Per Matt
I’m not gonna lie, I like Eva Green. She’s French and she’s a pretty great actress… oh yeah, she’s very easy to look at, as well. I guess I first laid eyes on her in The Golden Compass, but roles in Dark Shadows, 300: Rise of an Empire and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For really showcased her range. It seems like every opportunity she’s taken with genre fare has been a successful one, including working with Tim Burton three times (I probably enjoyed Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children the most). She absolutely oozes sexuality, which might be one of the main reasons she landed the lead role in Liaison, which is currently streaming through Apple TV+.
Being completely transparent, she’s the main reason I tuned into this show. While I’m absolutely a fan of spy thrillers, Green was the added incentive I needed to differentiate this one from all the others.
As Liaison opens, London’s National Cyber Security Centre is hacked. How does that even happen? What seems to be a childish prank (I mean, it involves Puss in Boots!) gets deadly as the Thames Barrier later gets hijacked, followed by the city’s public train system. Cut to two Syrian hackers who are running for their lives.
They have contacted the French Embassy for political asylum after uncovering top-secret information on impending European cyberattacks. Entities from just about every possible side are willing to do whatever it takes to claim the valuable information. That means operatives from France, the UK and even the terrorists, themselves, are on the prowl. It’s a global adventure steeped in political intrigue, where intel is the currency. Oh, and it stars Eva Green, Vincent Cassel and Daniel Francis.
In this series, Green’s character, Alison Rowdy, has a complicated past. Currently working for the British government, she’s in a committed relationship and contemplating marriage. But a certain past relationship keeps rearing its ugly head, one that happens to involve mercenary Gabriel Delage (Vincent Cassel), who’s wanted for murder. Alison’s troubled about her personal life choices, but there’s no doubting her take-no-prisoners duty to save millions of lives. Uncovering her shady past while trying to reveal the true antagonists is part of the journey. Her scenes definitely highlight the show, but as the complex storyline carefully unspools, the more I watch, the more I’m hooked.
Eva Green in “Liaison,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Through three episodes — the half-way point of Season 1 — it’s official: There’s layers upon layers of red tape, both in the storyline and in these characters’ lives. There’s no simple answer to stop the attacks, or to reveal who’s responsible for them, just like there’s no simple answer to define these people. But what would multiple foreign governments do with the knowledge of a pending attack that could save many lives? Two words: It’s complicated.
So far, I’m enjoying the deadly spy games of this “Anglo-French” production, but it’s 2023 already. Featuring actors of multiple nationalities speaking multiple languages, I don’t understand why international productions still use white subtitles interspersed with white backgrounds, rendering the words virtually unreadable (this isn’t my first complaint, BTW). I’m digging the story and the actors, but reading the characters’ dialogue is unusually tough at times. If only the subtitles could contrast with the backgrounds at all times, I’d be happy enough.
The double-crosses are aplenty as the mistakes of our past have the potential to destroy our future. How will it all end? When one must rely on a scorned lover in order to secure their country’s objective, it feels like things could get messy. Quickly.
Definitely check out Liaison, it’s a show where Eva Green’s character is complex, but it’s one where the actress can do no wrong!