It doesn’t take long to get into the initial details about Alexander Hale’s life on The Copenhagen Test season 1 premiere. Nor does it take too long to get into the mystery of the hack.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from The Copenhagen Test season 1 episode 1
The first episode of the series sets the tone for what’s to come. We know this is a spy thriller, but at the heart of it, it’s also a story about a first-generation Chinese American man who will do what he can to prove that he is loyal to his country.
This is an important thing to remember, as it informs everything that Alexander does throughout the series as a whole, but it certainly explains his actions in the very first episode.
A backstory on Alexander Hale on The Copenhagen Test season 1 premiere
The premiere episode doesn’t waste too much time on the backstory. In fact, the backstory is important as the series goes on, so we need to know it early on.
Initially, we start two years earlier in Belarus. Alexander and his military team are on a mission to save some hostages. While on the way out, Alexander gets a command to save other hostages. However, there’s a catch. There is only one spot on the helicopter, and he should prioritize any Americans.
So, when he comes across a child, who likely not an American and a woman who specifically states that she is, we know what Alexander is supposed to do. As the episode continues, we get these flashbacks to the mission, and we learn that Alexander failed to follow orders. He saved the child.
The rest of the backstory is from the aftermath of that mission. Alexander suffers from panic attacks, and he has been on desk duty ever since coming back, but he’s not with the traditional military. He’s with a secret agency called The Orphanage, which keeps all the alphabet agencies running smoothly.
He wants to head “upstairs” at The Orphanage, and when a mission called Poseidon opens up, he interviews for it. Is it that surprising that he doesn’t get it? There are questions about the panic attack that he had after the mission — and he lies about it being a one-time thing — and about why he even wants to go upstairs. While he says that he can do more than be stuck behind a desk, it’s the desk where everyone wants him.
Alexander clearly feels like he’s losing a part of who he is. He tries to be a good friend, but his friends are also his ex-fiancée’s friends, and they chose her. He’s also hiding the panic attacks, getting his ex-fiancée, who happens to be a doctor, to give him anti-anxiety medication. She says it’s the last time during The Copenhagen Test season 1 premiere, but is it really?
And so, it’s not surprising that he goes to the bar and hits it off with Michelle. Now if only Michelle was just a bartender. Not only does the trailer for The Copenhagen Test tell us otherwise, but by the end of the episode, we learn that Michelle was the American woman in the field.
Alexander learns that he’s being investigated
While at work, there is a sudden concern. Agents on missions are being killed, and there are many questions about how they’re being found out. Their covers are being blown, and the only way that could be happening is if there is a leak from The Orphanage.
And so, everyone on the mission is sent home, including Alexander. He knows that there’s a risk. Being Chinese American, there are already questions about his loyalty, and he has had to work extra hard to prove that. It doesn’t matter that he is loyal, though, and he knows that he has to do something.
So, he puts money and a gun in a hollowed-out book, places it in The Orphanage, and heads into work when he’s told he can. He also starts to question the headaches that he keeps getting, but it’s only when he’s suddenly offered another mission upstairs that he has access to information that can help him.
As he looks through classified documents, he learns about the Copenhagen Test, which was the test he was put through in Belarus. He continues to look through documents, making it look like he hasn’t found what he’s looking for, but this makes him look even more guilty to those upstairs. Why is he going through so many documents?
Knowing that he's been caught, he decides to leave and get his book with his belongings, but then he stops. This would mean that he isn't loyal, and he can't do that. What he doesn't know is that there is someone waiting to kill him if he does run.
So, the boss, Maura, has no choice but to bring him into a secure room. Alexander has been caught as the leak, but he isn’t a traitor. Oh no, they know that his eyes and ears have been hacked. The hackers have seen everything he’s looked at on the screens, and now they need to figure out who the hackers are and what they want.
They could leave the hack open, or they could burn Alexander, which would mean that he would be killed. He is more than willing to prove that he is loyal, but will he keep the hack open? We need to move onto the next episode to find out, but the trailer says “yes.”
The Copenhagen Test is available to stream on Peacock.