INSECURITY

Alex Cranston is an agent with the NISA.

That acronym stands for the National Intelligence and Security Agency, a Canadian spy organization responsible for keeping the country safe from all manner of bad things and people.

The name given this collection of misadventures, InSecurity, is such a terrific name as it reveals a couple of key points in one word. First, Cranston and team are very much involved in the Security line of work, defending their beloved Canada from all sorts of nasties. Second the word fits for the mood most of Canada would likely be in if they watched this group go about doing this defending.

We are told in one blurb that the adventures follow "secret agent Alex Cranston and her team of spies as they juggle dates, terrorists, pets, ex-boyfriends and the safety of the nation. The only thing harder than protecting the country is protecting themselves from their own insecurities."

Another description of Cranston and her group says that they make up "a team of incompetent spy-catchers" which sounds pretty harsh and seems unfair, at least up until you watch them at work, in which case it seems not so bad. For example, in our first meeting as Cranston is inside a facility learning about uranium shipments to Iran, her team is outside in two cars getting confused about which codename belongs to whom and whether mixing names from different fairytales is really allowed. It is summed up nicely by one of them (Jojo) with "you all are morons". 

I gave Cranston the starring role in this entry in the compendium because she is the leader of the group and therefore deserving the most attention but she is not the head of the division. That position belongs to Peter McNeil, a handsome and (sometimes) suave leader who projects an aura of confidence as he blithely goes about his leading - proof yet again that looks can be deceiving. Knowing that someone like McNeil was going to lead you that day is grounds for pulling the covers back over your head and pretending to still be asleep.

And then there is Cranston's team.

Claude Lesage - a White male operative. A French Canadian, Lesage is by far the oldest of the group and is an experienced operative who is obviously quite happy to take the assistant leader position and let Cranston call the shots. His appreciation of and desire for coffee is impressive.
Benjamin N'udu - a Black male operative. A former agent with the Ligerian Secret Service, he moved to Canada because of staying home was not such a good idea any more. N'udu is best described as 'deranged' at times and homicidal at others.
Jojo Kwan - an Oriental female operative. Kwan is a genius and an experienced scientist and without a doubt the sanest of those in Cranston's team - except when she isn't.
Burt Wilson - a White male operative. A very inexperience and incompetent agent, watching him in action begs the questions of a) how did he ever manage to survive training school, let alone pass, and b) what did Cranston do to deserve having to have him on her team?

It is not an unusual opinion in this world that those in government are a bunch of idiots. Not those in charge, mind you; those people are thought to be corrupt. No, I'm talking about the average worker bee in the hive of bureaucracy - it is that group that are considered either airheads or buffoons or the like. 

This show brought those people to life in a delightful - albeit scary - way. Not everyone is an idiot in this group but they each have their own idiosyncrasies such that the group, well, you know.

And that made the show a hoot to watch. I never saw it when it first came out but did catch it streaming and enjoyed it a lot.