The Copenhagen Test Review

The Copenhagen Test is the type of series that frustrates me more than anything. It’s got a cast of rising stars – Simu Liu (Barbie, Shang-Chi), Melissa Barrera (Scream V and VI), and Sinclair Daniel (The Other Black Girl) – with a stellar supporting cast  – Brian d’Arcy James (Spotlight), Kathleen Chalfant (The Affair), Saul Rubinek (Warehouse 13), and Adam Godley (Love Actually) – and a cool premise – an intelligence analyst (Liu) discovers that his mind has been hacked, allowing someone to watch everything he does, says, reads, and encounters. And yet, by the end of the eight episodes of season one, I was left almost completely cold by the series. Is there something to recommend here? Yes, and I’ll get into that shortly. But for the heaps of talent in front of the camera (as well as some great fight choreography and camera work in those sequences), Thomas Brandon and Jennifer Yale’s series lacks the one thing you need with this type of storytelling: heart.

I’ve been a fan of both Liu and Barrera in their previous projects, however, both are truly wasted here. Barrera plays Michelle, an undercover operative, who is emotionally distant and wholly focused on the mission at hand. Great, right? This is what one might expect from someone with so much pressure on them. But that coldness is a constant, both on and off the job, making her character completely inaccessible to the audience. When the spy is playing her part, Barrera isn’t able to show us someone with whom any rational person would feel a connection with. And Liu, our leading man, is shockingly wooden throughout his performance. Yes, his character Alexander is trying to come to terms with a huge violation to his person, but even as the series continues, Liu is just a blank slate without any charm or personality. Which is crazy, because Liu has shown he can be charming, charismatic, and command the screen in his other big-time projects.

Now, if you looked at the promotional materials for the series, you would think this was some sort of spy thriller starring Liu and Barrera as our two spies trying to stop a nefarious plan. And you would be very wrong. Because it’s not Barrera who is the co-lead here (although she’s around quite a bit). It’s Sinclair Daniel’s Parker. And you know what? Thank god it is, because Daniel is what makes The Copenhagen Test worth watching. Heck, I would have loved to have more of her and less of our action-centric duo of Liu and Barrera. Daniel is the heart of the story – it’s her journey that gives the series its emotional arc, that allows us to really get a rooting interest into the (often confusing) story beats. And those who surround her character – d’Arcy James’ agency director John Moira and Chalfant’s St. George – turn out to be more realized characters because of their interactions with Parker.  Heck, Barrera has more chemistry – by a long shot – with Daniel than with Liu (which is also a problem).

So, what we end up with is two shows combined into one. Alexander is working with the team lead by Parker to try to figure out just who put this tech into his brain. And Parker is trying to run the operation, working to manage her emotions in a field that asks you to check your humanity at the door. Which, of course, explains how someone like Michelle is mostly an emotionless husk at this point – again, not something that is particularly engaging to watch on screen. But Parker is the character we can empathize with, whose emotional trajectory can be super-imposed onto ours. It’s fun to watch Alexander and Michelle do spy things and go on spy missions. But without characters we can understand on an emotional level, those sequences mostly leave you cold. But Parker trying to manage chaos? Trying to understand how to compartmentalize that sometimes you have to lose to win? Oof, that’s hard to watch but compelling character work. And Daniel is great in the role.

Which brings me to a verdict. Is The Copenhagen Test worth a holiday binge? If you’re the type that loves to dive into a series that will get your adrenaline up without having to worry about remembering much – if anything – about it a day or two later, it certainly works for that. But if you want to immerse yourself in a world and its characters, The Copenhagen Test doesn’t offer that type of escape. This one is mostly empty calories. Although, I’m certainly going to take note of Sinclair Daniel and track what she’s in next – because she’s something special in a series without much substance.

The Copenhagen Test will release all episodes on December 27. All eight episodes were provided for review.