Notebooks, keys and a cane
Jul. 4th, 2026 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Copenhagen Test - 1.3 'False Flag'
I still adore the aesthetic of this show. Let’s have a secret meeting in a theatre auditorium as a dancing troupe does a dress run. Yes, please. Or let’s got to a gorgeous old church with candles and stained glass. Do carry on.
The episode was bookended with some stuff about a luxe leather-bound notebook that the head of the Orphanage uses to jot down and transfer the heavy burdens of her job. She’d give one to Parker at the end of the episode, as both she and Hale took on life-and-death burdens. We also learned that the head of the Orphanage’s lesbian partner has dementia. (I hope they’ve security checked whoever cares for her.) Not clear whether she too was an operative, but she was disturbed to see her partner’s notebook, where she jotted down Hale’s name.
But the episode was mainly chronological. The Orphanage decided they needed to use a real case to prove they trusted Hale to the watchers, then they’d follow the fallout to see what they could find. Unfortunately, Poseidon was Simon’s baby, (Simon being Hale’s ex supervisor, whose uncle was the Man With The Cane.) He wasn’t best pleased to let Hale, who he suspected of being a mole, in.
The Orphanage was worried about how Hale would react to actively sacrificing real people for this purpose, and it was Parker’s job to predict and manipulate him. Still using ‘Michelle’, who explained whenever they had brief snatches of time where Hale wasn’t transmitting, usually underground, that she had to hang around to look convincing. We learned that while improvising in a getting to know you convo, ‘Michelle’ said one unscripted truth about fining cemeteries grounding, for she went there towards the end to report back that Hale trusted her. Really, it just made the similarities between the actress and Eliza Dushku jump out at me. But the Parker-‘Michelle’-Hale interaction is plenty juicy, what with ‘Michelle’ being the most experienced operative, Parker being her handler, both women having an input into the ‘Michelle’ Hale thinks he knows, while Parker is also empathising with him while trying to control him.
I did think it was mighty convenient when it happened that the grieving dad waxed lyrical to Hale, who was attending some ra-ra parade with his parents and his old family friend, the retired officer who is now a chef. Over the course of the ep, we learned that he was clean, if connected to the Man With The Cane. Indeed, he even reached out to his old associate, still worrying about Hale. The Man With The Cane turned him down, and later seemed to be plotting to use the friend against Hale.
I can’t say I followed the intricacies of the Czechia case, because I watched this episode was when it was still broiling hot here, and there were too many agendas at play. Fortunately, it was beside the point. Hale and Parker (and suspicious Simon) had to face the fact that the politician’s family were also assassinated because of their actions. The other Orphanage staff were more used to it.
Hale got to do some spy field work, which he just about managed. We learned that the head of ops and Simon’s boss are living together. Old operatives from previous episodes returned to be part of the chain. Simon reached out to his uncle, who handled him. He kept being reprimanded by his boss for disobeying the chain of command. Mainly he was told he was presumptuous – the irony being that some of his instincts were bang on, but there was also jealousy. His efforts to foil Alexander from seeing some intel, affecting their mission as it stood, was foiled by Alexander’s ‘assistant/watcher’ and her wily office ways, which surprised/impressed the head of ops, who really ought to rate admin staff higher. Everyone was worried about Hale’s reaction when Poseidon went awry, as it was meant to, but he seemed to be accepting the lines he’d been given and trusting ‘Michelle’, at least.
The Orphanage learned some interesting things from all this - intriguingly, Hale’s feed split into two going different places. (Sure, let’s complicate things even further!) The main heading was east Europe, though the baddie seemed to be a non-government organisation doing it for the money, but maybe aligned with a country that starts with R, ends with A. However, the audience knew that the Man With The Cane, who worked in the National Intelligence Office, was getting the feed too. I’m not sure if the bad guy he was talking to in the car at the end of the ep was the Czech bodyguard we’d already seen, or just the same type.
I still adore the aesthetic of this show. Let’s have a secret meeting in a theatre auditorium as a dancing troupe does a dress run. Yes, please. Or let’s got to a gorgeous old church with candles and stained glass. Do carry on.
The episode was bookended with some stuff about a luxe leather-bound notebook that the head of the Orphanage uses to jot down and transfer the heavy burdens of her job. She’d give one to Parker at the end of the episode, as both she and Hale took on life-and-death burdens. We also learned that the head of the Orphanage’s lesbian partner has dementia. (I hope they’ve security checked whoever cares for her.) Not clear whether she too was an operative, but she was disturbed to see her partner’s notebook, where she jotted down Hale’s name.
But the episode was mainly chronological. The Orphanage decided they needed to use a real case to prove they trusted Hale to the watchers, then they’d follow the fallout to see what they could find. Unfortunately, Poseidon was Simon’s baby, (Simon being Hale’s ex supervisor, whose uncle was the Man With The Cane.) He wasn’t best pleased to let Hale, who he suspected of being a mole, in.
The Orphanage was worried about how Hale would react to actively sacrificing real people for this purpose, and it was Parker’s job to predict and manipulate him. Still using ‘Michelle’, who explained whenever they had brief snatches of time where Hale wasn’t transmitting, usually underground, that she had to hang around to look convincing. We learned that while improvising in a getting to know you convo, ‘Michelle’ said one unscripted truth about fining cemeteries grounding, for she went there towards the end to report back that Hale trusted her. Really, it just made the similarities between the actress and Eliza Dushku jump out at me. But the Parker-‘Michelle’-Hale interaction is plenty juicy, what with ‘Michelle’ being the most experienced operative, Parker being her handler, both women having an input into the ‘Michelle’ Hale thinks he knows, while Parker is also empathising with him while trying to control him.
I did think it was mighty convenient when it happened that the grieving dad waxed lyrical to Hale, who was attending some ra-ra parade with his parents and his old family friend, the retired officer who is now a chef. Over the course of the ep, we learned that he was clean, if connected to the Man With The Cane. Indeed, he even reached out to his old associate, still worrying about Hale. The Man With The Cane turned him down, and later seemed to be plotting to use the friend against Hale.
I can’t say I followed the intricacies of the Czechia case, because I watched this episode was when it was still broiling hot here, and there were too many agendas at play. Fortunately, it was beside the point. Hale and Parker (and suspicious Simon) had to face the fact that the politician’s family were also assassinated because of their actions. The other Orphanage staff were more used to it.
Hale got to do some spy field work, which he just about managed. We learned that the head of ops and Simon’s boss are living together. Old operatives from previous episodes returned to be part of the chain. Simon reached out to his uncle, who handled him. He kept being reprimanded by his boss for disobeying the chain of command. Mainly he was told he was presumptuous – the irony being that some of his instincts were bang on, but there was also jealousy. His efforts to foil Alexander from seeing some intel, affecting their mission as it stood, was foiled by Alexander’s ‘assistant/watcher’ and her wily office ways, which surprised/impressed the head of ops, who really ought to rate admin staff higher. Everyone was worried about Hale’s reaction when Poseidon went awry, as it was meant to, but he seemed to be accepting the lines he’d been given and trusting ‘Michelle’, at least.
The Orphanage learned some interesting things from all this - intriguingly, Hale’s feed split into two going different places. (Sure, let’s complicate things even further!) The main heading was east Europe, though the baddie seemed to be a non-government organisation doing it for the money, but maybe aligned with a country that starts with R, ends with A. However, the audience knew that the Man With The Cane, who worked in the National Intelligence Office, was getting the feed too. I’m not sure if the bad guy he was talking to in the car at the end of the ep was the Czech bodyguard we’d already seen, or just the same type.
