Auf Wiedersehen Berlin Station

Berlin Station was cancelled after three seasons:

https://deadline.com/2019/03/berlin-station-canceled-season-3-end-epix-1202585332/

For me it wasn't as as sad as it could have been.  I had said "adios" to Berlin Station already, after they killed  Daniel Miller (Richard Armitage) at the end of Season 3.  

I started watching Berlin Station because of Richard Armitage, so once I knew he wouldn't return for a Season 4, I wasn't as interested in paying the extra for a subscription to Epix.

I am one of those viewers that liked Berlin Station.  I liked the complicated plot twists and blind alleys. I loved all the great Berlin locations.  But I didn't like that Richard's character, Daniel Miller, was an underdeveloped character.

In many ways, and not just because of what happened to Daniel Miller, Berlin Station lost its way in Season 3. 

The mystery of Berlin Station is how did a series with an excellent cast never quite live up to it's promise.  It was a good series, a solid spy series.  But it could have been an excellent and groundbreaking series. 

I read/listened to several of Olen Steinhauer's books.  I didn't care as much for All the Old Knives, but I loved his Yalta Boulevard books series, and still think it would make an excellent series. But caution to the producers, just don't hire the writers from Berlin Station if you do make the books into a series.  But now I really don't have any desire to read any more of Mr. Steinhauer's books. 

It was a treat of course to watch Richard Armitage again in a regular series.  I cared for Daniel Miller, but his story as the lead character could have been so much more intriguing for us to watch and for Richard to play if only they had hired better writers.  

I greatly enjoyed all of Richard's interviews related to his series, and the times he shared Berlin and Budapest, and other locations with us on Twitter and Instagram.  

Daniel (RA) and Esther (Mina Tander) will always be one of my favorite TV couples. 

Michelle Forbes, I was already a fan since her Star Trek days.  And I also already knew Rhys Ifans, Ashley Judd, Tamlyn Tomita, Caroline Goodall, and others. I will miss them all.  I had never watched Richard Jenkins before, though of course I knew about him. And I enjoyed watching for the first time KeKe Palmer, Ismael Cruz Cordoba, Brandon Spink, and many others. 

I'm also grateful that the series introduced me to wonderful European actors that I have since watched in other TV series, mostly on MHZ Choice.  I'm now a fan of them all (see link below):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5191110/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

I'll have a separate post soon about some great shows you can watch on MHZ Choice with some of my favorite European actors from Berlin Station.

I do have a very special mention to a wonderful actor and lovely man, Leland Orser.  Especially in this last Season 3 he became the soul of Berlin Station for all the fans of the series. I wasn't really a member of the "WhiteTShirtGang" but I enjoyed following all the tweets, and even tweeted myself sometimes. Yes, I'll miss Robert. 

 I'll continue to follow Leland Orser, and Michelle Forbes, and Sabin Tambrea, and other Berlin Station cast members  on Twitter. 

We'll always have Berlin 😔😎

Berlin Station - EPIX - Curious about Trevor's Birthplace (Daniel Miller's Cover Identity) - Richard Armitage

Thanks to Violet Dutchblogger on Facebook

I'm probably the only one who is curious why Alexandria, Virginia, was chosen as the place of birth of neo-Nazi cover identity for our favorite Berlin Station CIA spy Daniel Miller (Richard Armitage).

Alexandria, VA

 Alexandria, VA

Alexandria, VA

Alexandria, VA

Did they select Alexandria from a list of places near Washington DC, or because CIA HQ is in Northern Virginia (not Alexandria, but Langley)?  Or is one of the writers familiar with Alexandria?   

I'm not exactly happy that Trevor Price is from Alexandria, would prefer if maybe Daniel's US family came from Alexandria.  But still, curious to see my "hometown" for a second. Wonder if Richard visited Alexandria as part of his research? 

Trevor is also an interesting choice of name.  For a minute I thought maybe Daniel could go undercover as a British arms dealer named Trevor, and RA could use his own beautiful accent.  

