Netflix is back with another original series with a mix of action, espionage, science fiction, and family drama, with In From the Cold. It is showing up in the Netflix top 10 most popular shows right now, so we wanted to give it a look and help you decide if you should add it to your viewing list.
Check out our review below with SPOILERS! This one does indeed have some twists and turns, so be aware that we will spoil at least a few surprises in our review.
What’s it About?
In From the Cold is a thriller about a former Russian spy who has been living a normal life in the U.S. after abruptly retiring when the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of the Cold War. Since that time, she has changed into a typical American housewife and mother.
We meet “Jenny” as she is taking her teenage daughter Becca to Madrid for an ice-skating competition. Jenny if one of the parent chaperones for the trip.
We learn there is some tension between mother and daughter, as Jenny seems to be a late substitution for another mother on the trip. She comes across as a bit overprotective of Becca and seems to be a fish out of water on this international trip.
But, you only need to watch the previews to learn that Jenny is far more than meets the eye. Soon after arriving in Madrid, she is kidnapped by some shadowy intelligence operators who confront her with the fact that she is in fact a former Soviet spy and assassin, Anya Petrova, also known as the Whisper.
After initially denying it, Jenny goes into Anya mode and takes out a bunch of agents in an attempt to escape. But, it was all just a test to get her to reveal her true identity.
Recruited
Jenny is recruited (i.e. blackmailed) into coming to work for the CIA on a mission to identify a terrorist threat to the government of Spain. Her first mission is to obtain a retinal scan from an inmate in a restricted military prison. Jenny accepts the mission, given no real option, other than to go to prison and lose her daughter forever.
Anya has been Jenny for so long that it seems to take her time to become herself again. She gets a little drunk on vodka (Russian agent after all), cuts her mom-hair and begins to see her old self.
Two Timelines
The series is told in two timelines. The present, where Jenny is being sucked back into a life of espionage and murder and the past, when Anya was a young Russian spy building a relationsihp with a young woman whose father has taken refuge in the Chinese embassy. So, we watch both stories unfold concurrently with flashback at appropriate times.
In the past, we see Anya struggle with her assignment, as she grows to have feelings for her target. She is also watched over by her ruthless handler, Svetlana. As Anya falters, Svetlana tries to rid herself of her young protege, but eventually the two work together so that Anya can achieve her mission, to steal a top secret project from the Chinese embassy.
In the end, she kills her target and obtains a syringe with the secret chemical, but Svetlana tells her it is too late to escape and instead inject herself with the chemical so the Chinese can’t have it. She will become a hero to Russia as she dies. This all happens much later in the story.
Science Fiction Meets Spy Thriller
You might think this will be a standard spy thriller, but we learn in episode 1, that Anya is more than just a talented spy and assassin. She is able to physicallhy morph into another person, which she does to infiltrate the prison and escape. It is revealed that she is the only known person to survive a secret Russian experiment from the Cold War. We will learn later, in the flashbacks, that she injected herself with the compound and took on the powers of body morphing and advanced healing.
Jenny/Anya will use these powers throughout the series as she infiltrates the terrorist organization, all attempting to identify the person pulling the strings, known as Gideon. In due time, we will learn that Anya’s past is far from buried, as Gideon turns out to be someone she knows all too well. (We’ll save this spoiler.)
Watch it or Not?
The premise is fun. Who doesn’t love a spy thriller? Hello Jason Bourne! The dual identity is entertaining to watch Jenny/Anya navigate. However, the plot has more than a few holes or things that simply aren’t followed up on very well. Becca is pretty clearly a disturbed teenager and (in my opinion) a budding serial killer. The fight scenes aren’t great. TV quality, rather than film. The plot is a bit convoluted and the acting is just OK.
So, if you want a bingeable and fairly forgettable series for a weekend, then In From the Cold could be your jam. But, don’t get your expectations up too high.
