Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of Netflix’s ‘The Night Agent’ follows Peter Sutherland completely assuming his mantle of an agent of the Night Action. However, things go south pretty fast when his colleague is killed, and it becomes clear that someone within the FBI cannot be trusted. At the same time, Peter also discovers a conspiracy about a defunct CIA black ops called Foxglove, which leads him to the existence of a chemical agent named KX. When the true potency of KX is revealed, it also comes to light that some terrorist forces are trying to unleash it on New York to cause catastrophic damage. The truth behind the black ops program is even more shocking, but interestingly, it is not a far-fetched reality. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Fictional Foxglove Mirrors a Real Bioweapons Program
Foxglove is not a real CIA black ops program. It is a fictional plot device created solely for the purpose of furthering the plot of the second season of ‘The Night Agent.’ According to the show, the purpose of Foxglove was to create antidotes for bioweapons that could be used against the US. However, to find the antidote, they also had to have the bioweapons. From here, things escalated, and eventually, the program ended up being about creating bioweapons more lethal than anyone has ever known. Eventually, the program was shut down, and for the few bioweapons that were created under it, the antidotes were never created.
In reality, the US did have a bioweapons program, but it was created back in the 40s. The Second World War opened the world to all sorts of weapons, and the use of biological weapons also became prevalent during and after that. President Roosevelt set up the program to research and stockpile bioweapons for the US in 1943, and it ran for about three decades. During this time, several bioweapons (like anthrax, brucellosis, and tularemia, to name a few) were found and created, and most importantly, were weaponized. It was in 1969 that President Nixon ordered the end of the non-defensive section, and by 1975, bioweapons were termed illegal under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Geneva Protocol.
The more shocking nature of the revelations surrounding the bioweapons was the discovery that they were tested on people without their consent. There were also allegations of the US using bioweapons during several wars. In ‘The Night Agent,’ Foxglove comes under similar scrutiny when it is revealed that the program was not only fostered against the international policy, but the bioweapon created under it was sold to a dictator, who then used it against his own people.
KX is a Fictional Bioweapon in The Night Agent
The second season of ‘The Night Agent’ introduces the audience to a chemical agent named KX. It is revealed that KX was created under Foxglove and was sold to Viktor Bala to use against the dissidents in his country. The toxin is extremely poisonous as its inhalation in very small quantities can also be fatal to a person. The death is terrifying, as the body burns from the inside out. What makes it so dangerous is that it feeds on oxygen, so the more a person breathes, the faster their insides burn, and they die a horrifying death. Making KX airborne means that no one can be saved, as there is no antidote for it.
Fortunately, there is no KX in real life. However, there is a horde of other bioweapons that are just as deadly as the fictional bioweapons presented in the Netflix series. Bioweapons like sarin have been used in wars to turn the tables. Sarin acts as a nerve agent, and, like KX, it can kill a person even in small quantities. It is known to have killed its victims within 1-10 minutes of its inhalation. Luckily, there is an antidote for it, but it needs to be administered as quickly as possible. Another example of a highly toxic chemical is botulinum, which is also known for being extremely lethal. Reportedly, a gram of it is enough to kill more than a million people.
Its ease of distribution makes it even deadlier. Unfortunately, there is no specific antidote for it. However, there are ways to reduce its effects and potentially save someone’s life if they receive the required treatment in time. ‘The Night Agent’ presents KX along the lethality of similar lines but makes it more potent than real-life chemicals. KX works within seconds of exposure, which means that even if an antidote were to be created, it would still not mean as much because the victim would have already met a terrible end.
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