Line #91 Series/Condor


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/condor.jpg]]
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3	''Condor'' is a 2018 television series, based on the ''Film/ThreeDaysOfTheCondor'' movie and the original ''Six Days of the Condor'' novel by James Grady. It stars Creator/MaxIrons, Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/LeemLubany, Creator/MiraSorvino and Creator/BrendanFraser with the show created by Todd Katzburg, Jason Smilovic and Ken Robinson. The show first aired on the Audience Network before its shutdown and [[ChannelHop is now]] on Creator/MGMPlus. It's been renewed for a third season as of 2022.
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5	In the first season, Joe Turner is a CIA research analyst who works at [=IEP=] Analytics, which serves as a cover for CIA research analysts in research and analysis of data to investigate potential terrorist threats against the United States. When assassins target the IEP building, Joe is on the run and is [[HeroWithBadPublicity framed as the mastermind of the murders of his fellow analysts]] while he tries to investigate and figure out who wants him dead.
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7	The second season starts with Joe living in Hungary as a means of getting away from the aftermath of the conspiracy. After American forces in Ukraine were targeted, a defecting SVR officer named Vasily Sirin warns Joe that a CIA double agent was working with the SVR in Moscow to leak details of CIA operations in Eastern Europe. With Joe's uncle Bob dead, he returns back with Vasily in order to find who's the double agent and what's the significance of Vasily's relationship with Bob aside from being a CIA asset.
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10	!!This show contains examples of:
11
12	* ActionGirl:
13	** Joubert is the [[DarkActionGirl dark]] kind, Sharla Shepard and Marty Frost are straight ones [[spoiler: except that Frost's pretty damn dark too, as it turns out eventually]].
14	** Season 2's Ekaterina Gnezdy is no slouch either - a tough, no-nonsense Russian agent who can more than handle herself in a gunfight.
15	* ActionSurvivor: Joe Turner might not have any "kinetic[[note]]an euphemism for combat/wetworks by the sound of it[[/note]] training" but he's still observant, sharp-witted, well-read, and athletic; he often ends up getting the better of various trained field operatives simply by [[GuileHero thinking outside the box]] and running like hell.
16	* AdaptationExpansion: The series spends more time examining characters on many different sides of the central conflict than both the film and the novel, and delving into the ethics and politics at the center.
17	* AdaptationalNationality / RaceLift: Joubert (played by Leem Lubany) is still a foreigner, but is now an Arab Israeli.
18	* AdaptationalVillainy:
19	** [[spoiler:While in the film Sam Barber was unwittingly roped into coming as to fetch Turner in order for the CIA to kill him due to their friendship and [[YouKnowTooMuch killed when he found out what was going on,]] the series' version of Sam (played by Kristoffer Polaha) is actively a part (albeit a relatively small one) of the conspiracy at the center of the series and [[RedemptionEqualsDeath is killed by Joubert while saving Joe (played by Max Irons)]].]]
20	** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Joubert. The original was still a ProfessionalKiller who didn't seem too fussy about his targets but he came off more as an AffablyEvil ConsummateProfessional, whereas this version is a straight up AxCrazy StrawNihilist.
21	* AnyoneCanDie: The series. The majority of them courtesy of [[PsychoForHire Joubert]].
22	* ArtifactTitle: Unlike the book and movie, the series gives no explanation for why it's titled "Condor".
23	* AscendedExtra:
24	** In the film, Fowler was a minor CIA cohort of S.W. Wicks, Joe's Head of Department, who doesn't get much screentime, while in the series, Nathan Fowler (played by Brendan Fraser) is a major part of the BigBadEnsemble.
25	** Mae Barber was a bit character in the film, but a regular character (played by Creator/KristenHager) in the series.
26	* AssholeVictim: Before sending [[spoiler: Nathan Fowler to kill Gareth Lloyd]] Abbot gives a lengthy speech how, even though their cause is noble[[note]]in his mind that is...[[/note]] every life taken in its pursuit is nonetheless a tragedy. Except [[spoiler: Lloyd]] is a slimy [[PrivateMilitaryContractors merc]] who didn't even have the excuse of believing he was doing the right thing, and was OnlyInItForTheMoney. When [[spoiler: Fowler]] puts a bullet in his head, few tears are shed.
27	* AwesomenessByAnalysis: It takes Bob Partridge the span of a minute and a plastic coffee cup to [[spoiler: tear apart Boyd Ferris' theory that Joe was the inside man for the assault on IEP]] and to pinpoint the real culprit. Granted, he's got a personal stake in doing so but still.
