STREET SMARTS: Ruth Gilmartin plays a young Eva Delectorskaya, a master British spy during WWII, in the Sundance series “Restless.” (
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The time is 1976 and Ruth Gilmartin (Michele Dockery of “Downton Abbey”), a graduate student with a 7-year-old son, goes to visit her mum, Sally (Charlotte Rampling).
She is disturbed and shocked by what she finds.
Seems like mum is either going nuts or packing heat — maybe both.
Mum is beginning to suffer dementia, Ruth assumes. But when she finds out the truth, she wishes it were as simple as simple dementia.
Mum is, in fact, being chased, hunted by someone who wants to kill her.
Turns out that dear, old grandmother Sally Gilmartin is, in fact, Eva Delectorskaya, a master British spy during WWII — a secret she kept even from her now-dead husband.
Why in the world — 30 years after the war was over — would they want her dead now?
Nobody does this kind of stuff better than the Brits.
And “Restless,” the sylish, William Boyd novel which he has been adapted into a mini-series, is as good as it gets.
The plot jumps between Eva’s bohemian life circa 1976 and Eva’s baptism into the British Secret Service just before the start of WWII. (Lord, don’t the Brits love these between-the-wars stories more than actual wars.)
It’s all in a file mum drops on an incredulous Ruth: how Eva was born in Russia, grew up in France where her brother was murdered and, ultimately, how she was recruited by a dashing British agent.
Trained in spycraft and taught to speak impeccable British English, her first assignment goes horribly wrong. She alone survives a bloody slaughter by German agents.
But Eva earns her wings and she and her handler (Rufus Sewell) become involved. In fact, Eva falls for him even though he expects her to sleep with others who can provide them with the info they need.
She is, of course, reluctant at first, but manages to overcome her revulsion and climb into the sack — and kill — more than one man in the process.
By the second part of this excellent thriller — it airs on two consecutive Friday nights — you won’t know who are the bad guys and who are the really bad guys, which is how it’s supposed to be.
“Homeland” has had a wonderful run — more than three-quarters into its second season before it got stupid last week. These days, you can’t ask for more than that.
Which is why “Restless” works. Two nights and it’s done.
All I can tell you is that the secret to it all lies with stuffy Baron Mansfield (Michael Gambon).
Never trust an aging snob in a baronial manor. But then if you love British spy novels, you already know that. Please, don’t miss it.