Peacock’s The Copenhagen Test transforms the fear of weaponized thoughts into a gripping espionage thriller. I explain why it’s one of the streamer’s most intriguing originals in my full recap and review.
What if your every thought, sight, and sound were being broadcast to your worst enemy?
That’s the chilling premise behind Peacock’s eight-episode sci-fi espionage thriller The Copenhagen Test, a tense and paranoid series that turns surveillance into psychological warfare.
The story centers on Alexander Hale (Simu Liu), a first-generation Chinese-American intelligence analyst working for a shadowy agency known as The Orphanage. After a mission in Belarus goes sideways, Alexander begins suffering debilitating migraines—only to uncover a far more disturbing truth. His brain has been hacked with experimental nanites, streaming his sensory experiences in real time to an unknown adversary.
When Alexander reports the breach, he’s presented with an impossible Catch-22. His superiors—led by the enigmatic St. George (Kathleen Chalfant) and operations chief John Moira (Brian d’Arcy James)—offer him a choice: shut down the hack and lose his career, or remain compromised and serve as live bait to draw out the hacker.
To protect national security, Alexander must live as if nothing is wrong, performing normalcy around the clock while knowing he’s constantly being watched. That performance extends to a fabricated romantic relationship with Michelle (Melissa Barrera), an operative assigned as both his handler and his girlfriend. What begins as a controlled deception gradually blurs into something more complicated—and more dangerous.
The season builds toward a devastating finale that reframes everything. The hacker isn’t a foreign power or rogue state, but Victor (Saul Rubinek), Alexander’s mentor and surrogate father. Victor orchestrated the titular “Copenhagen Test” to determine whether a human could remain loyal, functional, and sane while unknowingly living inside a constructed reality.
Rather than relying on constant action, The Copenhagen Test thrives on psychological tension. It raises unsettling questions about privacy, loyalty, and the moral cost of national security in a world where technology evolves faster than our ethics. Simu Liu delivers one of his strongest performances to date, shedding his lighter, pop-culture persona to portray a man unraveling under quiet, relentless pressure. Melissa Barrera proves once again why she’s become such a compelling genre presence, balancing toughness with emotional depth.
The series also distinguishes itself with its layered espionage concept: a spy agency secretly monitoring other spy agencies. While some early episodes lean heavily on flashbacks, the back half of the season tightens its focus and becomes increasingly addictive. That said, the technobabble surrounding nanites and predictive analytics—primarily delivered through Sinclair Daniel’s Parker—can occasionally bog down the pacing.
Smart, stylish, and intriguingly cautious, The Copenhagen Test shines brightly as one of Peacock’s most confident original thrillers so far. It invites viewers to pay close attention and leaves a few questions open, making a second season feel both well-deserved and essential. Overall, I happily rate the first season an 8/10.
Have you seen The Copenhagen Test? Did the twist work for you, and do you hope Peacock gives it a second season?
The Copenhagen Test is now streaming on Peacock.
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