Help me, please! - I can't.
I only have room for one.
No, I'm an American citizen, please!
I can't leave him.
No, they'll kill me! Please!
interviewer: You've been an intelligence analyst
at The Orphanage for two years, correct?
That's right.
interviewer: I saw something on your file
about a panic attack?
One time thing?
Yeah.
Never happened again.
On the house.
- Alexander. - Michelle.
Don't leave me.
Hey, weird question, do you like to travel?
Upstairs is triggering a review of all personnel in this room.
Our intel chain is compromised.
Someone's turned on us.
That's a Wi-Fi signal.
Broadcasting everything you see and hear.
You're the mole, Alexander.
If they think the hack is still undiscovered,
we can use that.
We need to find whoever is watching
and destroy them.
Are you in?
Okay, we're on. Get ready.
So, who is this guy?
Jesus, are you new? Don't ask that.
It helps me do my job better.
You don't need to know anything about him.
You just got to be a helpless, super grateful piece of ass.
Think you can handle that
or do I need to find someone else?
It's not my first time.
I bet it's not.
Hey.
It's got to look real, Juilliard.
Help me.
Please, help me.
That's what Chinese intelligence
passed on to the North Korean secret police.
It's likely how they knew the identity of our Assets.
That computer screen is one of ours.
An intelligence analyst named Alexander Hale.
Who else has seen this?
I thought our screens were photo-protected?
Yeah, they weren't using a camera.
That's the, uh,
shadow of a nose.
You were right.
The issue was inside our house.
I take no pleasure in always being right, you know.
I've noticed.
We don't know for how long we've been exposed.
We'll need to use it, obviously.
Forty-five years without a crack.
It's nice not to be dreading it anymore.
Peter,
somewhere out there is someone
who tried to warn us this could happen.
We didn't listen.
Give that person a job.
How's the salmon?
It's really good.
Do you know who I am?
Then tell me.
Tell you who you are?
You're Director Moira.
And?
I'm sorry.
You're Samantha Parker, predictive analyst.
You've been with us about a year and a half.
Before that, you worked for the Cobble Hill Group
after quitting Yale Drama
because you couldn't quite find your niche as a playwright.
It's a tough business. Theater.
You think you're twenty-nine,
but your parents lied to you about how old you are.
You used to be in our Narrative group,
but the cover stories you wrote for field agents
were deemed overly complicated
and too "outside the box."
You then requested to be moved
to our predictive analysis group
to imagine potential threats,
where, so far, everything you predicted has been thrown out.
And sometimes,
you get so obsessed with the trees,
you miss the forest.
Now,
who am I?
You're Director of Operations.
You share second-in-command powers
with the Director of Intelligence,
but everyone is more scared of you.
The rumor is, you came up working Assets on the ground,
so you're suspicious of intelligence
that doesn't use real informants.
You're overly competitive,
so I'd guess that you have siblings.
You're probably the oldest.
And what's a weakness of mine?
I was in a briefing with you about five months ago.
And it seemed--
You hate not making decisions.
So, you'd rather make one, even if it's wrong.
You're impatient.
Sir.
And the salmon here is awful.
You wrote a memo
warning about the need to protect ourselves
from hacking inside of our brains.
That's ridiculous.
We should be worrying about more likely scenarios,
don't you agree?
No, sir.
I stand by what I wrote.
Good.
And I'm the youngest, by the way.
Was that true about my age?
Welcome to the team, Parker.
To the rest of The Orphanage,
we are a boring training exercise.
They can't know what we're doing.
We report only to the head of The Orphanage, St. George.
Wait, s-she's real?
I thought that that was just something that--
Meet our mole.
Alexander Hale.
His eyes and ears have been hacked
using the Cassandra RU-two-five-eight technology.
There's a chance he doesn't know
that he's been hacked.
But either way,
every moment that he's broadcasting
compromises our Assets and our organization.
So, I wanna build a world around him
and control everything he hears and sees
without him or whoever's watching on the other end
ever knowing that we know.
You're gonna leave the hack open.
Yeah.
We know nothing about who did this,
but we know one thing that they don't,
that we found the hack.