Have watched the first two episodes of Berlin Station Season 2 (thank you EPIX) and have a good feeling about this second  season and Daniel Miller's role in it.  Good to see Richard Armitage in a more central role in the series, especially in the first episode.  I think Richard prefers to play conflicted characters that are challenged, and think Trevor/Daniel may be that transformation. Certainly more interesting to play than "good guy" Daniel in Season 1.  

Watch Berlin Station Now - First Two Episodes - For Free

Go to the link below to watch:


http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/epix-premieres-a-slate-of-original-programming-that-shows-us-what-matters-now

On YouTube:

https://youtu.be/tlhyKE9L5Js

 CIA Headquarters - Virginia

Richard Armitage comments on his Facebook page:

Great Richard Armitage Photo with Berlin Station Fellow Cast Member Michael Paul Chan

Richard Armitage and Michael Paul Chan - Berlin Station 

Check out the source of the photo, and article and interview with Michael Paul Chan on Mystery Playground

http://www.mysteryplayground.net/2016/07/michael-paul-chan-from-major-crimes.html

New Berlin Station Poster - Richard Armitage

New Berlin Station poster on their Facebook page  - thank you Epix

Richard Armitage as Daniel Miller - Berlin Station 

I Need A Spy to Keep Me Warm - Agent Daniel Miller

@BerlinStation @EpixHD @MYKITAofficial @MishkaForbes you guys sleep; some of us have to earn a living #sundayspy pic.twitter.com/M7mcC4Srp1

— Richard Armitage (@RCArmitage) February 28, 2016

More Spies I Love:

Lucas North and John Porter

And Just When I Think He Can't Look More Handsome... Happy Valentine's Day To Us

Two Richards

Thanks to Richard Armitage Korea on Facebook for finding the photo.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1050112471676677.1073741916.132450223442911&type=3

Richard Armitage and Richard Jenkins at Berlinale?: 
https://www.medienboard.de/infothek/aktuelle-meldungen/

(Richard looking ever so handsome - Happy Valentine's Day to us)

Listening to Olen Steinhauer

I'm more and more curious about Berlin Station and more and more intrigued. 

I've started listening/reading my third Steinhauer book (thank you Audible). I first listened to All the Old Knives and now have started the Yalta Boulevard Sequence:

http://www.olensteinhauer.com/yalta-blvd/#yalta-boulevard-sequence

Though I must apologize to the author because after finishing the first book, The Bridge of Sighs, I've skipped three books to start on Victory Square.  I just had to know what would happen to the lead character, Emil Brod!

But I will come back to the right order, and the next one I'll read or listen to will be The Confession, the second book in the series.

What is the Yalta Sequence/Series?  It takes place in a fictional Eastern European country behind the Iron Curtain from 1948 to 1989.   There's one book per decade.  We experience this world through the lives of homicide detectives and state security officers. We share both their work life and their private life, and how they intersect. We also see a political system developing from the beginning after World War II to the end in 1989. (I spent part of my childhood in a similar political system behind the "Caribbean iron curtain" so the setting piqued my interest.)

As I listen to the books of course I'm thinking about the series we'll see this fall, Berlin Station. I'm wondering about the character of Daniel Miller.  Reading/listening to the books, I can see why Richard Armitage would be perfect for this television series, and also why he would find this character of great interest. And I don't know anything about his Daniel Miller, other than what little we've been told, so I'm basing this on Steinhauer's other characters. We know Daniel is a new CIA field agent undercover in Berlin in the present day. But as I listen/read these books, I can see all the layers that the spies and policemen in these stories have, and I can wonder about Daniel.

Now, I'm not about to write a detailed study of the work of Olen Steinhauer, but just as an average reader, I can admire how he weaves the dark corners of the soul with the dark corners of the world.  His characters whether "good guys" or "bad guys" are all very multi-layered.  He's also a great observer of bureaucracies and how they perpetuate themselves, how they determine what gets resolved or not, how it affects those who work within them, whether in the West (These Old Knives) or in the East (Yalta Sequence).  

