Bioterrorism and betrayal have Poland’s spies on a knife edge in ‘Illegals’

A botched arms deal has Poland’s spy network unravelling while a terrorist plot threatens to kill thousands. Only one man can hold it all together.

Source: Canal+

Konrad Wolski (Grzegorz Damięcki) is a hands-on kind of spy chief. As the Head of Poland’s elite Q Department, he leads a unit charged with handling foreign threats to his nation’s security… and by “handling”, that means when an arms dealer operating out of Turkey becomes a problem, he goes in, sets up an arms deal, jumps off a moving ferry when the deal goes wrong, and almost gets blown up as the arms dealer’s comrades decide to cover their tracks.

And that’s all before the real story of Illegals gets going. It’s safe to say he’s not really a man who runs things from behind a desk.

Spy chief Konrad Wolski (Grzegorz Damięcki) in ‘Illegals’. Source: Canal+

Konrad’s pro-active approach to the world of espionage makes a little more sense once you see what he has to work with. While he’s out running through the streets of Istanbul, Travis (Filip Pławiak), one of his top undercover operatives, is working away at the KGB’s Minsk office. Having infiltrated the organisation there, he’s now assisting top officer Colonel Stiepanowycz (Viktor Saraikin) in a variety of shady arms deals.

He’s also engaged to Stiepanowycz’s daughter Nadia (Fatima Gorbenko), which is either a great way to get even closer to the boss or an extremely risky move considering everything she – and her father – knows about him is a complete fabrication. He thinks it’s the former; events will soon prove him wrong.

Colonel Stiepanowycz (Viktor Saraikin) with undercover agent Travis (Filip Pławiak). Source: Canal+

Based on a series of novels by retired Polish spy chief Vincent V. Severski, Illegals isn’t short on gritty realism, sometimes in ways you might not expect. It’s full of twists and double crosses and the stakes are always high, but it’s also a series that is more than willing to let its characters make mistakes – and then let those mistakes drive the drama.

Some spy series can feel like the characters are being shuffled around by the story, as the plot has them uncovering some new information that leads them to the next piece of information and so on, with the occasional action scene to keep viewers on the edge of their seat. Illegals features plenty of sinister schemes to uncover, secret missions to undertake and tiny spy cameras to plant, but it’s the spies themselves that often deliver the real surprises.

Divided loyalties are commonplace; often doing the right thing by a friend or lover in their line of work is the wrong path to take. Konrad’s boss Ewa Debska (Agnieszka Grochowska) is his staunchest ally, but her personal life is increasingly under strain. For a spy chief any personal problems are a weakness the enemy can exploit; having a daughter who goes around torching cars is something of a career liability.

There's a lot to juggle for Konrad's boss Ewa (left). Photo by Piotr Litwic. Source: Canal+

Travis’ handler Sara (Sylwia Juszczak) is the kind of officer that puts people ahead of the mission. In this ruthless world that’s a mistake that can get people killed. And while Travis is up to his neck in an arms-smuggling scheme with international ramifications, his own actions have made his situation a whole lot worse.

Maybe a supercool James Bond-style secret agent could successfully handle the situation Travis has put himself in. Travis is not that guy. So when Stiepanowycz uncovers his secret and decides to turn the screws on him – first with a little blackmail, then with a blunt request to stay away from his daughter – Travis does not handle it well. Suddenly what was a major asset for Polish intelligence has become a serious liability that threatens the stability of a number of operations.

Across the ten episodes arms deals segue into threats against top-level politicians and biological terrorism on a massive scale. The action scenes are impressively international: when Illegals sets a scene in Istanbul or Stockholm or Minsk, they actually go there. But it’s the characters that really make this series so gripping, as they struggle to save lives in a world where there are no easy answers.

Konrad (Grzegorz Damięcki) is more hands-on than most. Source: Canal+

Konrad is a man of action, often going on instinct as he hunts down his opponents. Often his instincts are correct; those around him aren’t always so fortunate. Here the past never stays buried, and even innocent decisions can have deadly consequences. Betrayal is commonplace, and blackmail is often the best result you can hope for. As long as you’re still useful, you get to stay alive.

In Illegals, when you’re forced to choose between friends, family and country, sometimes there are no right answers.

Illegals is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

 

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