That's how we're gonna catch them.
I need someone who thinks outside the box.
You saw this coming when no one else did,
and now I need you to think ahead of our enemy.
I need a story
that will play out in front of Hale's eyes and ears
that will explain why we are moving him into our new world.
And, most of all,
I need to know what Hale's gonna do next.
I need you to predict him.
He's the ultimate unknown in all of this.
Study him, figure out what's driving him.
Something simple, don't let it get complicated.
Put it into seven words or less.
And then we'll know how to use him.
We would speak Mandarin
if it was just us in the house.
Uh-- Unless my dad was mad at me.
If I was really in trouble, he'd speak Hakka.
But if there were guests in the house,
or, uh, if we were in public,
or even just on the phone,
it was always English.
Um, my parents were careful
not to draw any extra attention.
interviewer: Why do you think your parents
raised you that way?
I think it's because they knew
they had to work harder than everyone else
in order to fit in.
interviewer: How'd that make you feel?
I don't know.
No one asked us to be here.
interviewer: How long were you Special Forces?
A couple years.
interviewer: And why'd they pull you from the field?
I don't know.
I was just assigned to a desk job one day.
interviewer: Why'd you wanna be a spy?
Well, I'm fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.
...Cantonese. I guess I-- I, uh-- I guess...
Alexander and Parker: I thought that I could be useful.
interviewer: Why are you applying to go Upstairs?
I applied for Operation Poseidon.
It just happened to be Upstairs.
interviewer: That's a lie. Try again.
I wanna work in the field.
I feel like it's where I'd be more useful.
And you can't work in the field unless you work Upstairs, so...
interviewer: I'm gonna ask you again.
Why did you wanna be a spy?
Because only the people we really trust
get to be spies.
We need to infiltrate his life.
Someone who has deep cover experience.
She can be by his side in the wild.
With combat training
in case she needs to save his life...
or take him out.
If you're selected,
the assignment will limit your ability
to do work in the future.
Your face will become known.
Because I'd be on camera.
And we don't know who's watching.
I'd be considered burned.
For our purposes, yes.
When it's over, you'd be done.
You can live with that?
Yes, sir.
Who am I?
Uh, you're Michelle.
You're a bartender.
Probably from
a lower-to-middle class upbringing,
but you're working to--
I'll take it from here.
Oh.
Oh, my God.
You're so funny.
This one's on the house.
You remind me so much of my dad--
No, that's wrong.
Sorry, I-- I just-- I mean--
Well, he's not gonna respond to that.
The giggling little girl in trouble thing?
He responds to challenges.
You're throwing him a gauntlet.
You're saying, "Here's the kind of person I wanna be with.
"Here's the man you can be."
It's funny.
My dad used to work homicide,
and he was--
Well, he was very obsessive.
He had the highest clearance rate
in the entire precinct.
He was the best.
His buddies always thought he was trying to show them up.
Hmm.
But they didn't get it.
No, he wasn't competing with them.
Exactly.
He was trying to prove something to himself.
Because that's the voice that keeps you up at night.
Hmm.
Yeah, something tells me you understand that.
We have a cross-contamination.
I found the un-redacted Copenhagen test results.
Look at the date.
The CIA used her for his test.
Why didn't she tell us?
She interacted with him three years ago
for roughly sixty seconds.
They might not recognize each other.
It might not stay that way.
We can't switch yet. It'd be too sudden.
We'll have to wait.
What're the odds of two different agencies
picking her for an op on the same guy?
We were both just doing our jobs.
She's his type.
The trick is just...
learning to accept that it just happened to be you.
Yeah.
Wow, you are, uh...
very good at your job.
I know. Now, go. Live your life.
Get out of here.
Something wrong?
Hey, weird question,
do you like to travel?
You think he knows?
If he knows,
what would he do next?
Why aren't you running?
I know I'm being watched.
I know they lied to me about being watched.
Therefore, they don't trust me. Therefore...
When you know you're not trusted,
what do you do?
Is he going to the ground floor?
signals tech: Yes, sir.
Remy, are you there?
I'm in position.
I think it's because they knew
they had to work harder than everyone else
in order to fit in.