There's also love and romance, but maybe the kind that is more realistic, or believable or cynical. Yet, there are loves that endure even amid heartbreak and frustration. Yes, we can love someone, but not always like them. Will there be a romance for Daniel Miller? 

I find interesting that more than one of the love stories are younger men and older women?  Not something you see too much in a US TV show, so will we? 

There's also humor. Dark humor for sure, but humor. I've laughed out loud a few times in my car listening to the books on my way to work. 

One of my favorite scenes in Bridge of Sighs is young detective Emil Brod's first day of work. We've all been there, horrified by sitting alone in our new desk, not knowing what to do. There are great descriptions of Brod's co-workers as he observes them giving him the silent treatment. So much information about each character in just a few sentences. Yet, first impressions can also be quite wrong, can't they?  

One of my favorite shows ever is Spooks (MI5) and I love lovely Lucas North. But I'm sure now that I'm becoming immersed in Olen Steinhauer's work that the new show will be equally excellent, but unique and original. And just by the description we've had so far Lucas and Daniel are different characters. Lucas was an experienced and excellent field agent, who when we meet him has spent eight years in Russian prison being tortured and interrogated. (No, we're not going to discuss Season 9 at all!). Daniel we are told is a cerebral rookie field agent learning on the job. 

I have high hopes for Berlin Station. Truly I think it will be an interesting new adventure for Armitage fans.  I just know Richard must be enjoying being Daniel Miller and making this character his own, as he always does. 

Getting to know a bit about Berlin Station Writer Olen Steinhauer

Olen Steinhauer

So now that Richard Armitage is starring in the spy thriller Berlin Station for Epix, I'm enjoying doing a bit of research about the creative team behind the series. I always enjoy the adventure of Richard's new projects. 

Today I found a New York Times interview with series writer and producer, and successful spy novelist Olen Steinhauer.  Below are some excerpts from the interview that may give us some ideas about the direction Berlin Station may take. 

 

What makes a good spy novel?

Depends on the reader. For me, it’s the moral muddiness of the ends/means equation that comes up more often in spy fiction than in, say, murder mysteries. The best espionage stories not only ask questions about how spying is performed, but they also question the value of the job itself. And when the profession becomes a metaphor for living, the spy novel can delve into the very questions of existence, while thrilling the reader with a convoluted plot. Do all that well, and you’ve got a potential classic on your hands.

What’s the best spy novel you’ve ever read?

I’d love to have an original answer here, but I always return to John le Carré’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” It’s a truly exquisite book, full of mesmerizing voices, acute social commentary and a moral weight that is, to me, on a par with the Great Books of English literature.

What book made you want to write spy novels?

“The Spy Who Came In From the Cold” led me from crime fiction to spy fiction (Raymond Chandler originally brought me to crime), but it was “Tinker, Tailor” that really sealed the deal. Having spent my 20s wrapped in a self-consciously literary cocoon, shunning genre, it was a shock to the system to realize that a great novel could be written with international intrigue and the occasional gun, and not only about suburban malaise.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Your favorite book? Most beloved character?

Influenced by my father’s collection, I was very definitely a sci-fi reader, finding imaginative worlds that took me away from the mundane sidewalks of late-’70s America. By my teens I’d moved to other pastures — a lot of Baudelaire and Rimbaud — but in those early years I remember being obsessed with the Well World series by Jack L. Chalker. (Though by now I’d be hard pressed to remember any of the story lines.)

Of the books you’ve written, which is your favorite or the most personally meaningful?

My second book, “The Confession,” focuses on a police officer whose marriage is falling apart. Halfway through the book’s composition my own marriage collapsed, and after months of writer’s block I got back to the book and was able to see the many details of that particular brand of despair that I’d gotten completely wrong. So I tore up a lot and went back to it, eventually writing what I still consider one of my “truer” novels.