28	* BadassIsraeli: Joubert is an Israeli Palestinian formerly with the Mossad, and she's a highly skilled assassin.
29	* BewareTheQuietOnes:
30	** Joubert's EstablishingCharacterMoment showcases her antisocial tendencies and lethal expertise when she [[YouKnowTooMuch kills a man who keeps harassing her and Nathan while they bury a bag full of dead prairie dogs]].
31	** Fowler doesn't speak a lot either, and it gives some people the impression that he's a weakling who can be pushed with impunity. Except as [[spoiler: Gareth Lloyd]] found out the hard way, even he has his limits.
32	* BookEnds: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 2 Joe is once again working for the Agency and has an Asian female colleague... except he's now stationed in Langley proper.]]
33	* BoomHeadshot: You can make a drinking game out of characters getting shot in the head and be hammered senseless before credits roll in episode 1.
34	* TheCameo: [[spoiler:Joubert turns up for a single scene at the end of Season 2. To the surprise of none, she kills somebody - namely Reuel Abbot.]]
35	* CanonForeigner: A few, naturally, considering the series' AdaptationExpansion, but most notably Caleb Wolfe (played by Delmar Abuzeid).
36	* CategoryTraitor: Joubert is a Palestinian Israeli who served in Mossad. As such, she's viewed as a traitor by other Palestinians.
37	* ComingAndGoing: Joubert, a nymphomaniac, likes seducing and sleeping with men whom she's been hired to kill. It's not to [[HoneyTrap get them vulnerable]] so she can do that, but just some twisted thrill of hers.
38	* ConspiracyThriller: Like both of its source materials before it, the series focused on a conspiracy within the CIA.
39	* CoolOldGuy: Bob Partridge is an extremely competent operative, in addition to being a NiceGuy with a surprisingly well-adjusted moral compass given his line of work.
40	* DadTheVeteran: Nathan Fowler has one, in addition ''a lot'' of emotional baggage stemming from their strained relationship.
41	* DarkActionGirl: Joubert is a ruthless, very adept hitwoman.
42	* DecompositeCharacter: At the beginning of the 1975 film, Joe has an Asian-American co-worker/LoveInterest named Janice Chong who is killed in the attack on the CIA analysts' office. The series has two characters that share elements with the film's Janice: an Asian-American co-worker and close friend -- here a [[AdaptationalSexuality lesbian]] -- named Sarah Tan (played by Creator/EllenWong) who is [[BuryYourGays killed]] in the attack on the IEP office, and Joe's long-estranged ex-girlfriend Janice Haron (played by Creator/MelissaONeil).
43	* DissonantSerenity:
44	** This is what makes Nathan Fowler so disturbing; in the series' opening scene, he casually digs a hole in which to bury a bag full of dead prairie dogs.
45	** Joubert barely emotes while piling up corpses on top of corpses.
46	* TheDreaded: In Season 2, Arcadiy Volk scares the shit out of his ''colleagues'' in the SVR. And once we see his [[spoiler: gleefully sadistic execution of Polina]] it's not hard to understand why.
47	* DrivingQuestion:
48	** Why was the IEP building compromised and who's responsible for targeting Joe?
49	** For Season 2: who is the SVR mole within the CIA?
50	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Obviously YMMV as to whether the Mossad is evil, but Joubert's file states that they kicked her out for signs of mental instability. What that says about her [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/CIA current employers]] is an exercise left to the viewers.
51	* ExtremeLibido: Joubert is a nymphomaniac, and Boyd Ferris (played by Gabriel Hogan) has shades of this.
52	* {{Expy}}: A few.
53	** Joe's uncle, Bob Partridge (played by William Hurt), as a higher-up in the CIA that is fairly sympathetic to Joe, seems to be one to Cliff Robertson's Higgins character from the film, although Higgins has more PunchClockVillain tendencies; in [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist chasing Joe,]] the series's Marty Frost (played by Mira Sorvino) shares elements with Higgins as well.
54	** Gareth Lloyd (played by Jamie [=McShane=]) seems to be one to Leonard Atwood from the film.
55	* EverybodySmokes: Maybe not everybody but still, the number of on-screen smokers is unusually high for a series set in the second decade of the 21st century. Then again, they're all in VERY stressful circumstances.
56	* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:When Joubert comes to kill him, Abbott tells her he won't scream. She just replies "I know" and kills him offscreen.]]
