X Company

Over on channel 2, CBC is running the most X-ellent TV series, X Company, a spy story set in occupied France during World War II. It’s produced in part by the group behind Orphan Black, which is why I decided to give it a whirl when it debuted last year. I generally avoid war stories and, yes, this one is disturbing, but it’s so well done that I’m as worried about the Gestapo officer who’s hunting the heroes as I am about the genius kid who signed up for active duty but told his parents he’d got a desk job well away from the front.

Actually, I’m worried about everyone. That’s how I know it’s a good show. Every scene, every character, and every dire situation is expertly written, directed and played. The heroes don’t always win, and the villains aren’t always proud of their villainy. Sometimes the guy you think is a baddie turns out to be what he insists he is: young, scared and desperate, despite the uniform. But you don’t find that out until you’ve already shot him.

I doubt that the writers have invented anything worse than the crimes that were actually committed against the French people during the Nazi occupation. Or that are actually being committed against civilians in present day wartime—all that’s evolved since WWII is the power of our weaponry and the technological skill required to deploy it. It’s ironic that “the war to end all wars” didn’t. That particular conflict may have been resolved, but war itself has certainly not been stayed. If anything, it’s gotten worse.

This doesn’t stop my toes from curling during an episode of X Company. The discomfort here is psychological. I applaud it. I appreciate that the producers acknowledge my ability to perceive what’s happening without being walked through it step by gory step. In our desensitized world, it’s cheating to film severed limbs or acts of bestial cruelty. The suggestion of anything—good or bad—is far more powerful than graphic visuals. It takes greater skill, however, to ignite someone’s imagination and get the desired result than it does to lay it all out for them. There’s nothing lazy about X Company.

I wish I could have said the same about Game of Thrones.