If you could pick one of your books to be turned into a movie or TV series, which would it be and why?

While there’s been some recent action on this front, in particular with “All the Old Knives,” I would still like to see my first five novels, which take place in a fictional Cold War Eastern European country over 50 years, grow into a film or television series. I’d love to see how someone else reimagines that world and takes its characters down a half-century of European history.

 Sunday Book Review

Olen Steinhauer: By the Book

APRIL 23, 201

 Berlin

I've been to Berlin once in my life, West and East, before the fall of the  Berlin Wall.   Yes, long time ago.  I'm very excited about this new series for Richard, since I love spy stories, and look forward to seeing his character, Daniel Meyer, on the streets of Berlin. 

My Secret Agent Men

Fabulous news for Richard Armitage fans and spy story lovers:

 “We are very happy to have found our ‘Daniel’ to join this incredible ensemble cast,” said Mark S. Greenberg, President and CEO of EPIX. “Richard is a singular talent who has the presence and attitude to bring this character and story to life.

 Premium TV network EPIX® announced today that Richard Armitage (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, “Hannibal”) has been cast as the lead in Berlin Station, the 10-part contemporary spy series produced by Paramount TV and Anonymous Content. 

Armitage will portray Daniel Meyer, the cerebral, newly-anointed CIA case officer who goes from being an analyst at Langley to an undercover agent in Berlin tasked with finding an informant....

Berlin Station follows Daniel Meyer, who has just arrived at the CIA foreign station in Berlin, Germany. Meyer has a clandestine mission: to uncover the source of a leak who has supplied information to a now-famous whistleblower named “Thomas Shaw." Guided by jaded veteran Hector DeJean, Daniel learns to contend with the rough-and-tumble world of the field agent—agent-running, deception, the dangers and moral compromises. As he dives deeper into the German capital's hall of mirrors and uncovers the threads of a conspiracy that leads back to Washington, Daniel wonders: Can anyone ever be the same after a posting to Berlin? 

****(Yes, I noticed it says the conspiracy leads back to Washington.  Are you coming my way, dear Richard?)

Richard Armitage boasts a diverse resume in film, television and the stage, gaining momentum on UK shows including “MI-5”’ and “Robin Hood.” He achieved international recognition with his performance in the 2011 box office smash ‘Captain America: The First Avenger opposite Chris Evans and Hugo Weaving before following it up with his iconic performance as ‘Thorin’ in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, which has grossed over $1 billion to date. 

Armitage’s other recent leading roles include John Swetnam’s Into the Storm for New Line, alongside Sarah Wayne Callie and Jeremy Sumpter, as well as Elliot Lester’s independent feature, Sleepwalker, opposite Ahna O’Reilly. This spring, Richard was seen in a recurring role on NBC’s “Hannibal” and just wrapped shooting in Ireland and Belgium for Pilgrimage opposite Tom Holland. 
 
 Armitage also returned to the stage this year, delivering a critically acclaimed performance as the lead of Arthur Miller’s modern drama, The Crucible, at the Old Vic Theatre
 
 http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150911005834/en/Epix-Announces-Richard-Armitage-Lead-Michelle-Forbes#.VfOE3pdArU5

____

Oh, I can hardly wait! 

And my other Secret Agent Man, Sean Bean, has been busy in Prague finishing up the new and improved second season of Legends.

http://www.critictoo.com/news/legends-saison-2-trailer-1/



Bonus:

The Dicken's you Say!

Richard Armitage is also recording right now a new audiobook (is this heaven, or what!) for Audible:  David Copperfield

.@audible_com 😀😃😄 pic.twitter.com/U9NsLwHpAf

— Richard Armitage (@RCArmitage) September 10, 2015

and Sean Bean's new film, The Martian, had it's world premiere today in Toronto at TIFF, and is getting great reviews! 

So happy today for my two special men, my two favorite actors.

Very proud to be a long time fan of both talented and hardworking men.