There’s no one in this world who can immerse us, as watcher or reader, in the murky world of espionage, in which treachery is committed by allies as often as by. enemies, in which the spies are real people, as ably as can Olen Steinhauer. Episode 1 of “Berlin Station Season 3” threatened to unmoor my enthusiasm because its scene setting in Tallinn, Estonia, was so intricate. I’m happy to report that from Episode 2, the mighty engine of Steinhauer’s plotting chops and imagination roar into life. Richard Armitage is at his best as spy Daniel Miller fleeing the Spetnatz, Leland Orser (as Robert Kirsch, second in charge) is magnificently harried and driven, and station head Valerie (played wonderfully by Michelle Forbes) is the cool, principled leader. I was especially delighted when Ismael Cruz Cordova’s cameo role as action agent Rafael Torres explodes into a major constituent. The camerawork is tight and the locales are splendid and the pace simply rocks. No episode fails to deliver a twist, almost always a disastrous one for our heroes. Motives are more circuitous than ever. Oh, I could carry on, and if espionage thrillers are not your bad, look away, but otherwise, clock on for the ride. How can the final five episodes possibly maintain this standard?
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