http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/arts/television/review-berlin-station-the-hunt-for-a-cia-whistle-blower.html 2016-10-15 00:41:59 Review: ‘Berlin Station,’ the Hunt for a C.I.A. Whistle-Blower In this new spy drama from Epix, the agency is battling its own Edward Snowden. === Olen Steinhauer “Berlin Station,” which is part of Epix’s first foray into scripted programming (along with the political comedy For that, Epix can primarily thank an excellent cast that includes Richard Armitage (Thorin in the “Hobbit” films) as an agent sent to Berlin to find Shaw; Michelle Forbes, Leland Orser, Tamlyn Tomita and a more restrained than usual Rhys Ifans as fellow spies; and the redoubtable Richard Jenkins as the embattled station chief. Mr. Steinhauer, in an interview It helps, when the spy-story mechanics become a little too obvious, that the show is shot on location in Berlin, which provides an endless variety of intriguing backdrops. “Berlin Station” also dips into the city’s all-night pansexual bacchanalia, using as its ticket Mr. Ifans’s character, a lounge-lizard type with questionable motives. And the German characters, both the espionage-agency counterparts and the suspected terrorists, add exotic Euro-flavor — one shaggy-maned bad guy looks as if he’s constantly suffering the sorrows of young Werther. “Berlin Station,” based on the early episodes, isn’t going to say anything very profound about the real consequences of the war on terrorism — it doesn’t get any deeper than a disillusioned spook’s complaint that “beneath one secret there’s another and another and another, one big mess of our own creation.” It’s the TV show as page-turner, if you have room on your night stand.