"Night 3"
Wow! What a strong conclusion for what's sure to be recognized as one of the year's best miniseries. The tone this time was definitely more of a piece with
The Company's slow-building first part than last week's globe-trotting actionfest. But the dark, regretful feeling that permeated every action, every conversation, was, in the end, the only way things could have turned out.
Watching the complete breakdown of Leo (http:/
/
www.
tvguide.
com/
celebrities/
alessandro-nivola/
138750">Alessandro Nivola) throughout his interrogation was shocking - in part because of its swiftness, but more so because his only crime was being too loyal to the Company.
Or so it seemed, until we found out he was the mole, Sasha, all along - a fact he later revealed by shooting his best friend and godfather of his children in the gut and fleeing to the crumbling remains of his adopted homeland.
Truly, it seems, the Cold War was a grand debacle, perhaps summed up best by http:/
/
www.
tvguide.
com/
celebrities/
michael-keaton/
166124">Michael Keaton 's Angleton in his greenhouse conversation with http:/
/
www.
tvguide.
com/
celebrities/
chris-odonnell/
144528">Chris O'Donnell 's Jack: "We're all lost, Jack. We're lost in the wilderness of mirrors."
Defectors, false defectors, double and triple agents: It was all hard to keep straight, to remember who were the allies and who were the enemies. But I think that was ultimately the point of this whole project - to let us peek behind the curtain and see that there were no brilliant puppet masters with grand plans. There were just a lot of idealistic men and women trying to do the best for themselves and their countries, even when they couldn't figure out just what that was. A little disheartening, to be sure, but probably a lot closer to the truth than your typical black-and-white, heroes-and-villains scenario.
On a more positive note, the reappearance of http:/
/
www.
tvguide.
com/
celebrities/
rory-cochrane/
172961">Rory Cochrane's Yevgeny, who was mostly MIA during part 2, brought the story full circle in a satisfying way.
Ultimately, it came down to three college friends who became bitter enemies - but instead of resulting in a climactic battle, there was only a weak truce, borne not of trust, but simply of resignation.
Harvey (http:/
/
www.
tvguide.
com/
celebrities/
alfred-molina/
138989">Alfred Molina) and Jack's final conversation applied to all three of those once-idealistic young men, and to both sides of the Cold War, as Jack wondered if the lives they had given up really made any difference at all, and if the world would understand or even remember their sacrifices. It was a perfectly bittersweet note on which to end such a subtle, contemplative piece.
So, on that upbeat note... thanks for watching
The Company along with me. I'll be taking a blogging break this fall, but returning in January for the seventh season of http:/
/
www.
tvguide.
com/
tvshows/
24/
100003">
24. With big changes planned for the cast and locations this time around, it should be a wild ride, and I, for one, can't wait.
Watch online: For clips of The Company
, visit our Online Video Guide.
