bobetjo

There seems to be a glut of retired or undercover spies being forced into the light of day trailing some kids with them.

So getting the mandatory teenagers out the way (and I wish someone would) we have two of the most clueless brother and sister pairs in the genre. Having established that their parents have multiple fake identities they don't really question it. Having established they're in danger they disobey orders and start using their phone and Internet. So dumb..

As always, the retired agents still have all their skills and contacts after fifteen years. Driving skills - check. Kungfu - yep. Firearms- you bet. And that's all that's needed for this thinly written car chase/shoot out/ chop socky romp.

Alfred Hitchcock said that Maguffin shouldn't be revealed because it shows how silly plots are. This series tipped it's hand very early and sure enough, Hitchcock was right. A driven but maverick PhD mathematics student is working on prime numbers but the security services don't want that. Cue mysterious deaths and ancient artifacts. A kind of Indiana Jones and the Lost Integral.

There's a bit of really shallow exposition about prime numbers and the preposterous idea that all the university library books have been deleted. Protagonist gets upset rather than going to Amazon next day delivery. I just kept yawning.

I understand the original book was a reaction to the author's perception that East Asian characters on TV were flat and generic. That message translates to this show but is definitely not preachy or woke. In fact there's a lot of humour.

Although Willis Wu is the principal character, I think a lot of the entertainment values come from the supporting ensemble.

Green and Turner, the uber-stereotyped buddy cops who started to question whether crimes were solving themselves. Willis parents given depth as a later life crisis couple mourning the death of Willis older brother.

The tricks ( no spoiler) Willis uses to penetrate the precinct station were hilarious. Ditto the fun poked at police forensics as they appear on TV.

All round a good show.