TV pick: American Odyssey

Anna Friel stars as Omar Ghazaoui in American Odyssey.

American Odyssey is no relation to American Sniper, American Horror Story, American Crime or indeed Wet Hot American Summer. But that title means it's to be taken seriously.

Made for for NBC, it's another attempt by a US free-to-air network to deliver something to rival the heavyweight dramas from the world of pay TV.

The 13 episode one-off series focuses on a female soldier, a corporate lawyer and a political activist whose lives and stories intertwine in the wake of a battle against jihadists in North Africa. The jihadists - it turns out - are funded by a clandestine American corporation.

Told from three perspectives, the show begins in the North African desert, where Special Ops Sergeant Odelle Ballard (British actress Anna Friel) is part of an elite team that gets lucky, finding and killing a terrorist leader on the most-wanted list.

Odelle logs on to the dead terrorist's laptop and discovers evidence of a large deposit from an American corporation.

Within short order, an American private security force arrives and takes over, seizing the terrorist's body and his laptop - butnot before Odelle has surreptitiously copied the contents.

That night, Odelle's unit is ambushed by the same black-ops force. Americans back home, including Odelle's husband and daughter, are told the soldiers died in the line of duty.

But Odelle lives, as a photo of her (bruised, bloody, wearing a turban) sent to Al Jazeera seems to prove. Her fate becomes a cause for anti-capitalist protesters, led by Harrison Walters (Jake Robinson).

In a skyscraper above the protests, corporate lawyer Peter Decker (Peter Facinelli) begins to suspect that a big client is, in fact, funding terrorists.

When: Monday 9.30pm
Where: TV3
What: Corporate conspiracy thriller in Homeland territory.

- TimeOut