The Agency — Season 1, Episode 9: Rules Of The Game
Drama • 60 min • 2 seasons, 44 episodes • ★ 6.7/10
Episode synopsis
When the National Security Agency (NSA) learns of a plot to assassinate the King of Saudi Arabia, Matt and Lisa help track down those involved only to discover that there is a larger terrorist plot in the works. Soon after Matt and Lisa catch the would-be assassins, Israeli intelligence informs the CIA that one of the incarcerated terrorists is their own agent on an undercover mission and requests his safe return. Once Matt arranges this, the Agency discovers that Israeli intelligence has deceived them and the man they released is a link to a terrorist they had been pursuing for years.
About The Agency
The Agency is a CBS television drama that followed the inner-workings of the CIA. The series was created by Michael Frost Beckner and was executive produced by Michael Frost Beckner, Shaun Cassidy Productions and Radiant Productions in association with Universal Network Television and CBS Productions. It aired from September 27, 2001 until May 17, 2003, lasting two seasons. It featured unprecedented filming from the actual CIA headquarters. The show was controversial regarding its exploration of current international affairs and its treatment of the ethical conflicts inherent in intelligence work. Beckner's pilot script, written in March 2001, posited a re-invented CIA tasked with a "War on Terror" after Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization plots a lethal attack on the west. The pilot was to premiere at CIA Headquarters on September 18, 2001 and set to air on CBS September 21, 2001, however, the actual 9/11 attacks convinced the network to hold the pilot and instead air a later episode. That first episode was aired later as the third episode of the first season. The September 11, 2001 terrorist events changed the way Americans viewed topical entertainment and "The Agency", at the time, was one of the most topical offering on network television. The producers of the series quickly responded to this new American perspective on world affairs, but CBS chose to cancel the show shortly after the second season's final episode.