Intercept him, please.
Understood.
Well, I'm fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.
And I figured those skills would be useful.
Because only the people we really trust
get to be spies.
Everyone, wait!
He'll come back.
He wants to be trusted.
Hold.
So, last question:
Are you in?
What're they saying?
The terms of his involvement.
Hi. Samantha Parker.
Patricia.
And what do you do, Patricia?
Prep Ellie.
We'll say a secure briefing
eliminated any doubt.
You saved his life today.
Now we need to see if he can help us
figure out how this happened.
man [over PA]: Now arriving, Kohl Street.
Doors will open on the right.
woman [over PA]: For your safety,
stand behind the yellow line.
Please allow passengers to exit before boarding the train.
Some sort of metallic nanite residue inside.
What is this?
It's anti-anxiety medication.
For panic attacks.
I didn't want it to impact
my chances of getting in the field.
When did the panic attacks start?
Three years ago, there was an op in Belarus
that went wrong. And...
I thought I left someone to die.
And after that, in unpredictable moments, um,
it felt like I was back there again.
The Copenhagen test.
Yeah, well, now I know it's not even real.
How frequent are the attacks?
I haven't had one in a while now.
How long have you been taking the pills?
About eight months.
Uh, but the headaches started four months ago.
That's probably when it started broadcasting.
That gives us a timeline. Good.
Where'd the pills come from?
Your entire life is the mission now, remember?
There's no part of you that I don't get to know about.
It's all in play.
Rachel Kasperian. My ex-fiancée.
She's a doctor,
but I don't know where the pills came from.
I doubt that she even knows what's inside.
We'll get you some clean pills.
They might take a bit to work.
We can take it from here.
Okay, so... what do I do?
Nothing.
Well, if you're looking into Rachel,
you're gonna wanna use me.
They see everything you see, Alexander.
If you're looking at Rachel,
they're wondering why you're looking at Rachel.
They will start to wonder if you know.
She's not involved,
and you suddenly come back into her life,
it might encourage them to eliminate any loose ends.
You wanna protect her?
Show them you're not thinking about her.
Convince them you're not worried about anything.
How was the secure briefing?
- Yeah, fascinating. - Hmm.
Should I be jealous of all the secrets
I don't get to hear or should I be grateful?
I should be grateful, right?
- Jealous. - Oh!
- Definitely jealous. - I knew it.
Think like the enemy for a moment.
What do you think they'll do next?
What should we be prepared for?
Well, the story that we've told them
is that he's no longer under investigation.
He's welcomed into the inner circle.
They'll need to see if that's true.
That we haven't found the hack.
And if they didn't buy the story?
Well, they'll have to destroy the evidence.
And either way?
They're sending someone.
They have to check his feed somehow.
Make sure that we haven't mirrored the signal...
or inserted a tracing code or something.
And if it appears to be clean,
well, they resume operation, and if not...
they kill him.
This is our chance to see who shows up.
But they can't know that we're watching them.
We have to observe from a distance
but be close enough to save his life.
How're we gonna do that?
I was hoping you'd tell me.
Write me a scenario for out there.
Something we control.
Keep telling the story
that he's starting over,
that he has no doubts.
He lied to me about the panic attacks.
Because he doesn't trust us yet,
and I need him to trust us implicitly.
To earn his trust,
we have to know what's driving him.
You have it down to seven words yet?
Wait--
Which way's the exit?
Weren't you paying attention?
Please just help me get out of here!
You know you can tell me anything, right?
I don't want us to have secrets from each other.
What's he doing?
Trying to not look like he's distracted
and questioning everything about his life.
Ellie,
how are you at picking pockets?
Alexander.
Hey!
I think you might've dropped this.
It was in the kitchen.
I know protocol is to log it,
but I don't know, it seemed personal.
Yeah, thank you.
Is it?
Personal?
Kinda.
Are you into this Michelle?
Uh... yeah. But, uh,
I'm not sure if she's into me.
You know you can find that out.
Text her.
Don't wait too long.
Yeah.
Yeah, I got to figure that part out.
I wanna be an Upstairs field operative.
interviewer: The Upstairs watches the other
clandestine organizations and internal affairs.
