Their scenes are just as loving as the WynnesвЂ™, but theyвЂ™re tinged with more danger. We also spend time with Penkovsky and his wife and daughter. Her best scene is when she realizes the true nature of her husbandвЂ™s secrecy, and how she may never have the chance to tell him sheвЂ™s sorry for not trusting him Buckley handles this with the right touch of bemusement and forcefulness, warning that she wonвЂ™t be so understanding if thereвЂ™s another woman. Of course, sheвЂ™s convinced Greville is cheating when she catches him exercising more than heвЂ™s ever done, not to mention that heвЂ™s trying new things heвЂ™s never considered before in bed.

Buckley gives an excellent performance that carries her over to the predictable moment when she has to pivot to the strong spouse cautiously awaiting the return of her husband. ThereвЂ™s a sweet, realistic dynamic between Sheila and Greville.

The first hour, which focuses on the existing and budding human relationships in England and in Russia, plays better than the prison-bound second hour. Cumberbatch and Ninidze do a very good job conveying their newfound bond, which helps the viewer swallow the unbelievable decision that sets the second half of the film in motion. As the two family men spend more time together, their guards lower and the two become close friends. Penkovsky reassures him that heвЂ™s handling the job well. вЂњThe CourierвЂќ makes the connection that WynneвЂ™s job of вЂњmaking the clients happyвЂќ has the same thespian qualities of being a spy: He is playing a role, one that requires him to hide his true feelings and present a specific, carefully calibrated, unflappable front. Sudden trips to Moscow, frequent trips he canвЂ™t tell his wife about in any regard, are bound to arouse her suspicions about new infidelities. SheilaвЂ™s pardoning nature revealed itself after Wynne took those dirty jokes about traveling salesmen to heart. Plus, heвЂ™s a family man with a precocious young son, Andrew (Keir Hills) and a loving, forgiving wife, Sheila ( Jessie Buckley). Initially, Wynne turns them down because the entire idea seems incredulous. Wynne is surprised to be recruited by MI6вЂ™s Dickie Franks ( Angus Wright) who, along with CIA agent Emily Donovan ( Rachel Brosnahan), convinces him to meet with Penkovsky, because any intel will help President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Couple that with his superb talent for schmoozing and boozing with customers, and he emerges as someone whoвЂ™s neither suspicious nor a potential danger to Soviet security. WynneвЂ™s role as a salesman who works his magic on Eastern European clients makes him a good smuggler as a Brit, heвЂ™s assumed to be a purely capitalist creature whose only concern is money.

Assisting him in his role as вЂњcourierвЂќ is Oleg Penkovsky ( Merab Ninidze), a far more experienced Russian agent. Wynne was a British businessman who, from 19, smuggled thousands of pieces of intel out of Russia before he was captured, imprisoned, and tortured for two years by the KGB. Director Dominic Cooke and screenwriter Tom OвЂ™Connor tell the вЂњbased on true eventsвЂќ story of Greville Wynne ( Benedict Cumberbatch).

Did they eat napkins in the movie spy?