The Agency's theme song foreshadows the stakes of Martian's ill-advised affair

Spoilers ahead of The Agency episode 1

The Agency marries the high stakes of a potential geopolitical crisis with a spy's compulsion to follow his heart. We're dropped into the middle of Martian's story. He's not an agent new to the CIA. There's nothing green or unpolished about him. He's aware of the toll the job has taken on him.

Martian lost six years with his daughter in the name of keeping the world safe and America's interests a priority. Even his extraction from his mission in Ethiopia was not done with the care and forewarning that he would have liked. He left behind, Samia, a woman who knew him by the name Paul and who was unaware of his position as a spy. The premiere makes clear that Martian got too close to her and his desire to be with Samia could prove dangerous.

We don't know this at first but it is foreshadowed by The Agency's theme song, "Love is Blindness," by Jack White (a cover of the U2 song) and then the title is echoed by Martian's handler in the closing minutes of the episode. It seems that his handler was unconcerned with his romance when she was told about it. Martian had chosen Samia likely because she's married to a man named Dr. Mustafa Zahir. She seemingly lives a good life and is fulfilled by her work as an academic and educator.

Extracting himself from their entanglement should have been, if not easy, fairly uncomplicated but Martian lied to his handler when he told her about their break-up. It wasn't emotionally volatile and near violent; it was amicable and loving. The key word there being "loving." Martian loves Samia and it's already causing him to be reckless.

When he saw that there was unrest and a deadly fire at the university that she works at, he went to go get a phone so he could check-in on her despite his being watched by the agency. After he learned she's in London, like him, he shook his tail, got rid of his tracker (missed the back-up one), and met her at a hotel bar. That's only in the premiere. We're on this ride for 10 episodes, which means we're certain to be in for twists.

The concern for any spy organization is that their agents will somehow get turned or become compromised. We're seeing that play out on The Agency with the disappearance of Coyote, a spy who had refused under the influence interrogation training because he'd been sober for years. Then, while he was in Minsk, he'd been forced to drink and was later arrested. The very training he needed wasn't apart of his skillset and he's now gone AWOL with knowledge that impacts 60% of the CIA's covert operations in Ukraine and Russia.

We've yet to learn what kind of information that Martian knows from his years as an undercover operative. If Samia isn't who she says she is, and he's ignored red flags, he could be a walking liability and national security risk. Love can make you blind and, as many have said, it can make you stupid, too. Is that what's going on with Martian? We'll have to wait and see but there could be more to Samia than we're being led to believe even if she isn't a spy for another country.

Check out "Love is Blindness" by Jack White below including the lyrics (via Lyricfind):

Love is blindness
I don't wanna see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh my heart
Love is blindness

In a parked car
In a crowded street
You see your love
Made complete
Thread is ripping
The knot is slipping
Love is blindness

Love is clockworks
And cold steel
Fingers too numb to feel
Squeeze the handle
Blow out the candle
Love is blindness

Love is blindness
I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh my love
Blindness

A little death
Without mourning
No call
And no warning
Baby, a dangerous idea
That almost makes sense

Love is drowning
In a deep well
All the secrets
And no one to tell
Take the money honey
Blindness

Love is blindness
I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh my love
Blindness

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