The Company (TV Miniseries)

''The Company'' is a three-part serial about the activities of the CIA during the Cold War. It was based on the best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Robert Littell. The teleplay adaptation was written by Ken Nolan, who received a Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted.

Synopsis

In 1950, the best friends Jack McAuliffe, Leo Kritzky, and Yevgeny Tsipin graduate from Yale and prepare to go their separate ways; Jack and Leo are recruited to the CIA by Frank "The Wizard" Wisner, and Yevgeny goes home to Moscow, where he is recruited into the KGB by the spymaster Starik while he falls in love with Azalia Ivanova.

In 1955, Jack has been assigned to Harvey "The Sorcerer" Torriti at a CIA station in East Berlin, where the East German defector Vishnevsky offers the identity of a mole in MI6 for safe passage to the West. At the CIA headquarters in Washington, counterintelligence chief James Jesus "Mother" Angleton begins Vishnevsky's exfiltration and tells his best friend and MI6 liaison, Adrian Philby. When the KGB and Berlin Police show up to the exfiltration instead of Vishnevsky, Torriti and Jack surmise that the blown defection is because of the mole.

Angleton believes the fault lies with Berlin and infuriates Torriti, who aims to expose the mole by feeding him a barium meal: Torriti gives privileged information to a trusted contact in MI6, forcing the mole to protect himself by attempting to kill Torriti. Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with his first asset, Lili, who provides information from an important scientist. When the barium meal sees Jack and Torriti ambushed at a meeting, Torriti prepares another.

In Washington, Leo has become Wisner's apprentice despite Angleton's misgivings. Leo has fallen in love with Adele Sweet, whose father is friends with President Eisenhower. When Leo proposes, her father disapproves of the " mixed marriage" but eventually relents. Yevgeny arrives in Washington and manages to tell Azalia that he is in the United States, where he deciphers elaborate Moscow Radio codes at night and delivers liquor during the day, including to the mole: Philby. Torriti flies home to tell Angleton and CIA director Allen Dulles that his MI6 source confirms Philby is the mole, but Angleton discredits Torriti.

In Berlin, discrepancies are found in Lili's information. When confronted by Jack, she admits she was turned by the KGB but assures Jack that she loves him. Shortly thereafter, the KGB murders the scientist, and Lili commits suicide. In Washington, Yevgeny tells Philby to run before he is caught and assures him that another mole, Sasha, has already taken his place. Jack is unsure if Torriti used Lili for his final barium meal, and Angleton is devastated that his best friend was a mole.

In 1956, Jack is sent to Budapest on the eve of the Hungarian Revolution, but he is abducted and tortured at an AVH prison. Torriti threatens his KGB counterpart in Berlin and demands that the AVH release Jack, but Jack is rescued by the revolutionaries, who execute an AVH commandant as he tries to reveal Sasha's identity. Jack asks the CIA to back the freedom fighters, but Eisenhower refuses and the revolution is crushed. Jack escapes and reconnects with Torriti, Wisner has a breakdown over his complicity in the CIA's actions, and Starik tells Nikita Khrushchev of "Kholstomer", his long-term masterstroke to cripple the US economy. Yevgeny continues his work and tries to call Azalia, but his handlers are unable to find her.

In 1960, Jack joins Cuban rebels to help prepare them for an invasion since they believe that the Kennedy administration will support them. In Washington, Torriti devises a scheme to have the Mafia assassinate Fidel Castro; Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana suggests poisoning one of Castro's daily milkshakes. The assassin is intercepted by the head of Castro's secret police, Manuel Piñeiro, and forced to drink the milkshake. In Washington, Yevgeny is nearly arrested by the FBI and is forced to relocate. As the CIA prepares the Cuban invasion, Angleton predicts that Sasha will ensure its failure. Bissell

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