'The Assets' Behind The Scenes Mini Series About Aldrich Ames US Traitor and CIA SPY 'The Assets,' a Mini-Series About 'Aldrich Ames' on ABC 'The Assets' Behind The Scenes Mini Series About Aldrich Ames on ABC Jodie Whittaker, who plays a C.I.A. officer in "The Assets." And the British must be better liars, because they are constantly chosen to play Americans on American television shows. Their spies are obviously more interesting — Kim Philby, the infamous British intelligence mole, was a far more complicated and intriguing double agent than Aldrich Ames, the wormy counterintelligence officer who sold secrets to Moscow even after the Soviet Union collapsed. "The Assets," an eight-part ABC mini-series about the Ames case that begins on Thursday, has British actors in almost all the lead roles, including Ames (Paul Rhys), but the creators are stuck with an American spy who over nearly nine years in the 1980s and '90s got people killed and did terrible damage to the C.I.A., but wasn't actually very mysterious at all. Mr. Ames, who is now in prison serving a life sentence, had a problem with drinking and money; he and his younger second wife had expensive tastes. Even Robert P. Hanssen, the F.B.I. agent who sold information to the Soviets for two decades, had a richer back story: He was, among other things, a member of the secretive, conservative Roman Catholic society Opus Dei. (Chris Cooper played him in "Breach," a 2007 movie.) The real puzzle is not why Mr. Ames became a traitor, but how on earth he evaded detection for so long. His C.I.A. superiors missed all kinds of clues that he clumsily left in his wake, including flashy cars and clothes he couldn't possibly afford on his government salary. The long manhunt that finally led to Mr. Ames's arrest in 1994 is a remarkable and important lesson about human error and missed opportunities, but it's not an easy story to turn into a thriller, especially when fictional dramas like "Homeland" and "The Americans" are so much more complex and inviting. "The Assets" is uneven, with some excellent scenes and quite a few bad ones. It recreates the look and feel of the 1980s much more accurately than "The Americans," which is also set in Reagan-era Washington. The women's jutting shoulder pads in "The Assets" are particularly of the time. But the show is oddly paced, and in some places almost comically lurid and hammy: At times it seems as if it were made in the 1980s. Viewers know from the outset who the mole is. The story opens with Ames waiting in a restaurant for a K.G.B. contact and nervously gulping down martinis. Even when he is not drinking, Ames is odd enough that his co-workers mock him behind his back. Mr. Rhys plays the spy as sweaty, awkward and very weird. He speaks in a menacing Clint Eastwood whisper that would make anyone suspicious. And the C.I.A., of all institutions, should have paid more attention. According to "Circle of Treason," when a group of F.B.I. agentsand C.I.A. officers took a straw poll to see who in their midst could most likely be a traitor, Mr. Ames came in first. Sandy is not a bipolar savant like Carrie Mathison on "Homeland." She is a smart, dedicated C.I.A. officer with two children and an understanding husband, Gary (the British actor Julian Ovenden, who appears in the coming season of "Downton Abbey"). And as a heroine, she may be too virtuous and one-dimensional to hold attention. The Russian side of the story, oddly enough, is better told and more intriguing, mostly thanks to yet another British actor, Peter Guinness, who is excellent and quite touching in the role of Dmitri Polyakov, a general who gave away government secrets for almost no financial reward for nearly two decades and was the highest-ranking Soviet officer to spy for the United States during the Cold War. After Mr. Ames told Moscow about his double-dealing, General Polyakov was executed. Spies steal secrets. The British were once the best at that craft. Now they mainly steal acting roles. The Assets ABC, Thursday nights at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time. Produced by Lincoln Square Productions. Based on the book "Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed," by Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille; Morgan Hertzan, Rudy Bednar and Andrew Chapman, executive producers. WITH: Paul Rhys (Aldrich Ames), Jodie Whittaker (Sandy Grimes), Harriet Walter (Jeanne Vertefeuille), Stuart Milligan (Art O'Neill), Julian Ovenden (Gary Grimes), Christina Cole (Louisa), Peter Guinness (Dmitri Polyakov) and Ralph Brown (Lawrence Winston).

• published: 02 Jan 2014
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