Movies, TV Series, Specials and Premium Cable and Streaming Shows, this is the spot to get into what turns you on and what makes you puke! Any reason to hold back?
- This topic is empty.
-
-
THE NIGHT AGENT Review by Celine Wang
“Mr. President Your Inner Circle Has Been Compromised” Captain American Brave New World movie due out in a week from now.
Assassinating a sitting President (or a similarly placed high-level government official) has become one of the most, if not the most overused plot device in the recent history of Hollywood films and TV shows. And that is precisely the core of the first season of this show.
The Night Agent is basically a spy series, that started airing on March 23, 2023 starring Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, a low-level FBI agent who gets assigned to desk duty supporting “Night Agents”, a top-secret American spy agency that even the CIA does not know about and reports directly to the President of the United States. In his support role, Sutherland is supposed to take phone calls from agents who require support, but the phone usually never rings. The show co-stars Luciane Buchanan as Rose, a San Francisco coding genius (deft software programmer) who is the CEO of her own failed start-up and unbeknown to her, her closest relatives are Night Agents embroiled in some heavy stuff who are assassinated at their home while Rose is visiting. She sees the killer and becomes a target of a rival intelligence agency and mercenaries.
Both leads are fun to watch and solid in the first season, the chemistry is strong, the story strains plausibility at times, but it is basically Rose tagging along helping Peter solve the big mystery with her computer hacking skills, and Peter actively shielding her from becoming a target while also attempting to get to the head of the group who are ultimately seeking to assassinate the President of the United States, Michelle Travers, played by Kari Matchett.
The first season relied mostly on intrigue, whodunit mystery, and lots of friction between multiple agencies stepping on each other’s toes in prolonging the finale and exciting conclusion. Lots of various players from the FBI and the NSA get to pull rank on poor Peter, who not only must protect the President of the United States from an impeding mortal danger but has to ensure Rose is safe as she increasingly becomes a pivotal asset in resolving the mystery.
The trouble with Night Agent is that there have been way too many spy shows recently exploiting this category, that are playing the exact same card as this show, low-level James Bond stuff, starting with Slow Horses, an Emmy award-winning British show in its fifth season starring scruffy Gary Oldman from The Dark Knight fame, The Agency (a scene for scene English language adaptation from a long-running highly successful French TV series The Bureau or Le Bureau des Legendes), the new English version starring Michael Fassbender (Magneto of the X-Men) and Jeffrey Wright (of Batman with Pattinson), The Recruit, also from Netflix (2022-2025), like The Night Agent, is in its second season and Citadel (2023) is about to release its second season this year.
Older spy action thriller genre shows currently available on streaming platforms include The Old Man (2022-2024), Treadstone (2019, based on Jason Bourne movie franchise) and Jack Ryan (2018-2023, based on the Jack Ryan movies with Chris Pine, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck).
I initially stumbled on The Night Agent when I had screened the hit series Reacher and was searching for more shows like it as part of the reviewer’s research. Turns out Reacher has been so successful (now about to premiere its third season), it spawned an imitator, Tracker with Smallville alum Justin Hartley in the lead.The Night Agent manages to remain appealing throughout the first season despite many familiar tropes, owing in no small part to the twists and turns in each episode. But the initial charm of the Peter and Rose relationship also tugs at the viewer’s patience at times.
I let it float because I was following the whodunit mystery aspect of the show. Someone else might have said their relationship is forced and contrived.
Building on movie “etiquette” of how Secret Service agents proceed and interact from previous efforts such as Clint Eastwood’s In The Line of Fire (1993) and other movies is another reason why The Night Agent can be tired and a clunker at times.
Hong Chau’s performance was particularly irritating and wooden, as the White House Chief of Staff, an Asian American with literally a bleached white wig that sparkled at times. It is not Chau’s fault, the actress is very capable, this is the script and directing talking here.
To its credit, there are many elements in the first season that keeps the viewer guessing, as our heroes chase down leads and clues and we go from one story arc to another.
While The Night Agent is no James Bond or Jason Bourne, the production quality and set designs makes the show appealing to viewers, especially given other selections and choices available for nighttime viewing. The first season has good cadence and zip, but nowhere as excitingly as the first season of Reacher. Unfortunately it sets up high the expectations that the second season might fix all the flaws and quirks of the show. The second season, alas, does not address these issues, and simply continues with more cracks in the ship’s mast.
You want to know more about this series, especially the second season? Search in the Kiosk section after logging in as a Gold Member. If you are a Standard or Premium member, simply upgrade to Gold level.
All contents © 2025. All rights reserved.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.