Some people would have a problem
with that kind of work.
You?
I just wanna know that what I do
for my country matters.
I just wanna know that what I do
for my country matters.
This bookstore on Seventeenth Street.
People go to bookstores on first dates?
You do.
You'll enter here.
Spend at least an hour in the store.
You're using us as bait.
What makes you think the enemy shows up to check him?
We're telegraphing for them
exactly when and where he's gonna be.
And it's in a public place,
so they won't draw attention to themselves.
It's too good an opportunity to miss.
Whoever shows up to check on you
is our link to who did this.
But you can't see or hear any of that
while it's happening.
Do nothing. If the two of you
need to communicate openly,
there's a rare book room in the basement
where signals are blocked.
Uh, that's a fallback plan
in case Alexander's life is in danger.
If this goes the wrong way,
we abort and you get out of there.
You'll exit through here. To the back.
A van will pick you up.
If I run, they'll know that we know.
It's not worth your life.
If you can get out, get out.
Except he won't run from danger.
He'll follow his conscience instead of an order.
What makes you think that?
Because about three years ago,
he left you behind in a forest to save the life of a child.
You recognized him, didn't you?
Does he know who I am?
He figured it out. You should've told me
you'd been assigned to him before.
Okay...
I don't know what your relationship was like
with your other handlers,
and I know that I'm new to this. I mean--
I literally sit at a desk all day
writing instructions in that novel
while you're the one actually out there risking your life.
But this can work.
We just have to trust each other.
I think you're going to do just fine at this job.
They all say something like that.
The brief said we either save the mission
or save his life.
You're trying to do both.
Yeah.
This guy has to walk an impossible tight rope
without making a single mistake.
Are you sure this will work?
Shadowboxer approaching from around the corner.
Any sign of our visitors?
comms 1: Rooftop's clear. comms 2: Clear.
- Hi. - Hi.
Um...
how was your shift?
Uneventful.
I realized I never asked you what you do.
Yeah, I'm a, um--
I'm a National Archives, uh, researcher.
Okay.
So, what do you do? - Yeah, so, basically
whenever we need to establish
if a letter or document is authentic, um...
I'm a part of that team.
Yeah. - Impressive.
So, how many-- - And what do you do besides--
Sorry, I didn't mean to inter-- - No, what were you say--
You go. - Okay. Okay.
Um, I was just gonna ask
what you did besides bartending.
"Besides"?
Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean
to assume that you had another job.
There's nothing wrong with bartending.
Just bartenders sometimes have
a, like a passion, or-- Sorry--
I'm playing with you.
Okay.
I'm going to divinity school.
- Divinity-- Really? - Yeah.
Uh--
Prove it.
What?
How--
What do you-- - You know, it-- it's a bad joke.
Oh, no, sorry. Yeah.
Yeah? Yeah, I'm--
Yep. Sorry, yeah.
It's a first date.
It's supposed to be excruciating to watch.
But next time, brief her.
Good.
comms 3: Osiris and Shadowboxer are headed in. Falling back.
Remy, it's your show now.
Thanks.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends.
Once more.
Show me inside.
Now we see what surfaces.
I know what we can do.
Why don't we each pick a book
that we either loved or hated
from this general area.
A little "get to know you" exercise.
- Sure. - Okay.
Okay.
We got company.
There's two more.
Do they know that we're watching?
If they knew, they wouldn't have tipped us off
that they knew.
They just don't want a record of what's gonna happen next.
They're coming.
You ready?
Yeah.
Is that the one you loved or hated?
You first.
You know what?
This was a bad idea, wasn't it?
For a first date.
Well, maybe we just
haven't found the right books yet.
Let's find the right books.
There's something in his hand.
He's standing there.
I can hear it.
It's a scanning device.
He's checking Alexander's data stream.
Seeing if the signal's been modified
or tampered with in any way.
Remy, back away.
That's a good one.
They're leaving.
All right, Afterparty,
our three new friends are gettin' ready to leave.
Make sure you follow at maximum distance.
Rooftops, are we clear for-- - bookstore employee: Hi, folks,
just a reminder, the bookstore will be closing
in fifteen minutes.
