Spy Ops is informative, and at least in the beginning, quite engaging. But the allure of insider access and first-hand knowledge quickly gives way to boredom. You can only insert so many archival clips, reenact so many events, and dramatize so much of the music before it becomes obvious how scant the material actually is. It also suffers from a narrow perspective; we hear from the intelligence operatives but rarely from people who don’t share the same views, people who more often than not are from the Global South. The information it shares seems vital enough, but without the expert editing and wide perspective that a truly compelling documentary needs, Spy Ops falls flat. 

Spy Ops is so rudimentary that nothing about it really stands out, and it doesn’t excite enough curiosity to have you think about it once it’s over. The docuseries is not terrible, but it’s not excellent either. Instead, it dwells in that middle ground of stories that like to play things safe. With this, Spy Ops joins an arsenal of middling non-fiction narratives that take on controversial topics but are too afraid, in the end, to dive deep into their complexities.