Deutschland 83: Atlantic Lion
July 2, 2015 7:12 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe
While at a NATO conference in Brussels, Martin gets his first assignment: to seduce and bug the head security analyst’s secretary, Linda.
From the Sundance website:
While at a NATO conference in Brussels, Martin gets his first assignment: to seduce and bug the head security analyst's secretary, Linda. General Edel and his new aid bond on a trip to Brussels to meet with the top security. Lenora, Martin’s aunt in East Germany, emerges to tell him that his mother needs a kidney transplant. She takes his blood to see if he might be a match. Back in East Berlin, Martin’s fiancée, Annett, moves in to take care of Ingrid and reveals that she is pregnant with her son’s baby. When Martin reconnects with Linda, a secretary he met earlier in Bonn, he sleeps with her and successfully installs a microphone in her desk at NATO. Martin manages to connect the East Berlin Headquarters with the office of the top military security analyst at NATO Headquarters. It’s the first time he pulls off such a complex spy maneuver successfully and he quickly becomes a rising star.
From the Sundance website:
While at a NATO conference in Brussels, Martin gets his first assignment: to seduce and bug the head security analyst's secretary, Linda. General Edel and his new aid bond on a trip to Brussels to meet with the top security. Lenora, Martin’s aunt in East Germany, emerges to tell him that his mother needs a kidney transplant. She takes his blood to see if he might be a match. Back in East Berlin, Martin’s fiancée, Annett, moves in to take care of Ingrid and reveals that she is pregnant with her son’s baby. When Martin reconnects with Linda, a secretary he met earlier in Bonn, he sleeps with her and successfully installs a microphone in her desk at NATO. Martin manages to connect the East Berlin Headquarters with the office of the top military security analyst at NATO Headquarters. It’s the first time he pulls off such a complex spy maneuver successfully and he quickly becomes a rising star.
I am seriously loving this show.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:42 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:42 PM on July 2, 2015
Speaking of that - wait, so they have a mic device that can detect what Linda is typing and transmit it? That seems pretty sophisticated to me for a country that can't yet handle a floppy disk. But I'm no spy-tech expert.
Well, they have 8" floppies, just not 5 1/4" floppies. I'm trying to research when the Robotron A 5120 they're using (which came out in 1982) first got drives in that size, but they definitely were standard on Robotron personal computers by 1985.
"Rauch" I gather means "smoke" in German.
Damn I knew that but I totally forgot that was his last name. In a previous episode he walks into a garage with a large "Rauchen Verboten" sign too!
I'm pretty tickled by the name of the East German spy in the Western German peace group: "Tischbier" or "Table Beer". Not an uncommon German surname, but a goofy one.
Also enjoying this, I'm curious to see if it keeps the "one big mission per week" format or goes more serialized. The music is so fun!
posted by JauntyFedora at 11:54 PM on July 2, 2015
Well, they have 8" floppies, just not 5 1/4" floppies. I'm trying to research when the Robotron A 5120 they're using (which came out in 1982) first got drives in that size, but they definitely were standard on Robotron personal computers by 1985.
"Rauch" I gather means "smoke" in German.
Damn I knew that but I totally forgot that was his last name. In a previous episode he walks into a garage with a large "Rauchen Verboten" sign too!
I'm pretty tickled by the name of the East German spy in the Western German peace group: "Tischbier" or "Table Beer". Not an uncommon German surname, but a goofy one.
Also enjoying this, I'm curious to see if it keeps the "one big mission per week" format or goes more serialized. The music is so fun!
posted by JauntyFedora at 11:54 PM on July 2, 2015
Art Deco and cats? I'd probably stay in Brussels. Fuck the mission.
I wonder what does this mean for Martin's mother. Is she defecting?
And for a pedantic moment, wasn't that a 1984 IBM 5155? I'm guessing they couldn't obtain an actual 1983 computer (such as the XT, a Compaq, or if there was some AMC-Sundance synergy, a Cardiff Giant) so came up with that.
I mean, the shop owner thinks nothing of the fact that his dog is growling at something? Even if it's just a mouse or something wouldn't you check it out?
A guard dog would probably bark if it was something serious. Besides, At worst, I'd expect thieves to be looking for money, not spies planting bugs trying to pass unnoticed, and the first would be far more likely to confront instead of hiding.
That seems pretty sophisticated to me for a country that can't yet handle a floppy disk.
Stasi was perhaps the most advanced spy agency during the cold war, particularly when it comes to eavesdropping.
posted by lmfsilva at 5:26 AM on July 3, 2015
I wonder what does this mean for Martin's mother. Is she defecting?
And for a pedantic moment, wasn't that a 1984 IBM 5155? I'm guessing they couldn't obtain an actual 1983 computer (such as the XT, a Compaq, or if there was some AMC-Sundance synergy, a Cardiff Giant) so came up with that.
I mean, the shop owner thinks nothing of the fact that his dog is growling at something? Even if it's just a mouse or something wouldn't you check it out?
A guard dog would probably bark if it was something serious. Besides, At worst, I'd expect thieves to be looking for money, not spies planting bugs trying to pass unnoticed, and the first would be far more likely to confront instead of hiding.
That seems pretty sophisticated to me for a country that can't yet handle a floppy disk.
Stasi was perhaps the most advanced spy agency during the cold war, particularly when it comes to eavesdropping.
posted by lmfsilva at 5:26 AM on July 3, 2015
Along with the floppy size issues, the quick cut to the BASIC program that prints out the random table of "encoded" numbers was pretty hilarious.
posted by joeyh at 4:18 PM on July 19, 2015
posted by joeyh at 4:18 PM on July 19, 2015
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So Martin's mother has a secret cache of banned Western books. And from that glimpse of the guy putting stuff in the trunk of the car I wonder if she isn't planning to defect with him?
Annett's pregnant, but is it really Martin's?
Fun bit I got from the show's Twitter feed: When General Edel says "it smells like smoke" in the car, this is a play on Martin's real last name. "Rauch" I gather means "smoke" in German.
Oh, and the scene in the Stasi HQ was filmed in the real Stasi HQ. The building was turned into a museum, and that room is "as is" from the period. Kinda cool!
Speaking of that - wait, so they have a mic device that can detect what Linda is typing and transmit it? That seems pretty sophisticated to me for a country that can't yet handle a floppy disk. But I'm no spy-tech expert.
posted by dnash at 7:22 AM on July 2, 2015