Hey.
I'm going to use the bathroom.
I think, uh, you should keep browsing and I'll find you.
Sorry.
It's okay.
Hey, it's okay.
It's just the adrenaline.
You're gonna feel something real
in the room. Grab that.
Here.
Feel its texture.
I'm gonna grab your hand now, okay?
Feel my heartbeat.
Good.
That was incredibly brave.
And incredibly dumb.
You knew you were supposed to run
if you were compromised.
Then the mission would've failed.
Hi. I'm Alexander.
Natalie.
Thanks for not leaving me behind.
Well, again.
It's okay. - I--
You know how many of those I did?
Every single one decided
to leave the kid behind except for you.
It was a nice change of pace
to have someone do the right thing.
- I'm just glad you're okay. - Yeah.
We have a contingency in place,
so we can't be down here too long. Are you good?
- Yeah. - Come on.
Oh, and I'm--
I wasn't really supposed to give you my real name, so.
It's between us. - Yeah, sure.
Hey, um,
when we get back up there... - Yeah.
...is there anything you need me to do differently?
I've never done field work before.
You're doing great.
Maybe just relax a little bit. Be yourself.
Yeah.
Is there anything you need from me?
Oh, no. You're-- You're already good at this.
Well,
you're easy to pretend to fall for.
Oh.
Hey. - Hi.
What happened?
Oh, customer had a heart attack.
- Oh, wow. - Yeah.
How awful. woman: Mm.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Osiris and Shadowboxer coming out.
Broadcast stayed clean.
Operation intact.
How's the head, Clarissa?
We know who you are.
We know you're CIA.
We also know you've been taking payments
from foreign governments.
This is what we do.
We keep track of compromised agents
like yourself.
Here's what happened tonight,
one of the two had a heart attack,
which almost blew your cover,
but you were able to get his scanning device.
You're gonna send
the encrypted result of the scan.
Results that show no change in the data stream.
Everything's on track. You're done.
You want your money. Don't contact you again.
That's what you're going to say.
Then you're gonna tell me everything you know
about the person who hired you.
By the way, your other friend is in our custody,
so you're gonna do this quickly
before I change my mind
about which of you gets a second chance.
A man with a cane with a flawless American accent.
She never saw his face.
He threatened to expose her if she didn't work for him.
He knew that she was compromised.
In fact, all three of them tonight
were American agents we've been looking into.
Yeah.
Whoever's behind this is using the hack
to find compromised agents and then they flip them.
We supplied them with an army.
A man with a cane.
Sounds like the beginning of a fantastic limerick.
I like the Parker girl.
This guy has to walk an impossible tight rope
without making a single mistake.
Are you sure this will work?
No.
I'm missing something,
I just can't figure out what it is.
Well, if--
if he's such a good guy, then...
part of him will feel guilty
that I've been assigned to fall for him.
That's good.
"You're easy to pretend to fall for."
You should tell him a real name.
You look like a "Natalie."
- Really? - A little.
I'm Natalie.
And don't worry about Belarus.
Do you know how many of those I did?
Every single one decided to leave the kid behind.
Except for you.
It was a nice change of pace
to have someone do the right thing.
That'll work.
I'll update the pages.
Pretty confident,
given you've never even met the guy.
I think we're both chasing the same kinda thing.
Thanks for meeting me.
I really needed your advice.
How's that little... problem inside your house going?
It's been answered.
To their satisfaction.
But not to yours.
I think there's a risk
that they are not taking seriously.
Hmm.
It's a challenge we all encounter
in this life at one time or another.
My first mentor at MI6 used to say
"Sometimes, the greatest service you can provide those above you
is to assume they're fallible."
Find out who shares your concern.
It's your duty to ask the hardest questions.
To be continued.
The meal was a triumph, my old friend!
Oh, you're too kind, Henry.
This young man is the nephew I've told you so much about.
And this is the man who once saved my life.
Ah.
It's always nice to meet a fellow traveler.
Likewise.
Come, join us for a drink.
If I must.
We can tell some war stories together.
All right.
Oh, let me move that.