57	* FakeGuestStar: Downplayed somewhat with Brendan Fraser, as he does not appear in a couple episodes, but Fowler is such an important character and the show spends so much time exploring him that he may as well be considered a series regular.
58	* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:Season 1's plot was to start a bioterror incident in Saudi Arabia so that the Muslim world will blame the rest of the world for the attack and start another world war since the conspiracy members don't see any rational way to win against Islamic extremists. Bob is freaked out when he learns about it. If Muslim-friendly countries in Asia and the Middle East learn about this, then there's no knowing if their Muslim populace will be radicalized too.]]
59	* AFatherToHisMen: Bob Partridge refers to the IEP Analytics team as his "kids" and takes it ''really'' personally when they are killed in the first episode.
60	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The episode "Exile is a Destiny" shows a CBP officer at Dulles Airport overriding the error that Vasily's bogus biometrics did not match with the fake American passport passed by the CIA. [[spoiler:It meant that the SVR knows that he came to America.]]
61	* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Nathan Fowler is this for his co-workers [[spoiler: and even for his fellow conspirators]].
62	* FromNobodyToNightmare: Reuel Abbott is revealed to have gone from an idealistic advocate of civil rights and Vietnam War protestor who decided that he could change the CIA from within. Aiming to spread human rights all around the world, he turned into a ruthless man over the years, with it culminating in him [[spoiler:plotting genocide against the Muslim world]], always telling himself it was [[TheNeedsOfTheMany for the greater good]].
63	* GainingTheWillToKill: Over the course of the series Joe goes from a more or less ActualPacifist to a guy who [[spoiler: shoots an unarmed and injured woman in the head]] [[TheNeedsOfTheMany for the greater good]]. Although, in fairness, those on the business end [[TheDogBitesBack have only themselves to blame]] for that particular development.
64	* GenderFlip: The assassin Joubert is now a woman.
65	%%I can't remember whether this counts-it was to stop a guy raping her. Does she act like that otherwise? I can't remember.* HatesBeingTouched: Sharla, as one [[AssholeVictim rather aggressive man]] learned [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown the hard way]].
66	* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Reuel Abbott starts feeling increasingly bad about what he's done in the CIA over the years, trying to blow the lid in Season 2. [[spoiler:He's killed by Joubert before he can tell Congress.]]
67	* HonoraryUncle: Joe is this to Sam and Mae Barber's kids.
68	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Joe, to the max; he and Janice both lampshade this in "Trapped in History".
69	* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:After holding him on suspicion of being TheMole for the Russians, Robin includes a bag of peanuts in Gordon Piper's breakfast every day to taunt him due to his peanut allergy. It apparently didn't occur to her that if he got depressed enough, he could use them to commit suicide, which is dumb because (a) if he's not a mole, then she's enabled the death of an innocent man, (b) if he ''is'' a mole then she's endangered a potential source of intelligence. Guess what happens?]]
70	* ILied: [[spoiler:Vasili Sirin in Season 2 doesn't actually ''know'' the identity of the Russian mole in CIA, and was just bluffing to get a safe passage to the States.]]
71	* INeverSaidItWasPoison:
72	** [[spoiler:Sam saves Turner from the killers to make it sound like they're on the same side. But Turner realizes Sam is in on this when he mentions the companies Turner was looking into.]]
73	** In Season 2, [[spoiler:Tracy gives himself away to Robin as TheMole by referring to her asset in the Russian intelligence services (Polina, aka Phoenix) as "she" after Robin is worried that Phoenix has been outed and killed, when Robin had always been careful to call Phoenix "he" around her colleagues in keeping with standard spy practice and Tracy could only know Phoenix's true gender through the Russians]].
74	* InsideJob: [[spoiler:Part of the attack on the IEP building was thanks to Harold, who poisoned the coffee meant for Ellie since she was the first line of defense in case it was attacked while posing as the secretary/receptionist.]]
75	* {{Irony}}: Joubert off-handedly mentions to Mailer that their superiors chose him [[spoiler: to carry the plague into Mecca during the Hajj]] because unlike her he wouldn't enjoy it; in the end [[spoiler: she ends up being the one to thwart the whole operation with little trouble]].
76	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Joubert]] isn't going away any time soon it seems.
77	* AMatchMadeInStockholm: Like in the film, Joe and Kathy's relationship is somewhat this (although here they displayed significant chemistry beforehand after their Tinder date). [[spoiler:It doesn't [[DidNotGetTheGirl end]] [[DisposableWoman well.]]]]
