is either a piece of music or a picture. Once awakened, these agents shed their shells just like the knowledge that broke ground, exploding with amazing energy in the remaining short lives, completing any instructions issued by the mysterious organization until the end of their lives. As the plot unfolds, the "Zhi Lei" hidden in all parts of the world are activated one by one for different purposes.
In Pyongyang, Park So-yoon, a music teacher with a happy family and a son, was awakened by the music of the "two tigers" in the game console, and became an extraordinary female assassin, and successfully assassinated a North Korean general. . She was almost killed by another person in the task of smuggling "Dagger 6" confidential materials out of the country. In order to protect her family and children, Park Zhaoyun was forced to deal with the high-level North Korean military who manipulated her fate.
Tara Koman, a taxi driver in London, was originally a reporter. He was framed for reporting on the existence of "Dagger Six" and was forced to quit his job as a reporter. As the whereabouts of "Dagger Six" gradually surfaced, Tara was once again involved in the whirlpool of events.
In the process of tracing, Tara’s friend was killed, but what is unexpected is that Tara was also a "Zhi". She was activated by the CIA to assassinate the former KGB senior and Petra’s old boss in an attempt to " "Dagger Six" was sold privately to Yuri, a North Korean. Tara showed great power, and a group of people destroyed Yuri's bodyguard team, only Yuri escaped with injuries alone.
Yuri’s background is also not simple. He also had contacts and secret transactions with high-level U.S. government officials. In the end, the deputy director Dan Levine who knew about the "stumbling block" plan and directed the assassination of Yuri was secretly executed by the CIA, which also made people aware To the "stumbling block" plan, there are more shady unrevealed. The
"stumbling block" project is not invulnerable. Its biggest loophole is that the agents trained are not perfect machines. Some agents have not completely lost their self-awareness, and not everyone who "knows" can follow the instructions to work normally. An ordinary drilling worker in Alaska, Doug McKenna, was very confused after seeing the activation prompt. Doug, who did not know the truth, was surprised by his unintentional fighting ability. He killed the approach and attempted "Restarted" his secret agent and gradually learned some details of the "stumbling block" plan. In order to avoid hunting down, Doug and his wife Samantha who had participated in the plan began an escape career.
There are also people within the CIA who are shocked by the "stumbling block" plan and want to uncover the truth. There are mainly two characters in the play. One is Lauren, who is the subordinate of Deputy Director Levin. She has always opposed unauthorized actions. However, under Levin’s intimidation and persuasion, Lauren took part in the command of several "knowledge" secret agents. Until Levin was executed by the mysterious organization behind the scenes, Lauren, who was second only to Levin, was pushed to the fore by the mysterious organization.
The other is Allen’s subordinate, the field agent Matt Edwards, who was in contact with the "Zhizhi" agent Steven Haynes who killed 6 people in the convenience store, and his identity and encounter with Haynes Matt, who felt sympathetic, became the target of being killed because he disobeyed his boss' orders and showed interest in the "stumbling block" plan. Matt was chased by Haynes, who was "reformatted" by the CIA. "Knowing that the superpower demonstrated by Agent Haynes made Matt unable to parry, Tara finally appeared under Lauren's instructions. And helped Matt escape the hunt.
Looking at the story of the first season of "Stumbling Blocks" you will find that there is no obvious protagonist, The whole plot basically revolves around the "stumbling block" plan and several "knowledge" agents. From the origin of the plan to the agents being awakened one by one for different reasons, it is guided by the whereabouts of the dirty bomb "Dagger Six". , Cross-generation, cross-regional links the fate of the agents together, and promote the development of the storyline. At the same time, the agents who want to control their own destiny also competed with the mysterious forces behind them in pursuit of freedom. Although there are many plays in the play, the overall performance is not outstanding. Perhaps as the title of the play, only the ins and outs of the mysterious "stumbling block" plan itself and the hidden conspiracy behind it are the most attractive.
At the end of the first season, old Petra knocked on Bentley’s door with a smile that seemed to be under control, which made people wonder about Bentley’s role in the "stumbling block" project. What is the relationship between what happened and him? The answer can only be revealed in the next season.
Since the American drama "Stumbling Block" is derived from a classic, it will inevitably bring more attention and expectations. Although only the first season has been broadcast, it is still too early to make a conclusion, but no matter from the storyline, the action design or the performance of the actors , Are hard to compare with "The Bourne", there may be too many jade in front, if the follow-up plot of "Stumbling Block" fails to make a breakthrough, it will inevitably be concealed under the light of many classics.
