'Treadstone': Investigative journalist Tara Coleman is the most enigmatic character on the USA Network show
USA Network’s ‘Treadstone’ is as gripping as it is mysterious. The show belongs in the same universe Robert Ludlum created in the ‘Bourne’ series and follows two storylines -- one in the 1970s at the height of the Cold War in East Berlin and the other in the present day, spread across North Korea, the Arctic, France, Russia, England and America.
All the characters in the show exude an aura of mystery and deception, be it the seemingly homely housewife SoYun who is actually a trained assassin, or even agents in the CIA who reveal little even to each other. Perhaps one of the most enigmatic characters is Tara Coleman (Tracy Ifeachor).
In the first episode, Tara gets a surprise job from the CIA to meet with General Kwon of North Korea. Tara, a former investigative journalist who was working on a story about Stiletto 6, a Cold War-era nuclear missile in Russia, loses her reputation as a scribe when she sticks to the report without ample evidence.
She is thus visibly surprised to learn that not only does a North Korean general want to meet her but also that he assigns her with a task. Kwon enlists her to help track down the rogue nuclear missile, all while keeping the CIA in the dark.
He also asks Tara to protect his daughter, fearing for his own safety as well as hers. Kwon’s suspicions are confirmed when SoYun is sent to assassinate him. In the second episode, Tara tracks down General Kwon’s daughter at Versailles in Paris. Moments later, however, she has to make a run with Kwon’s daughter as assassins arrive to kill them.
A high-speed and perilous chase through the cobbled streets of Versailles ends in a crash and we are left guessing if Tara and Kwon’s daughter survive -- although it is unlikely that harm would befall either; this isn’t ‘Game of Thrones’ after all, where even the most important characters are highly expendable.
But besides what one has seen on the show, very little is known about Tara. According to “dossiers” released by the USA Network, Tara was born on June 5, 1989, in Abuja, Nigeria. After being fired from her journalism job, tara took up a gig as a cab driver in London. We also know that Tara has a sister. But the list of things we don’t know about Tara far exceeds what we know.
The questions one has to ask -- and one hopes they will be answered over the course of season 1 -- are: How did Tara discover Stiletto 6 when it was securely hidden in a silo underneath a farm in a Russian village, especially when the farm’s owner was blissfully unaware of it? How does General Kwon know Tara? Why would General Kwon, a man who rightly feared for his life, trust an investigative journalist from London over his own men? Why is Tara going ahead with a mission that was entrusted with her by a now-dead General from a totalitarian regime?
'Treadstone' airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on the USA Network.
