X Company: Seasons 1-3 (DVD TV series review).
A Canadian/Hungarian company created ‘X Company’ on a whim. This is a take on elite teams trained in Canada for undercover missions during World War 2. The switch here is the selection of people with unique or extra-ordinary talents. So far, so good, and the opening episodes are certainly watchable. In this international group, the real problem is identifying people by name. I recognized British actor Warren Brown, but I remember people by their abilities rather than their names for much of the season.
The third episode does work a little harder in establishing names, and we don’t really get their complete names until the last episode. Duncan Sinclair (actor Hugh Dillon) serves as their overall boss, but on the ground, we meet Aurora Luft (actress Evelyne Brochu), Neal Mackay (actor Warren Brown), radio operator Harry James (actor Connor Price), Tom Cummings (actor Dustin Milligan), and Alfred Graves (actor Jack Laskey). Despite being a Canadian series, they seem to overlook the British tendency to abbreviate names, resulting in Alfred’s name ending up as either Alf, Alfie, or Fred. He’s also the most gifted with an eidetic memory, which beats using a camera.
This series heavily relies on the deployment of Canadian-trained undercover teams into Europe, specifically France, Poland, and Germany, where they conducted covert operations as a single team. Things changed when they learned about the concentration camps from one individual, whom they shipped back to the UK. As they infiltrate and subvert, it makes their job more personal.
There are some flaws. The ease of entry into France or Germany, let alone the process of emigration, is a significant flaw. Despite certain shortcomings, they effectively utilize all their resources to control the population. They do get some aspects of French towns looking right, or how we would imagine them to be. Be prepared for occasional shocks as this series rarely holds back on Nazi brutality and atrocities.
So much of this series is a spoiler, and no one is safe. It may not be exclusively in our genre, but it deserves your attention if you like World War II espionage for a change.
GF Willmetts
May 2024
(pub: Sony/Viavision VVE3236. 8 DVD disks 45 min 28* 50 minute episodes. Price: varies)
cast: Evelynne Brochu, Jack Laskey, Warren Brown, Conner Price, Hugh Dillon, Torben Liebrecht, Livia Matthes and many, many more
check out website: https://www.sonypictures.ca/homeentertainment
