CBC's The Romeo Section looks at darker side of intelligence

The Romeo Section

Oct. 5, CBC 9 p.m. 

For its second season creator Chris Haddock has planted the espionage thriller The Romeo Section firmly against the veiled landscape of dark government activity.

Set in Vancouver, the CBC-produced series’ central storyline has operative Wolfgang McGee (Andrew Airlie) investigating an alleged terrorist incident. In doing so he opens doors into the shadowy side of intelligence.

“I think there has been a lot of effort over the years by government agencies to keep the public’s prying eyes off what is going on,” said Haddock about the show’s focus.

To some, the government involved in shady, below-the-radar activities is the currency of conspiracy theorists. But a truly functioning democracy demands that the citizenry question authority.

“Everyone treats conspiracy as a nasty word, but really that is what we humans do,” said Haddock, who has a long list of credits including DaVinci’s Inquest, Intelligence and Boardwalk Empire. “If somebody is a conspiracy theorist they might just be a good thinker. You can’t just automatically dismiss them.

“They said Edward Snowden was a conspiracy theorist until he comes up with the evidence,” added Haddock from the set during the shooting of season two’s eighth episode.

Voicing Haddock’s concerns is Wolfgang McGee. A play-it-close-to-the-vest operative whose cover is that of an international studies professor, McGee has seen a lot of false flags and dubious government moves.  Airlie himself has an international studies degree from the University of Toronto and a keen interest in the intelligence game.

“This world has always been attractive and intriguing to me. To the point I also follow it domestically,” said Airlie, who lectured for two years at U of T. “When you drill down a little bit on that (C-51) omnibus bill there is a lot of latitude that was being created for our intelligence agencies.

“So some of the things that might have been suggested in our show are not a stretch.”

This season McGee, realizing the task he has been handed is sending him down a rabbit hole of cover-ups and dark manoeuvres, turns to a damaged operative from his past.

For that new role Haddock turned to old friend Brian Markinson.

Years ago Markinson played the top cop in DaVinci’s Inquest but in this series he is working blue not wearing blue as he brings to life Norman, the morally corrupt, blackballed spy.

“Wolfgang says he is addicted to everything,” said Markinson about Norman. “He’s addicted to young men and he’s addicted to alcohol and drugs and he’s become a bit of a pariah. That’s when we first meet him. He’s been out the game for quite a long time.

“It’s a really neat relationship because you’ve got this guy who is sort of a loose cannon and it knocks Wolfgang out of his comfort zone.”

Markinson’s Norman is the type of character that you root for even though you never trust him.

“This is a guy who has done wet work in the field,” said Airlie. “He’s served some real time in some very dangerous scenarios and done things that most Canadians would like to believe that we don’t do. Sure, the CIA does stuff like that but CSIS doesn’t do things like that.”

In other storylines this season, Wolfgang’s former asset Rufus (Juan Riedinger) is getting out of the garage more and trying to work his way up to drug kingpin as his connection with the Red Mountain Triad grows. Money from the heroin trade is being funnelled into a film (which viewers see being made) starring Mei Mei (Fei Ren), the wife of the Triad leader. That film, a movie within a movie if you will, is a big part of the new season’s narrative and has refreshed Haddock’s job as a writer.

“This has blown open a portion of my mind,” said Haddock. “When you are writing contemporary stuff and making contemporary television any little thing that is off I go, ‘Ugh that’s not real,’ but if you go into a period picture the audience doesn’t know what it was like in 1840 China. Things become simpler about establishing verisimilitude.

“And you can just start talking about very timely human things that are basically human forever.” 

Like good storytelling.

dgee@postmedia.com

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