But there’s much more to “Rubicon” than its nerdy appeal. Now that conspiracy theories have moved from the fringes to the center of political life, the questions “Rubicon” asks about the manipulation of truth and the ways the powerful intentionally obscure their most craven agendas are more compelling than ever. “Rubicon” anticipated Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), the distrustful protagonist of “Mr. Robot,” by half a decade. (The “Rubicon” characters, however, are drowning in paper and don’t use their computers much, which may well have been a prescient precaution.)

It would be wrong for a piece about a spy drama to reveal too many secrets, but there’s much that can be discussed without ruining a “Rubicon” binge. Its star, James Badge Dale — who also appeared on “24,” a flashier and more problematic secret-agent tale — brings a well-calibrated mixture of determination and doubt to the role of Will Travers, an analyst who is promoted to API management. Travers is shy and relatively awkward, but he’s not a pushover, and much of the season revolves around his attempts to figure out if his bosses — and the bigwigs they answer to — are using the intellectual output of API employees in shady ways.

A fair bit of “Rubicon” can be enjoyed as a delicious workplace drama. Travers ’s immediate boss, Kale Ingram (Arliss Howard), is a cool cucumber who boasts of a resting pulse of 46 beats per minute. Howard makes Ingram’s calculated reticence fascinating: We’re led to believe that the motives of this intelligence veteran are honorable, but that’s by no means a sure thing, certainly not as far as Travers is concerned.

The eccentric but ruthless Spangler (Michael Cristofer), API’s top executive, is even harder to figure out. Often found munching on a bowl of cereal , Spangler tries to manipulate both his staff and the government types who pay API’s bills in ways that are every bit as addictive as anything that ever transpired on “Mad Men.” As a private business, API has to hustle for contracts, and thus Spangler is only too happy to keep representatives of the military-industrial complex happy. But over time, it begins to look as if he were playing a much deeper game. (My personal conspiracy theory: Cristofer’s string-pulling “Mr. Robot” character, Phillip Price, is Spangler gone undercover. Wake up, sheeple!)

Unlike “24” or “Homeland,” whose relentless pursuit of “big twists” ultimately led to seasons of diminishing returns, “Rubicon” offers storytelling that is methodical and measured. It does an outstanding job of conveying the personal and psychological costs of working in the American intelligence trenches during the war on terror. Dallas Roberts, who later appeared on “The Good Wife,” is particularly wonderful as Miles Fiedler, a twitchy genius with haunted eyes.