In the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War and a time when the Superpowers are deploying psychic spies behind the Iron Curtain to engage in intrigue and espionage, the CIA discovers a man who just may be the most powerful psychic of them all. 

SYNOPSIS:

Based on the novel.

SIMPLE DESCRIPTION: PERIOD DRAMA that encompasses elements of GROUNDED SCIENCE FICTION and SOCIAL COMMENTARY. HISTORICAL MILESTONES (the Cuban Missile Crisis, building of the Berlin Wall, Vietnam War, etc.) will be woven into the fictional fabric of our show. “Mindbender” tackles the same emotional landscape as Steven Spielberg’s MUNICH and Spike Lee’s BLACKKKLANSMAN.

PILOT: ALABAMA 1961— When JOHN - a young, intelligent and educated African American - comes to the attention of the CIA for his remarkable ability to remote view - mentally view what a person is seeing or thinking about - he is whisked out of a Southern prison in the dead of night. John can also mentally bend the will of a target. He is indoctrinated into the art of spycraft. ISTANBUL 1962— PERA PALACE HOTEL— John views Soviet scientist PYOTR LIUKIN. John tells his handler THOMAS ORLY, “The Soviets have nuclear missiles in Cuba.” John is ordered to eclipse - i.e., kill - Liukin. “Make it public. Make it messy,” Orly tells John. In the hotel restaurant at the crowded bar, John is quietly amazed that he - as a Black man - is allowed be there. Ironically, John enjoys more freedoms in the countries he is spying in than in his own country where he is considered less than human. John is engaged by a stunningly beautiful woman in a sequin dress, who wants a light. After, he turns his attention to Liukin, who is having dinner with his wife. John sends Liukin a box. In the box there is a gun. John psychically commands Liukin to put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger. However, John doesn’t get out of the man’s mind quick enough and... experiences the scientist’s death. Disoriented, John is spirited out of the hotel by Orly during the ensuing chaos. On a street corner, as John and Orly wait for their car, John sees the woman in the sequin dress standing across the busy street under a neon sign. A second later... Orly steps in front of an oncoming bus and is killed. John is splattered with Orly’s blood. Baptized. The woman - URSULA SOBIESKI - is a remote viewer for the Soviets. She bent Orly to kill himself. Ursula sends John one brief psychic message, “Run.” John takes off down an alley as he sees enemy agents coming to kill him. John is still heavily disoriented, bombarded by mental impressions - memories - from the dead scientist. Now the CIA is desperately trying to find John. He is the only one who knows the location of the Cuban missile base. Two days later, hold up in a carnival outside the city that has been shut down in this offseason, John recovers. Right as... a TROIKA OF PSYCHIC SPIES from different foreign powers arrive to kill him. John proves he is the most powerful mind spy of them all by killing two of them and leaving the third - a woman - wounded. John’s had his fill of killing for one day. MARCUS SHAWNESSY - John’s chaperone - finds John. Marcus looks at the wounded enemy agent, “You know, if roles were reversed, she’d have eclipsed ya.” Days later, John has a partner on a new assignment; Ursula, the Soviet spy who killed Orly— END