78	* MiddleEasternTerrorists: "What Loneliness" involves the investigation of a Saudi-American radical trying to bomb a stadium with a bioweapon. [[spoiler:Except that it is cooked up by Gareth Lloyd.]]
79	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Sharla]] is this for [[spoiler:Bob]] in Marty's investigative team.
80	* NamedByTheAdaptation: The character of Joubert is given a first name, Gabrielle, in keeping with her GenderFlip.
81	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: If Gareth hadn't gotten greedy, Joe would never have uncovered the plot.
82	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Sharla delivers this on a man who [[RapeAsDrama tries to pressure her into continuing after she changes her mind about having sex with him and continues to touch her when she tells him not to.]]
83	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Max Irons's Irish accent is audible at a couple of points in the series.
84	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: White Sands. [[spoiler:And they're in league with the conspirators in the CIA.]]
85	* ProfessionalKiller: Joubert is a former Mossad agent who now works as a CIA hitwoman.
86	* PsychoExGirlfriend: Bob dismisses Marty Frost as this when she is suspicious that he may be in contact with Joe while she is investigating whether or not Joe committed the massacre. [[spoiler:[[CassandraTruth Turns out she's right]].]]
87	%%* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Sam Barber in "The Solution to All Problems".]]
88	%%How does this count?* RefugeInAudacity: Joe is forced to hide in Sam's son's treehouse at one point.
89	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler: Harold is the inside man for the attack, including poisoning security officer Elle. When the hit team appears, Harold snaps at them for shooting by him only to get a bullet in his head.]]
90	* {{Sadist}}: Joubert claims that [[spoiler: spreading the bioweapon at the Hajj]] would be fun for her, but other than that doesn't seem to derive any particular satisfaction out of killing; by contrast, Season 2's Arcadiy Volk doesn't bother hiding his glee as he watches [[spoiler: Polina A.K.A. "Phoenix," CIA's mole within the Russian embassy]] die a painful, drawn-out death from poison (slipped into a lavish meal by Volk himself).
91	* {{Sideboob}}: Joubert is shown from multiple angles when she's having sex with Joe, several being shots from the side of her topless while her breasts are pressed against him and only just [[NippleAndDimed obscuring her nipples]] doing so.
92	* TheSociopath: Many characters in their own way, but most notably Joubert. She's a cold-blooded killer who explicitly doesn't care about others.
93	* SpottingTheThread: Something Joubert is exceptionally good at, noticing minute details (such as [[spoiler: Boyd Ferris taking off his wedding ring]] before following her into Cathy's house) and using them to pull the lies people tell her apart. Since she's also a stone-cold sociopathic killer, this just serves to make her more terrifying.
94	* TheStoic: Ten years old Joe Turner was this; adult Joe Turner [[NotSoStoic less so]].
95	* SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome: [[spoiler:Nathan is revealed to have this. Of note, the successful brother, Alex, was killed fighting in the Middle East]].
96	* SuicidalSadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Bob]] is coerced to shoot himself between seasons 1 and 2, after he gets threatened with his wife being killed too otherwise.
97	* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Joubert is shown nude from the back and waist up while riding Joe when they have sex.
98	* TurnOutLikeHisFather: Both [[spoiler:Nathan Fowler and Joe Turner in their own ways.]]
99	* TwoferTokenMinority: Several supporting characters are women of color.
100	** Janice Wong is Joe's ex-girlfriend who's East Asian American.
101	** Sarah Tan is East Asian American and also a lesbian.
102	** Sharla Shepard is an African-American and it turns out is also a lesbian whom Sarah was involved with.
103	** Gabrielle Joubert is a Palestinian Israeli woman.
104	%%How does she qualify?* TheVamp: Joubert; Bob even notes that her file says she is a [[{{Nymphomania}} nymphomaniac]]
105	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Deconstructed heavily with Nathan Fowler.
106	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Volk and Sirin were "like brothers" once upon a time; in the present, they hate each other with a burning passion.
107	* WhamEpisode: "Out of His Exile": [[spoiler:CIA agent Tracy Crane is the double agent with the SVR. It started from his being demoted when he was filmed making out with a Russian woman.]]
108	* WouldHitAGirl: The assassins that raided IEP building took out the female IEP analysts alongside their male colleagues.
109	* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:Or rather, ParentalSubstitute uncle. Joe admits to Tracy before he shoots him that this is revenge for Tracy killing his uncle Bob]].

Context Series / Condor