Elegant, gorgeous, interesting, intensely convoluted–I expected Talamasca: The Secret Order to be all that and more. But if you’d told me that AMC’s supernatural spy thriller would meet, nay, exceed the kind of humor that made Interview with the Vampire a well-rounded entertainer, I would’ve been a little skeptical. Where’s even the scope for some ditzy jokes in a show that mostly involves secret organizations, rabid beasts of all kinds, and dangerous spy work. The answer, as John Lee Hancock and his brilliant set of writers have found, lies in a smart, yet utterly underprepared, sloppy, and completely reluctant spy. It looks like we’ve got just the Guy for it.
Spoiler Alert
Guy takes the job of a spy
Think about it. Why would Guy be so stupid as to go right up and ask Helen about his mom? He may not know absolutely anything about Talamasca yet, but he knows enough to expect a lie straight through Helen’s pearly whites. So, yeah. He’s right to infiltrate and wait. I don’t think Guy has the first clue about being a spy or even any interest in it that goes beyond basic curiosity and thrill. The only reason he’s brightened Helen’s room with his presence is because he wants to find his mom, the supposedly dead Anna Leamas. This isn’t the first time we watch Guy negotiate a no-nonsense, fair deal from an employer. Although the smirk on Helen’s face as Guy demands that he won’t tolerate any “classified” mumbo jumbo, and that needs to be told what he’s getting into before he’s getting into it, says that she finds him quite adorable. Which he is. He’s also rather naive. A verbal agreement with someone as high up in the food chain as Helen is meaningless. But I do think that Guy will make bank working for Talamasca. I mean, if Helen can get the penthouse of The Dakota for a vampire, Guy shouldn’t have any problem getting anything he wants. And now, it’s Helen’s turn to lay down her cards. I’m sure Guy knew that he won’t be able to manage Cavitt and spywork together, especially considering his work for Helen will send him to London. So a sabbatical it is, a pretty awkward one considering Guy hasn’t worked a single day in Cavitt yet. But he’s already made a friend. And he knows that a lie about a death in the family, a family that’s already been through so much, is enough to get the ball rolling with the nice guy who works at Cavitt. Helen’s understandably thorough with the lore that they have to establish for Guy and his sudden relocation. Thankfully, it’s not too difficult to convince people that a dude who practically lived on anxiety pills and claimed to hear voices finally lost it. And following that, it’s also pretty believable that one of Guy’s cousins would feel pity over his state and get him a work visa and a gig in London to help him get a fresh start. That’s it, that’s Guy’s story. A troubled, gifted kid to a troubled teen with a promising future to a troubled young adult who’s lost his spark and is having to start from scratch. The problem is, this stuff about Guy is basically going to be public information from now on. So that’s it for his reputation, I guess. But I doubt that a loner like Guy cares about that too much. What he does care about is the secret that Helen’s face gives away almost entirely at times, but especially when Guy asks her what her name is for the first time. Something tells me that Guy and Helen are connected in ways that go far beyond the secret operation that the New York mother has been engaged in for God knows how long. Nobody in the bigger Talamasca Organization even knows about Guy. Helen’s built him up in secret. And I don’t think she did it entirely selfishly.
I spy a nervous Guy
There are aspects of the job that Guy is bound to enjoy. For starters, he’s now employed by a very CIA-esque organization where there are secrets within secrets. As he’s coming to learn, Helen’s operation aims to yank the now-rogue New York mother house by the tail and tame it back into following rules. Because, you see, an organization like Talamasca, however practical their endeavors may be, must have a system, a set of rules, and superfluousness just for the hell of it. It only works if every member of the club abides by these laws enforced by the self-declared leader of all the mother houses, New York. You think there’s any reason Guy’s initiation and training needs to include a 54 digit code he needs to remember, a very Whiplash-coded masterclass on a whole bunch of code deductions he needs to do through books, and a walk through the cemetery so no one suspects him and Helen? It’s called flair! But they certainly could’ve done better for Guy than a job at The Yank. Yes. That’s officially the name of the strip-”club” where Guy’s now a leaflet boy. I feel for him! This place overlooks the phone booth where hints will be dropped for Guy. Hints about whom, though? It seems that the people running the London mother house circus are bringing in someone particularly sketchy, someone named Archie. Now, since Helen knows his name, I don’t see why Guy had to earn this information by chasing down a hint that was almost about to be dumped because guess what, he’d taken a break and zoned out. Training, I guess. Now he knows not to sleep on the job. But as Guy sadly comes to learn, spy work can get really boring. He’s been instructed to follow Archie’s movements and meetings and try to listen in on their thoughts. For that, Archie needs to be found by Talamasca. But when’s that going to happen? Because, until then, Guy doesn’t have a single thing to do. Well, nothing except trying to look for his mother in the Talamasca archives. Since everything about Anna Leamas has been erased, Guy doesn’t learn anything more than the fact that she used to work for the Talamasca London mother house, and that her official status is “terminated.” Helen said she wouldn’t get in touch. But I think it’s her trying to check on him through the site when he gets a text asking him if there’s something they can help him with. It’s a sarcastic reminder that they’re, in fact, always watching, and they’re everywhere. No luck yet for Guy. But he does get lucky when this very chirpy, very social Kevis pushes the boundaries of his anxiety at the bar. There’s something about the pattern of Kevis’s questioning that makes it sound like she’s trying to check if Guy passes the test. What test? The test of convincing a stranger of his lore. And what do you know? The very old book in Kevis’s bag that she obviously wants him to notice tells us that she’s Talamasca too. Helen did talk about a handler he’s going to get. And since Kevis very “you’re my Guy” with Guy, I think she might be his London handler. But she’s not like any other handler you’ve seen in spy thrillers before. Then again, Guy is far from a traditional spy. A cute girl likes a cute guy she met at a bar. She wants this to be their story because, get this, breaking rules gets her off. No wonder the London mother house is in utter chaos. Guy should really watch out and remember Burton’s warnings. He’s way in over his head. Plus, spooky things are happening all around him. I think something, or someone supernatural is watching over Guy. He was almost about to be run over by a car on his first day in London. But whoever yanked him back by his collar vanished when he looked back. I also think that the girl who joins Kevis and Guy at the club for a trippy threesome situation is not entirely human. She told Guy he was in a lot of trouble. And I believe her.
