Treadstone

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.

6 episodes in and the story is gradually unfolding. The character development is okay, giving a background to each cicada, with spicy action scenes. Although the show does jump between characters and time periods, it's not as impossible to follow as some reviews suggest. Feels like each episode should have been at least an hour long though. Can't wait to see how it all ends

The last episode in no way gives a resolution to everything going on. finishes at least two episodes short. if they don't renew for a new season, we're all screwed!!!!

So I waited till the third episode before I made a solid conclussion. My conclussion, too much isn't the answer, characters, places, flashbacks, cramming in as much as possible has the opposite of the desired effect. In episode three the viewer is shown the happenings in four separate places in the space of a minute and a half, why, it's a TV series, they have plenty of time. It tries to be gritty but sleek at the same time, some of the dialogue is crafted, some quite laughable, "How did you become so strong?". It all just seems to be rushing the storyline and forgetting the characters, you end up not giving a toss about them. As for the acting well a few standout but Tracy Ifeachor is woefully bad. If you like the Bourne series of films you won't like this, yes it will fill some time but you won't go out of your way for it.

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.