‘Tis the season for spy thrillers and Amazon wants in. In an almost direct response to Night Agent and The Recruit, Prime Video saw Netflix’s espionage success and raised them a Citadel.
Citadel is an independent global spy agency—tasked to uphold the safety and security of the public. Manticore consists of a group of bad actors who operate in the shadows and pose the biggest threat to global safety. When Citadel falls, top agents, Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) have their memories wiped. With a helping hand from Bernard (Stanley Tucci), the two agents will stop at nothing to destroy Manticore, restore their memories, and protect those closest to them.
The series has a lot of good things going for it and I’m just a few episodes in. Episodes 1 & 2 are available now on Prime Video with new episodes premiering every Friday. It’s already been renewed for a second season and has spinoffs in the works as we speak.
For the first time in years, I can actually look at Richard Madden and not be reminded of The Red Wedding (and oddly enough, Priyanka’s real-life sister-in-law, Sophie Turner, played Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones). But I digress…
Amazon Studios has something really special with this show. It gives James Bond vibes without the British accents and corny one-liners. It feels more like a movie than a tv series and that’s saying something. The episodes have their campy moments, but, there’s a solid base for the actors to thrive on. And did I mention it has Stanley Tucci?
The onscreen chemistry between Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden is wonderful. The antithesis of “shaken, not stirred”, Mason Kane has looks, skills, and the courage to take on anything. Nadia Sinh has that too, but also the intelligence and savvy to cause less of a commotion.
The storyline is easy to follow, you’ll quickly find favorite characters (mine are the Silje brothers), and there’s no bombardment of random love scenes. The chemistry between Mason and Nadia comes off as organic. As the series continues, it’ll be interesting to see which direction the writers take with their relationship and how much of their origin story we’ll get to see (you get a glimpse but not the full reveal). They’re the onscreen pairing I never knew I needed, but now that I have it, I want more.
Citadel gets an 8.5 out of 10. There’s a heavy amount of fighting and explosions in this project. No low-level explosions either. I mean the type of explosions that would make Michael Bay proud. The TV-14 rating is appropriate for the language used and there’s a heavy amount of violence. There’s potential for this first season to be a hit and score a heavy fanbase globally.
Citadel is available now on Prime Video
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Prime Video