TREADSTONE (2019)

Full Name:	Treadstone
Nationality:	American
Organization:	Treadstone
Occupation	Agency

Creator:	Tim Kring
Time Span:	2019 - 2019

ABOUT THE SERIES

Treadstone is a program of operative inside the CIA.

The program was first conceived of in the second half of the 1960s by a group of agent handlers who wanted to create a team of ultra-high trained agents - in truth, assassins - to be able to handle near-impossible missions and still find a way to make it out alive. It was given the green light and went into operation in the early 70s.

In order to produce such incredible weapons, it was decided that its would-be agents, recruits every one, would have to first be stripped of everything they were before, their memories completely erased so they had no ties to anything other than Treadstone and the missions they would be assigned. Since assassination was the likely goal of most of the missions, it was decided these trainees had to have their moral code completely removed so that the operatives would have absolutely no hesitation to kill without remorse.

There have already been two seperate series of chronicled adventures entered into this compendium. The first one, which established the existence of the program and its best (IMHO) graduate of that intense training, is Jason Bourne. Another agent who would have his story told of his attempted 'normal' life after leaving the program is Adam Hayes. The set of events told of in this entry have no direct connection to either of those agents other than the Treadstone program itself.

A twist in the strategy taken by the Treadstone personnel that is revealed in these episodes, differing considerably from those of Bourne and Hayes, is that these Treadstone agents were apparently fully trained and conditioned and then turned into sleeper agents to lie in wait, living 'real' lives in whatever potential hotspot the powers-that-be decided, ready to be awakened to carry out a specific action or series of actions once a trigger phrase is delivered. At that point, the minds of the operatives were trained to completely forget these lives and fall back on their original programming.

These tales take place in two time frames. One is in 1973 when a Treadstone operative, John Randolph Bentley, awakes and must escape from captivity by the Soviets. The other is in the present when a group of 'sleepers' are being awakened but the reason is unknown.

TELEVISION


Number of Episodes:	10
First Appearance:	2019
Last Appearance:	2019
Network:	USA

REGULAR CAST
Jeremy Irvine	John Randolph Bentley [ ]
Tracy Ifeachor	Tara Coleman [ ]
Han Hyo-joo	Soyun Park [ ]
Omar Metwally	Matt Edwards [ ]
Brian J. Smith	Doug McKenna [ ]
Michelle Forbes	Ellen Becker [ ]

This short, 10-episode series is based on the covert operative program devised by author Robert Ludlum for his famous Jason Bourne trio of adventures, further extended by Eric Van Lustbader for 11 more stories and then Brian Freeman for 4 more (as of this writing).

In that regard, Ludlum should be considered as a creator for this series as well. I chose to not list him as such in the fact sheet above because while he definitely created the concept of Treadstone, he passed away several decades before this series was conceived.

Note: the data and the episode plots listed below come from the excellent entry in Wikipedia.


1	The Cicada Protocol Episode S1-1, first aired 09/24/2019 Director: Ramin Bahrani Writer: Tim Kring In 1973 East Berlin, captured CIA operative John Randolph Bentley escapes a Soviet behavior modification program named Cicada. One of his captors, Petra Andropov, gives chase. In present day London, North Korean general Kwon tells Tara Coleman, a former journalist, that the ""cicadas"" are being activated?with these events being linked to the deactivated Treadstone program, and a missing Cold War nuclear missile named Stiletto Six?but piano teacher Soyun Pak is woken up and kills him. In the arctic, oil driller Doug McKenna loses his job and blacks out after receiving a mysterious kill order. An aging Petra is shown to be guarding Stiletto Six in Kursk.

2	The Kwon Conspiracy Episode S1-2, first aired 10/22/2019 Director: Alex Graves Writer: Tim Kring In 1973, Bentley returns to CIA's Berlin station, but flees when they believe he has been turned by his captors. In the present, Coleman locates Kwon's daughter in Paris, and they are pursued by North Korean agents.

3	The Berlin Proposal Episode S1-3, first aired 10/29/2019 Director: Alex Graves Writers: Rebecca Dameron, Dave Kalstein In 1973 East Berlin, Bentley returns to the Cicada facility and finds it empty. In the present, Petra Andropov arrives in Moscow, but her former handlers cut her loose and try to kill her. Agent Matt Edwards, the point of contact between the CIA and Tara, locates a doctor, Martin Wells, who worked on mental conditioning for Treadstone and together they question a suspected asset named Stephen Haynes. Soyun is tasked with finding evidence against her husband's commanding officer. Doug McKenna is visited by a Treadstone cleaner, who is then killed by McKenna's wife Samantha.

4	The Kentucky Contract Episode S1-4, first aired 11/05/2019 Director: Brad Anderson Writers: Tim Walsh, Dave Kalstein Samantha McKenna reveals to Doug that she was a medical officer for Treadstone. At the CIA, mid-level director Becker pursues leads in Langley about the program. Stephen Haynes kills Dr. Wells and tries to escape from Edwards.

