The first episode of Legends takes us back to 1990, when two tragic drug overdose deaths send shockwaves through England. A 15-year-old boy dies of a heroin overdose in Liverpool. The daughter of a cabinet minister dies in the same way at Oxford University. Faced with growing public concern, the British government is forced to act swiftly.
Angus Blake, Director of Investigations for Her Majesty’s Customs, is summoned to the Home Secretary. Angus has six months, carte blanche and one clear objective – stop the heroin coming into England before the crisis runs further out of control. The pressure is on politically and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is about to declare drug trafficking a national emergency, so Angus can not afford to fail.
Angus briefs mission chief Don Clark after the session. Customs officers nationwide are discreetly asked to volunteer for what is called a highly classified operation.
The Training of the Volunteers
The chosen volunteers arrive at the Customs Office in London, where Angus and Don brief them about a clandestine investigation and a grueling three-week training programme. They find out that they will only know what the mission is all about if they pass the course.
The recruits go home to say goodbye to their families before training begins. Guy tells his wife, Sophie, about the opportunity, and she tells him to decide for himself. The next day Guy and the others are taken to a remote cottage in Yorkshire where they are told that all contact with the outside world will be cut off.
Back at the training compound, Don starts to push the volunteers to their limits. They are trained in surveillance, intelligence collection, lock-picking and psychological manipulation. Every recruit starts to reveal their own strengths. Erin immediately shows off her analytical skills, Kate is determined despite some early struggles, and Bailey has an innate talent for getting information out of people.
Guy’s First Real Challenge
Don has noticed Guy’s reticence and decides to test him out in a live undercover exercise. Guy is sent to a warehouse to locate the source of a new party drug, ecstasy. But what starts as an easy gig spirals into a dangerous one when two police officers take him into custody.
He won’t tell who he is or what he’s doing, and Guy is interrogated and even roughed up a little, until Don finally shows up, and it turns out it was all a sham. The exercise was designed to test Guy’s ability to hold his cover under pressure.
Impressed by his performance, Don tells Guy that he will probably work alone in the field, and warns him that undercover work entails hefty personal sacrifices.
Just Four Recruits Left
By the end of training, only four volunteers remain: Guy, Kate, Erin and Bailey. Don shows them footage of Margaret Thatcher announcing a national crisis in heroin trafficking, officially confirming the importance of their mission.
Shortly afterwards the team is moved to a secret headquarters. Erin is assigned to intelligence and logistics, while Guy is assigned to infiltrate London’s criminal networks. Kate and Bailey are sent to Liverpool where the heroin trade is booming.
Angus is concerned about sending Guy into London alone, but Don has full faith in his skills.
Guy Enters Criminal Underworld Of London
Guy says a tearful goodbye to Sophie and their daughter before departing, leaving a secret emergency contact number.
Guy lands in London, a safe apartment that becomes the base for his hunt for a dangerous criminal organization known as the Turks. He soon finds out how mean and secretive the group is when he sees them savagely beating an outsider who tries to work in their territory.
Back at the HQ, Guy says that infiltration of the Turks will be almost impossible without help from the inside. Angus takes him to Mylonas, a Greek criminal who claims connections with the gang, despite the long-standing rivalry between Greek and Turkish criminal groups.
Mylonas warns Guy of the dangers ahead, but Guy will not retreat.
The Trouble Brewing in Liverpool
Meanwhile Kate and Bailey start surveillance operations in Liverpool. They are on a stakeout when they spot local kids on bikes, serving as spotters for the network of drug dealers.
Later Kate gets suspicious when she sees a bread delivery van going back and forth at the same area. Initially Bailey dismisses her concerns, but it becomes apparent that the van may have a more important role in the trafficking operation.
Guy’s Cover Is Taken Away Right Away
Back in London, Mylonas takes Guy to meet the Turks at a night club. But, when he finally begins to make some real progress, it is only to find that members of the gang are waiting for him when he gets back to his apartment.
The Turks ransack his apartment, interrogate and threaten his life. In one of the most intense scenes in the episode, Guy remembers Don’s lessons about “legends”—the stories told by undercover agents to themselves and others if they want to be believed.
Guy remains calm, but just when it looks like everything is under control, one of the gang members finds a personal letter from his daughter, jeopardizing his whole operation.
The episode ends on a tense cliffhanger.
Episode Recap
Legends starts off with a bang, immediately pulling viewers into the high-stakes world of undercover work. The agents making and living in carefully constructed ‘myths’ gives it a fascinating psychological dimension which really sets the series apart from the usual crime drama.
Guy becomes the most interesting character early on. His calm demeanor under pressure makes him a natural for undercover work, but his choice to keep parts of his real life connected to his cover may prove to be a significant weakness.
Angus and Don seem to be harsh and demanding leaders but their methods are understandable when you consider the dangerous nature of the mission. The harsh training process works in separating those who can not handle the pressure from those who can.
The other four recruits all have their strengths and the increasing tension between Kate and Bailey may add more complications to their Liverpool assignment.
Overall, Legends Episode 1 does a good job of building suspense, introducing characters with depth and setting up multiple story lines that make Legends worth following.
