A Spectacular Political Thriller —Review Of The Night Agent (2023)

As Agent Peter receives treatment from paramedics, he sees the man in a black hoodie and chases after him. They fight for a while and he sees a snake tattoo on the culprit's side but the culprit escapes. He's branded as a suspect in the bombing and assigned to the "Night Action" desk to answer a phone that rarely rings in the basement of the White House every night. The phone is an emergency hotline for agents in the field who get into serious trouble.

Then one night, the phone rings. Peter picks up and speaks to Rose Larkin (played by Luciane Buchanan), a bankrupt cybersecurity entrepreneur and the niece of two Night Action agents just murdered by hitmen. Peter guides her on how to stay safe until the local cops get to her. This FBI agent begins to learn that the death of the two Night Action agents was the beginning of a big conspiracy at the top level of the US government. Will Peter be able to resolve this conspiracy and keep Rose Larkin alive?

Review

I'll just say this Netflix series is the best political thriller I've seen in a while. The plot is a familiar one—a planned assassination of the US president—yet brilliantly executed and well-told in ten episodes. The storytelling is gripping and comprises several narratives that can overwhelm the audience. There's a focus on the survival of Peter Sutherland and Rose Larkin as hitmen come after them for possession of vital information that could throw the country into chaos, and there's the mystery of finding the Russian mole in the White House who plans to assassinate the president. Shawn Ryan did a great job juggling all the narratives together to make the show a spectacular one.

The cast's performance was simply impressive. I enjoyed Luciane Buchanan's acting as a cyber security expert, the couple who acted as the impulsive and scary hitmen and of course, the president's chief of staff, Diane Farr (played by Hong Chau). Gabriel Basso did great as the main protagonist but I wasn't into his acting. He didn't have much part to play beyond the muscle man. Most of the brainwork which involves hacking into computers and phones, figuring out the next move of the mole are handled by Luciane Buchanan and other cast members.

I understand there's a season two in the works. From the way the first season ended where Gabriel Basso's Peter Sutherland is appointed a Night Agent and sent into the field with a classified file, I'm not sure how it will work without his team around him, some of whom were killed in the first season. Unless of course some of the cast return.

In my opinion, The Night Agent is superb as a ten-episode miniseries and shouldn't be renewed. Let's hope the second season will do better than the first because if it turns out a flop, it may impact the success of the first season. Sometimes, film executives should know when to leave the stage while the ovation is loud.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this political thriller. It's worth binge-watching. Every episode is gripping and adrenaline-pumping. I recommend it to every action thriller lover and rate it 4 stars out of 5.

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