Treadstone

It's too bad. Treadstone could have been a fun show with intrigue and ass-kicking. Instead, it was a character-heavy, plot-driven show, and for what it was trying to do, the writing and storytelling just weren't there.

The back-and-forth between the present and the early 1970s seemed unnecessary, especially as the era's John Bentley looked a lot like the present-day Doug McKenna. In fact, all the 70s scenes weren't 70s enough to be distinct from the present. I didn't believe for a second that I was looking at 70s-era East Germany inhabited by 70s-era East Germans. Production design, hair, makeup, and costuming just weren't trying.

The show could have done with fewer characters. There were way too many for the viewers to care about any of them.

The cicadas, who was controlling them, and the goal wasn't clear. If they were supposed to be super assassins who couldn't remember, they sure remembered a lot. Some of them hadn't forgotten a thing.

I could go on. On the whole, the show was a muddled mess, and as someone who enjoyed the Bourne movies, I was disappointed. A do-over would be great IF the showrunners had a great story to tell.

Wow. I don't see how anyone can rate this mess above a four. The dialogue is idiotic. And the plotting is absurd. One of the professional reviewers, I believe it was Ebert, called this a "mush' and I agree.

The series was extremely good in my opinion not quite 10/10 top tier but one of the better action series around if a little predictable at tunes but just enough other twists to keep you guessing. Unfortunately however the series hasn't been renewed and the story did not conclude at all the most annoying thing when you get invested into a show! If you don't like that happening I'd give it a miss and save yourself the pain and annoyance.

This series had potential but really disappoints. They blew it by trying to cram little snippets of each plot thread into every single episode. It didn't give you any space to connect emotionally with the different characters.

That's what made the original Bourne movies work. It wasn't so much about the spy stuff or the fighting, something this show seems to misunderstand as it serves up gratuitous amounts of pointless hand-to-hand combat to the point of boring predictability. It was about our emotional investment in the tortured man and his story.

This show just doesn't give us any characters worth caring about. A more episodic format-with each episode focused on a particular character-could have worked better in this regard, but the the writing and acting quality would have needed to be turned up a few notches as well. As it is, Treadstone feels like B-grade Jason Bourne fan fiction, and I totally lost interest three episodes in.

The 'Jason Bourne' movies introduced Treadstone; an illegal CIA programme where people undergo behavioural modification to become near perfect agents. Officially it was closed down but now somebody is reactivating these agents. Who or why is far from clear. It soon becomes apparent that the CIA isn't the only agency to do such work; flashbacks to 1973 show how a CIA agent captured by the Soviets has been reprogrammed to work for them, what they call a 'Cicada'. In North Korea an agent there is awakened and goes from being a piano tutor to being an assassin. If this weren't enough there is a nuclear missile outside official command in Russia and it looks like somebody wants to sell the warhead to the North Koreans.

I rather enjoyed this series; although I must say I'm glad I waited for it to finish before I started watching as watching all ten episodes in under a week made it relatively easy to follow. The way the story jumps about might have left me confused if I had to wait a week between episodes. Each episode provides decent action and a good sense of mystery. Each time it appears one question is answered more are raised... that includes the final episode, so if we want some of the more intriguing questions answered we'll have to hope for a second season. The cast is solid throughout making it easy to accept certain details that might not be too realistic but add to the drama. The series makes good use of multiple locations around the world; I was pleased that when characters spoke in these locations they used the appropriate language with subtitles rather than accented English; just a pity the white subtitles were occasionally hard to read against pale backgrounds. It was amusing how there were quite a few references to events in the Bourne movies but Jason Bourne was never mentioned by name... I guess the makers would have had to pay to do that! Overall I thought this was a solid action thriller that fans of the genre should enjoy if they can suspend their disbelief occasionally. I've no idea if we'll get a second season but I for one really hope we do.