REVIEW: ‘The Sympathizer’ Episode 5 — “All For One”

After a politically salient skewering of Hollywood’s singular racist focus when making movies in Episode 4, The Sympathizer Episode 5  takes a more intimate approach to the story. Written for television by Park Chan-wook & Don McKellar, and Maegan Houang, The Sympathizer Episode 5 is directed by Marc Munden.

The last episode ended with the Captain (Hoa Xuande) running from explosions through a graveyard. It should have been special effects, but it turned into a life-threatening situation—much like everything else. With burns and some memory loss, the Captain wakes up in a hospital with Bon and the other Vietnamese extras from the set.

Landing a settlement from the studio and the Auteur (Robert Downey Jr.), that’s the only good thing that happens in this episode. When the Captain discovers that the General (Toan Le) has started recruiting for a secret military operation, nothing seems within his control.

It is one of the most personal episodes and sections of storytelling in the series so far. The Sympathizer Episode 5 shows the audience the Captain in crisis mode. Sure, he survived an exploding graveyard. But at what cost? Stuck recovering in a hospital room for months, his life in Los Angeles has moved on without him —including Ms. Mori—and he has yet to reach out to Man. Half of that has to do with the fact that he didn’t have the book necessary to encrypt a message to Man. The other half is that the Captain is scared.

As his memory becomes hazy, the one that isn’t is how he feels about Bon and Man. The Sympathizer Episode 5 features the most flashbacks to the Captain’s childhood, and every single one packs an emotional punch. A stark difference from where the three men have found themselves, seeing them as children makes everything all the more somber.

This episode of the limited series is the most intimate we’ve seen so far. It exposes the Captain’s insecurities and confusion. While he’s always been steadfast in his dedication to the cause, seeing life around him and carrying the guilt of his own actions is causing him to break. The Captain is losing control, and it begs the question, has he ever had it?

The series’ stream-of-consciousness approach to narrative means that we know where it ends: with the Captain held prisoner in Vietnam writing his story in its entirety for his captor. How he gets there is unclear, but as his connections with the General, Bon, and his life as a whole become clearer, it starts to come into focus. As the threads of the Captain’s life begin to unravel, Hoa Xuande gives the audience his best acting yet.

The Sympathizer Episode 5 still feels tonally disconnected from the first half of the season. However, it also captures a different kind of vulnerability that we haven’t seen yet. The Captain has helped everyone around him in one way or another. He’s put his life and experiences in everyone else’s hands, and it’s for everyone’s benefit but his own.

Despite the fact that he has been a double agent from the beginning, the truth is loud and clear. The Captain cares deeply about his community. He tries his best. He gives himself constantly to them, and he desperately wants to make amends when he harms them. The characterization that we see for our lead character in The Sympathizer is one that offers a darkly comedic skewering of the world around him while also exposing all of his tender moments. It’s a fascinating watch at the end of the day; even when the continuity goes off-kilter, it emotionally resonates.

Ultimately, with The Sympathizer Episode 5, the HBO limited series is in an awkward state. We’ve hit a couple of episodes that feel drastically different from how the show began, but for the life of me, it all just works. With Hoa Xuande’s expert performance, the series withstands any fo the hiccups that come up from handing directorial duties off to different creatives with a different focus each time.

The Sympathizer Episode 5 is streaming now on MAX (formerly HBO MAX), with new episodes every Sunday.