Little known fact: spies don’t exist only in America and England. You wouldn’t really know that from watching English-language movies and TV for the past fifty years, but it’s true. The fantastic series The Americans (stay tuned for a future Binge Watch entry) was one show that reminded us of this fact, and I just stumbled across another: The Eastern Gate, a new series on MAX.
The Eastern Gate (Przesmyk) is 6-episode Polish mini-series about the precarious geopolitical relationship between Poland, Russia and Belarus, mainly focused on a little-known swath of land called the Suwalki Gap (known as the Eastern Gate). The Suwalki Gap is a small piece of land situated on the border between Lithuania and Poland which is the only land route connecting 
the Baltic states to the rest of NATO and the European Union. Don’t worry, you can dive as deeply into the eastern European politics of geography as you’d like, or you can just sit back and watch the action. Personally, I was fascinated by the fact that I was learning about this vital strategic region that I knew nothing about, but then even I got carried away by all the cool spy stuff.
Ah, the cool spy stuff. If you think James Bond is badass, you haven’t met Ewa Oginiec yet. Played by Lena Góra, Ewa is a Polish spy who is tasked with sussing out the Russian mole in the Polish embassy (isn’t there always one?) in Belarus before the Russians can sabotage everything. Of course, there’s never just one traitor, as it turns out nobody is who they say they are in this ruthless world of political machinations and soul-less betrayals. The only one Ewa can count on is her boyfriend and partner, Skiner, played by Karol Pochec. But when he gets grabbed by the Russians, Ewa is on her own and has to figure out who to trust and, most importantly, who not to.
What’s most compelling about The Eastern Gate, besides the fact that Ewa is totally awesome and does all the things a great spy does, including disguises, hand-to-hand combat, and seduction, is the fact that it is so un-stylized. I noticed a critic used the term “lean and mean” to describe the show and that is so perfect. This show is the anti-James Bond, in that it is set in Poland and Belarus, which means it’s dark and grungy, the paint is peeling and everything feels like it’s a half-century in the past. There’s no music, there are no fancy tricks or cool cinematography.
But what The Eastern Gate is is thrilling TV. The story, told in 6 brisk, fast-paced episodes, is packed with action, loaded with double-crosses, plot twists, betrayals, murders, suicides, ruthlessness, shootouts, fistfights and a lead character who you really, really care about and root for. Ewa is tortured, morally conflicted, grieving, dedicated and potentially heartless. But isn’t that what it takes to be good at this? Isn’t that who we want keeping the world safe?
If you dig emotional depth mixed with blunt violence, action with no style but a ton of purpose, true escapist entertainment with underlying geopolitical real-life undertones, and a true female action hero for women’s history month, I can’t recommend The Eastern Gate more.
NOTE: I always like to watch foreign shows and movies in their original language, but I do have a recommendation for watching this show which helped me, and it may help you. The main two languages spoken in this show are Russian and Polish. It’s generally a key plot point to know who’s speaking Russian and who’s speaking Polish. Now, let’s assume you don’t speak either language. If you put the MAX audio settings on English subtitles and English audio, you will get English dubbing for the Polish but the Russian will stay original and you’ll get subtitles. This greatly helped me follow the story, because I was able to tell the Russian from the Polish characters. I suggest you do the same. Again, I would normally NEVER recommend you watch a show dubbed, but this one time it really helped me follow the story better.
The Eastern Gate (6 episodes) is currently available to stream on MAX. There has been no announcement about a second season.