Robert Downey Jr. might have portrayed five distinct characters in "The Sympathizer," but he's far from the only actor in the ensemble to embody multiple personas. This captivating limited series follows a North Vietnamese communist spy, known solely as the Captain (Hoa Xuande), who, after the war, finds himself embedded in a South Vietnamese community in Los Angeles.
Duy Nguyễn steals the show as Man, the Captain's handler, closest friend, and the sole remaining link to his homeland. But, fearing surveillance, the pair resort to sending decoy letters addressed to a fictitious aunt of the Captain. Any truthful revelations must be brief, focused, and written in invisible ink. Hence, when loneliness and the craving for companionship strike the Captain, he indulges in imaginary conversations with Man, treating him as if he were physically present.
"I realized that the Man in the Captain's imagination isn't the same as the real-life Man," confesses Nguyễn. This realization compelled him to delve deeper into not only his "real" character but also a myriad of alternate selves, each shaped equally by the Captain's perception of Man as much as by Man's actual identity.
"The version of Man in his head varies depending on what the Captain needs from his friend in that moment and what he imagines his friend would say," Nguyễn continues. "I had to pore over the script repeatedly to grasp, 'What is the Captain thinking?'"
These imaginary scenarios unfold throughout the seven-episode run of "The Sympathizer," constituting a significant chunk of Nguyễn's screen time. "We filmed all the imagination scenes in a single day - with three directors!" he recalls. "It was intense, switching between scenes directed by Park [Chan-wook], then Marc [Munden], and finally Fernando [Meirelles]. Episode 7 is where you finally get to see the real Man."
By the finale, titled "Endings Are Hard, Aren't They?," much has transpired. Despite Man's admonition to stay in America, the Captain is beset by a profound longing for his homeland. He secretly joins an attack on the communists orchestrated by the General (Toan Le), hoping it will pave a way for his return to Vietnam. He hasn't revealed his true allegiance to Bon (Fred Nguyen Khan), a loyal South Vietnamese soldier who has been his childhood friend and Man's companion. When both are captured and sent to a communist reeducation camp, the Captain expects to be recognized as a comrade and freed. Instead, he's forced to spend a year writing a confession to prove his loyalty - all while the camp's leader, revealed to be a masked Man with a face distorted by a napalm accident, stands before him.
"To reach the final moment where he's utterly broken and consumed by the flames, I had to meticulously craft an entirely new facet of his character," Nguyễn shares. "Yet, amidst the wreckage, he strives to retain the identity his friends hold dear, even as they fail to recognize him. This aspect is what tears at the heartstrings the most."
Similar to the Captain, Man has also transformed into a kind of "sympathizer." He subjects the Captain to gruesome tortures, partly to conceal their friendship from his colleagues. But the brutality also seems like a means to force the Captain to confess something Man has long realized: It's challenging to be proud of their wartime victory when it came at such a devastating human cost.
Toward the finale, Man directs the Captain's attention to a renowned quote by President Ho Chi Minh: "Nothing is more precious than freedom and independence," a belief the Captain holds dearly. But Man reveals that there is indeed something even more treasured, offering him three guesses before he can earn his "graduation."
After squandering two guesses on "belief" and "family," his friend prompts him, "Read the sentence carefully. The answer lies within." Perhaps it's nothingness, or even the absence of something, that holds the greatest value. But what does this truly signify? Before the Captain unravels the answer, he imagines himself seated beside the Major (Phanxine) and Sonny (Alan Trong), the two individuals he fatally betrayed as a spy. Is "nothing" synonymous with death? Or is it the absence of politics? Whatever its essence, it's precisely what the Captain needs to hear.
Man apologizes for making the lesson so grueling, explaining that he had learned it the "hard way" firsthand. With that, the Captain seizes Bon and flees the camp, leaving all allegiances to either side behind.
In a comprehensive interview exploring the historical significance of "The Sympathizer," Variety sat down with Hoa Xuande, Duy Nguyễn, and executive producer and star of five earlier episodes, Sandra Oh, to delve deeper into the enigmatic concept of "nothing."
