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In 2 new shows, FBI nerds tangle with CIA babes

In 2 new shows, FBI nerds tangle with CIA babes
In 2 new shows, FBI nerds tangle with CIA babes

Did you know that the FBI is your square dad and the CIA is your hot mom? I didn’t either, until I watched two new midseason television series, NBC’s “The Enemy Within” and ABC’s “Whiskey Cavalier.”

They’re at opposite ends of the spectrum of network formulas: a scaremongering thriller about domestic terrorism (“Enemy”); and a globe-trotting romantic caper (“Whiskey”). But beneath the shootouts and chases they’re kind of the same show. A sad, honest man from the FBI — a beta male despite his considerable physical skills — is forced to partner with a charismatic, rules-breaking woman from the CIA. Sparks fly, though perhaps not enough to light a fire.

Neither show engages directly with current political battles (through two episodes, anyway) — there’s no angry president accusing the intelligence agencies of Deep State plotting. “The Enemy Within,” however, eagerly taps into our continuing post-9/11 paranoia.

Monday’s premiere begins with the stark announcement: “The FBI estimates there are 100,000 foreign spies working within the United States today.” I can’t find any evidence that the FBI has ever said that, but no matter. The show breathlessly doubles down, having a character warn of “highly trained, deadly operatives in every city and every state, hiding in plain sight, as teachers, engineers, husbands and wives.”

And while it isn’t explicitly Trumpian, the series does turn on the notions of both treachery and incompetence within the ranks. Jennifer Carpenter, wielding the sullen intensity we remember from “Dexter,” stars as a former CIA deputy director, Erica Shepherd, who gave up secrets to a Russian “rogue terrorist.” (How many of those are there? 10,000?) When the Russian appears to have resurfaced, she’s brought out of prison to help the otherwise hapless FBI track him down.

“The Enemy Within” is a predictably thin and hyped-up network concoction. But connoisseurs of gothic silliness can appreciate it as a gender-switched homage to “The Silence of the Lambs,” with Carpenter as a female Hannibal Lecter and Morris Chestnut as the FBI agent assigned to oversee her (even though his fiancée died as a result of her treason).

The connection is hard to miss. Shepherd is kept behind glass, in a cage within a gigantic cell that looks like a minimalist Manhattan penthouse. She takes satisfaction in her mental superiority to her FBI handlers. The show doesn’t take the trouble to sketch in any background for her crime-solving genius, but it does have an irritated agent refer to her as Hannibal Lecter, in case we missed the point.

After “Enemy Within,” “Whiskey Cavalier” (premiering Wednesday) looks giddily enjoyable, if no less prefab in action and exposition. It was created by Dave Hemingson, whose experience is largely in sitcoms (his last series-creator credit appears to have been “Kitchen Confidential”), and its screwball-comedy sensibility recalls the shows of Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs,” “Cougar Town”), one of its executive producers.

Here the FBI agent is a sensitive guy grieving over a bad breakup, and the CIA agent is a sarcastic femme fatale-action figure with a fondness for enhanced interrogation. They meet-cute when they’re both sent to catch a fugitive hacker, and before you can say “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” they’ve been assigned to a joint task force, where they can bicker over the ethics of espionage and generate sexual tension for as long as the series lasts.

The news about “Whiskey Cavalier” is that Lauren Cohan plays Frankie Trowbridge, the CIA half of the couple, in her first starring role since her long run as Maggie Greene (later Rhee) on “The Walking Dead.” It’s a night-and-day change, and in the early episodes Cohan looks capable but not entirely comfortable with the fast-paced comedy.

She’s surrounded by people who are at home with the show’s rhythms, though. Scott Foley, who did time on “Scrubs” and “Cougar Town,” is Frankie’s counterpart, Will Chase (code name Whiskey Cavalier). There are also Ana Ortiz of “Ugly Betty,” as an FBI profiler, and Tyler James Williams of “Everybody Loves Chris” (and “The Walking Dead”), who plays the hacker, an Eddie Murphy-style joker who gets recruited to the cause.

If you’re going to join a family of spies, they’re the ones to choose.

“The Enemy Within”

Monday on NBC

“Whiskey Cavalier”

Sunday on ABC

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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