5	The Bentley Lament Episode S1-5, first aired 11/12/2019 Director: Brad Anderson Writer: Patrick Aison Back in 1973, Bentley traces his own footsteps to Budapest. There he finds out that, while under the influence of the Cicada program, he has taken major roles in tortures and killings sanctioned by the KGB, of which he has no memories. In the present day, Doug reluctantly takes the assignment he was ordered to undertake by Treadstone and assassinates a pharmaceutical executive, despite initial resistance to give into his pre-programmed mind control. In North Korea, Soyun is tasked with delivering Stiletto Six documents to another Treadstone assassin, Nira Patel. Tara travels to Ghana and breaks one of her past sources out of prison in order to learn more about Treadstone.

6	The Hades Awakening Episode S1-6, first aired 11/19/2019 Director: Wayne Yip Writers: Dave Kalstein, Michael Brandon Guercio In 1973, Bentley finds himself in an underground hippie joint in Budapest and is given a drug to help calm his stress. He then starts to recollect his memories of being caught by the KGB and being brainwashed into becoming a subject to the Cicada program, along with his memories of killing fellow CIA agents, while under the influence. Just as he remembers everything, the KGB raids the joint and Petra captures him again. In the present day, Doug evades corrupt government forces while Edwards contemplates fighting off Treadstone with the help of Haynes.

7	The Paradox Andropov Episode S1-7, first aired 11/26/2019 Director: Wayne Yip Writers: Marc Bernardin, Dave Kalstein As part of her scheme, Petra appears to help Bentley evade KGB forces, manipulating him to believe that his old friend Matheson is still alive and being held in another Cicada program prison. In the present day, Soyun goes undercover to sabotage a colonel who is blackmailing her, while Petra tracks her former boss Yuri Leniov down to Greece and discovers he is selling the Stiletto Six nuclear missile to North Korea. Yuri's men track down Tara's friends and kill one of them to dissuade the others from investigating further.

8	The McKenna Erasure Episode S1-8, first aired 12/03/2019 Director: Salli Richardson-Whitfield Writers: Tyler Hisel, Dave Kalstein In a failed attempt to rescue a man assassinated by Treadstone, Doug manages to kill the asset and takes over his identity to pursue the truth with the help of his wife, Sam. Tara infiltrates the Russian State Military Archive to obtain information on the Stiletto Six project and the Cicada program. Soyun discovers a coup is planned in North Korea with her husband set to be the scapegoat, thus handing herself over to the Americans. Becker authorizes her team to eliminate Haynes and Edwards but Haynes sacrifices himself to increase the likelihood that they will leave Edwards alive.

9	The Seoul Asylum Episode S1-9, first aired 12/10/2019 Director: Salli Richardson-Whitfield Writers: Dave Kalstein , Nneka Gerstle After Bentley is recaptured, he and Matheson devise a plan to escape along with a British operative. Matheson kills Meisner who gloats that everything transpiring, even his own death, is part of the KGB's plan. In the present day, Soyun makes a deal with the CIA to help them locate Colonel Shin?the man who was blackmailing her?in exchange for the protection of her family. Ellen Becker is extorted to work for the reactivated Treadstone faction within the agency, while Tara approaches Petra for help to disband Stiletto Six, only for the nursery rhyme ringtone on her phone to awaken and unveil her as a Cicada.

10	The Cicada Covenant Episode S1-10, first aired 12/17/2019 Director: Jeremy Webb Writers: Dave Kalstein , Jill Snyder With Becker's help, the Treadstone unit manages to secure the nuclear warhead. Tara is sent to assassinate Yuri Leniov, but fails. While Edwards is on the trail of an active mission Treadstone was to undertake, an attempt is made on his life, only for him to be rescued by Tara. They disappear together. The director of the operations, Dan Levine, is killed by Nira Patel when too many assets go rogue, leading Treadstone to divert its focus on Russia due to Leniov's failure to fulfill his deal. Doug fakes the death of a target in Colombia to buy himself some time to figure out how to tackle his next move while Petra seeks the help of an aged John Randolph Bentley to take down Treadstone.

MY COMMENTS

I had major issues with this series. The first is that I had trouble (okay, I failed completely) understanding what was going on. Ever.

Now, I sort of figured out that the character Bentley was a Treadstone agent being held by the Soviets and I sort of liked it at first. Then I got confused and then lost.

Then we have the present-time actions. Those were fascinating and highly enjoyable ... until I got confused and then lost. It seemed to me like there were two separate set of events going on in the present but were they related? No idea.

I tried. I really did. I love the concept of Treadstone (as a literary concept, not in real life). But do NOT go out of your way to confuse an old man like me. It is far too easy to do and then I get grumpy.

I do not blame any of the actors. None were bad and some were terrific. I blame the writers or the producers for trying to tell more than one story. That is always - repeat always - a bad, bad, bad idea.

GRADE

My Grade: B-

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