A visually cool, sonically ominous title sequence fades into a new television show’s opening scene. Speeding black SUVs screech to a halt and more than a dozen FBI agents rush into a luxury DC apartment building where they arrest Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali. Like most series these days, that relatively straightforward opening scene is followed with a string of flashbacks that slowly unravel the mystery of how we got to this point. Flashback 1: The two arrestees pose as members of a Department of Homeland Security special task force. Flashback 2: The fake agents somehow take over several units in the luxury apartment building, occasionally mentioning to other tenants that they’re all under surveillance and that their cellphones are being monitored. Flashback 3: The men manage befriend a bunch of Secret Service Agents. Flashback 4: Taherzadeh goes full Secret Santa Agent and begins providing gifts to the real agents — iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat screen television. “He also offered to let them use a black GMC SUV that he identified as an ‘official government vehicle.” Flashback 5: Taherzadeh offers to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent. Flashback 6: We see that same Secret Service Agent in action doing his day job: protecting the first lady. Flashback 7: A moving truck is parked in front of the apartment building where some of the Secret Service agents are moving in. Inside, we see that one agent is getting the penthouse. How can Secret Service Agents afford lux housing units on a government salary? They don’t need to. Taherzadeh informs the new penthouse resident that the rent is … zero. The Secret Service Agent lowers his standard issue Secret Service Agent sunglasses, taps his earpiece with his index finger and says, “Oh, I heard that!” The two men share an evil laugh as the camera dolly pulls back, showing them from behind as they stand at a window, taking in the penthouse view. Credits roll. Reviews of the pilot are quite positive, although some suggest that the plot seems too far-fetched, even for a TV show. What they don’t realize is that truth is stranger that fiction. Especially in this case. AP: 2 posed as agents, gave gifts to Secret Service officers. Sadly, only one episode has dropped, so we can’t binge this to find out what the hell is going on.

+ No reporter has covered the Secret Service more closely than WaPo’s Carol Leonnig. I therefore appoint her the official showrunner for this series. I’ll be following her on Twitter for the latest plot twists.