The Sympathizer: Death Wish

April 16, 2024 1:05 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

With the fall of Saigon imminent, the Captain juggles the Communist party, the South Vietnamese army, his CIA handler, and his conscience.

There is a podcast for the show, hosted by Philip Nguyen. First ep is with the showrunners Don Mckellar and Park Chan-wook. There are probably spoilers for the book.

Vulture recap.

posted by toastyk (5 comments total)

I wasn't that attracted to the premise and I guffawed at Downey Jr's awards bait makeup/hair situation, but those two names as showrunners got my attention.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:44 PM on April 16

The premiere is very good. I think I saw somewhere where Nguyen said that Robert Downey Jr was the hook to get audiences in, but the real meat of the story is the story of the Vietnam war from the Vietnamese perspectives with Vietnamese actors in almost every single scene. I think Hoa Xuande does an excellent job at least in this first episode.
posted by toastyk at 8:05 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]

My partner and I both really enjoyed this and are looking forward to seeing where it goes (have not read the book). I thought all the acting was excellent so far, and had no idea that was Downey Jr. - I hadn't read anything about this until seeing the first episode pop up in my feed.
posted by coffeecat at 5:30 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

Really strong first episode! Excited to see where this goes.

Here’s an archive link for the recap, and a nice interview with the Captain, Hoa Xuande.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:30 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]

read the book a few years ago and was blown away. its a great story but the writing is truly incredible. I have seen the first 3 eps so far and I'm all in. I think its really well done.
posted by supermedusa at 9:37 AM on April 30