‘The Sympathizer’ Stages a Second Vietnam War
In the sixth episode of The Sympathizer, the General (Toan Le) is preparing a militia to invade Vietnam and stage a second Vietnam War. Great. Awesome. Definitely what the world needs: More war! But as the Captain (Hoa Xuande) tours the General’s secret military base in the plains of California, he finds out something even worse about this mess—his best friend Bon (Fred Nguyen Khan) has volunteered for this doomed-to-lose army.
Captain could’ve just avoided this shitshow entirely if it wasn’t for Bon. Sure, whatever! Send everyone back to Vietnam to lose the war all over again. But now, he has to defend his friend. Ugh. Captain sends a coded message to Man (Duy Nguyễn) that their side will end up killing Bon if the two of them don’t do anything to protect their non-Commie friend. While he waits for a response, Captain does some digging to figure out where the funds for this militia are coming from.
They’ve got to be coming from one of the many characters Robert Downey, Jr. is playing, either CIA informant Claude or politician Ned Godwin. It’s the latter, so Captain volunteers for the campaign to get insider information on the donations—proof, essentially, to send back to Man. Captain schmoozes around with Ned’s wife (Veronica Della Vedova) to get access to the senator’s private drawing room, where, later, he takes the donation documents.