What’s going on at the London mother house?
A quick look at the London mother house shows us the very antithesis of Helen’s leadership qualities in Greg Owen. His interest in the investigation into Soledad’s death isn’t a coincidence. The investigation opened the 2nd episode of Talamasca: The Secret Order, and while death by train might not be a new thing for the inspector, he doesn’t see why a pretty girl like Soledad would want to die in a way that mangles. They’re still thinking it’s suicide, you see. The pack of silly putty they find near the track has to be meaningful in some way. Please don’t let Soledad have a child who’s now without a mother! The fact that the police are leaning toward the suicide theory is a relief for Greg, the leader of the London mother house and a puppet to Jasper, the man who controlled the hungry creatures who tore through Soledad’s flesh even after he died. You know what’s actually rather interesting? Soledad was actually an employee at the London mother house, not New York. But she wasn’t someone whose loyalty belonged to the highest bidder. Whether she was planted in the London mother house by Helen or she turned against Greg at some point, Soledad had reasons to believe that the London mother house is just as big of a mess as Helen says it is. I mean, it’s run by someone like Jasper, who, btw, has installed CCTV everywhere around the place, even the loo, ever since he’s taken over. But here’s the freaky part. Even though Jasper lives in the London mother house and keeps an eye on everyone, no one other than Greg has seen him. Weird, right? We only get to know about this because this employee of the London mother house, Checkers, is brought in for a dressing down and a demotion. Sure, you can absolutely hold him accountable for falling into Soledad’s trap, going to bed with her, and waking up the next morning so happy that for days, he doesn’t check if he has the key to the mother house in his wallet or not. He obviously doesn’t have it because Soledad stole it to break into the place and steal information for Helen. But I like that Checkers stands up for himself even though he can easily get fired or worse. It seems like he’s worked here a long time. He’s noticed how things have gotten worse ever since a certain someone had Greg turn a previously-wholesome place into a prison where everyone is watched at all times. Checkers doesn’t even know Jasper or how he’s managed to dig his claws into Greg. But he’s both brave and stupid enough to look straight into the camera and address the very powerful being on the other side of the screen. There are more hints to come, but anyone familiar with the Immortal Universe can read the signs that indicate Jasper’s real identity. I think dude’s a vampire. An extremely old, extremely powerful one at that.
Who killed Archie and Kevis?
I’d advise you against assuming most of anything outside of things you absolutely know when it comes to Talamasca: The Secret Order. The shows they make on Anne Rice’s books don’t limit themselves to the specific expectations of the readers for one reason. Anne Rice’s characters and worldbuilding are expanded to the size of the universe in the shows because the medium gives the storytellers that scope. That also means that there will be random changes here and there. For instance, the books know Jasper as a righteous vampire. But so far, we have only seen him do awful and sketchy things. There’s also no way to tell why he’s taken over the London mother house, what his plans and goals are with it, and why the bigger Talamasca Organization doesn’t want to touch this case with a 10 foot pole. But guess who’s in the thick of it without a single clue about any of this? Guy Anatole.
The one thing Guy has done right so far was decoding the clues Helen sent him about Archie’s evening plans. Guy’s way too underdressed for the restaurant where Archie meets Jasper and Greg. Guy sensed Jasper’s power when he passed him by. He’s telepathic, after all. But here’s the thing. He is NOT a natural spy. He was supposed to keep an eye on them without blowing his cover. And he was only supposed to listen in when safe. Now, who told this man to get so overconfident that he tries the trick he pulled on Burton. Not very successfully, if I may add. And as you can predict, he’s not successful this time either. It’s a very special moment when Jasper finds Guy knocking on the door of his mind. He wants Guy to know that he knows. That’s why that is very bonechilling, “who do we have here.” Busted!
Guy should’ve aborted the mission the moment he was caught. Helen did warn him about the danger he’d be putting himself in if he gets close to these people. And then there’s Burton’s warnings about the vampires that “will mold you and take you.” We know a handful of them, don’t we? But here’s Guy doing one wrong thing after another as he follows Archie and finds him climbing a fire escape and going inside a flat. As a brand new spy who was instructed not to intervene, it’s a very tough call for Guy when he hears a woman’s scream from the flat. Does he save himself and the operation? Does he go in and help the woman?
We get the answer in the ending of the 2nd episode of Talamasca: The Secret Order, when Guy, a sweet person by nature, risks everything and goes up to the flat hoping that he can help the poor woman. But it looks like he can’t help anyone there. He can barely breathe when he sees Archie bleeding out, sitting on the floor. And as if it’s hell on earth for Guy, he finds the woman hanging in the other room, clearly murdered–and the woman is Kevis. We already knew that she worked for Talamasca. Archie was sent here to take something from her. Maybe something that she had no business taking. When a traumatized Guy is shaken some more to find Archie alive, but dying, all he can get himself to care about is comforting him in his last moments. His “it’s okay” and dread drowned Archie’s voice. He was asking Guy to take the book from Kevis’s bag. But does Guy at least do the right thing and take that book? Not a chance in hell. He’s never been through anything like this before. So flight it is when the first thing he does is run away from that horror house. How’s he going to even do this job? Poor Guy!
