The Sympathizer

Bringing to life an acclaimed novel is a tall task, especially one as rich and unique as Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. Like the award-winning book, the ambitious TV adaptation is structured in a way where events unfold solely through the unnamed protagonist’s past memories and experiences in a post-Vietnam War reality, making him a severely unreliable narrator. Similar to the novel, the show actually begins at the end of the story, with regular flashbacks and time-jumps back and forth to specific moments in time. As a result, every development and revelation that surfaces in the years-spanning tale consistently serves as an unexpected and sometimes shocking surprise.

The Sympathizer’s central hero is only referred to as Captain (Cowboy Bebop’s Hoa Xuande), a man who constantly struggles to reconcile with his conflicting loyalties. He is introduced as someone who is caught between two worlds — often grappling with his dual identities (he’s half-Vietnamese and half-French) and his opposing cultures (he was born in Vietnam, but raised with American ideals). He’s also a North Vietnam spy, secretly embedded within South Vietnam’s special police forces. Later, in the aftermath of the fall of Saigon in 1975 when the North takes control of the South’s capital city, he’s enmeshed in the refugee community when he and other South Vietnamese make their new home in Los Angeles. At every turn, his shifting allegiances cause him major internal strife as the threat of his spy work leaking keeps him on a razor’s edge.

One of Captain’s opening lines of the series succinctly captures his contradictory existence, which is the motivating force behind The Sympathizer and drives much of the series. “I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook. A man with two faces… I am half and half — biracial, bilingual. A synthesis of incompatibilities,” Captain says via his inner monologue. He’s self-aware enough to acknowledge it as a misfortune, which you see play out over the course of the drama: “I was cursed to see every issue from both sides.”

The most arresting moment from the first episode comes in the final sequence. Set one day before the fall of Saigon, an agreement has been made between the CIA and the General (Toan Le) of the South Vietnam special police forces to safely evacuate one plane’s worth of their people. Destination? America. However, just as the bus they’re in races toward the plane that would grant them sanctuary, the North bombs the tarmac, killing dozens — including the loved ones of one of Captain’s closest friends. Unfortunately, there’s no time for Captain to help his grieving friend as bombs continue to rain down around them — the emotional angst exhibited on his face at that exact moment is palpable. The entire scene is a visual stunner and strikingly conveys the intensity of Captain’s double life.

What sets The Sympathizer apart from the typical book-to-screen adaptation is its ability to ping-pong from one genre to another, mirroring the signature tonal shifts in the novel. It’s equal parts spy thriller, war drama, black comedy and conspiracy mystery. More importantly, the spotlight is put squarely on the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War (incidentally referred to as the American War in Vietnam). It’s a point of view that’s largely been omitted from U.S. history books, making The Sympathizer all the more crucial.

Downey Jr. effectively transforms into four distinct characters, the first of whom is the caustic CIA operative Claude, who’s been working with South Vietnam (and Captain) to take down the North’s intelligence framework. The other personas he plays — a university professor, a congressman and an arrogant Hollywood film director — are sprinkled throughout the series, each one meant to be representative of all that is preposterous with Western society.