Citadel

There were some undoubtedly good moments as this series set up, unfortunately, the further the series went the less promise it showed.

This is tricky, I really wanted to like Citadel, and I did like the first episode.

It's a little tempting to think that this is what happens when you throw too much money at something and don't make it work hard enough to earn that money and develop.

True there was some classic spy action - but with only a few exceptions this wasn't really groundbreaking stuff. Also true that an element of predictability crept into the show the further it went.

What we ended up with is a show that absolutely looks the part, but that when all is said and done is less the sum of its parts, whereas at a rumored $300 million it should clearly have been more - much more.

Citadel is another sad example of a show that chose form over function - looking good, rather than really getting the razor to the story and whittling and revising until something fresh and entertaining remains - new twists on old tails.

Let's hope they learn the lesson for season 2.

Probably the script was written by ChatGPT. They fed the program with some famous spy movies, took out its soul and that was it. It's worse than shows with one-twentieth of the budget. Where did they put $300 million? And making jokes about another movie doesn't change the fact that it's copy and cliché like when the protagonist's wife says he's not Jason Bourne just to alleviate the plagiarism. The scene where the protagonist goes to retrieve equipment that his enemies have been looking for eight years is embarrassing. My mother going to buy bread at the bakery is more exciting. Boring and copy of the copy of the copy of other movies. Not to mention the numerous plot holes and absurdities. I gave 3 because of the good actors.

Personally I thought Citadel was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be but with so many mixed reviews my advice would be to just go watch it for yourself. It's about two spies who loved each other (Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra) but have their memories wiped after their agency was destroyed by a powerful syndicate. It's now 8 years later and they have built their own lives with new identities and no memory of being spies. They then try to get their memories back to help prevent a New World Order from happening. This kind of story has been done numerous times before but Citadel still does it with a fresh new take. Some of it is unbelievable but just turn your mind off and enjoy it for what it is and that's an action packed thriller.

It doesn't get much more cookie cutter and mediocre than this.

You can tell from the dialogue in the very first scene, what kind of show is going to be. The two main characters for no reason talks to each other in five different languages in a single conversation, to tell the audience how great they are as spies. The handler tells the agent on the mission to remember that the target has nuclear material in his briefcase, because I'm sure she forgot... The entire first episode continues in the same vein, where characters explain things to the audience by telling each other things they already know, and it's the laziest kind of writing.

Throw some amnesia in there, some top agents who's fighting is laughable and who like to throw quips around instead of carrying out their mission and you've got a show that nobody is going to remember in 10 minutes.

For now, just a big parade of shallow clichés.

Maybe it's an attempt to bring a teenage audience closer to spy genre. The intended audience would then justify the insubstantial plot, the characters' constant explanations of what's going on, the TikTok editing, and an almost cynical lack of engagement with the real world. By the way, do these plots involving nuclear artifacts still make sense? Why don't screenwriters experiment with contexts closer to the experiences of the new generations, such as pesticides, industrial secrets in medicine and food, disputes over geolocation data, etc.? Why not explicitly place industries and their business interests at the center of the story rather than these government agencies with their political overtones?

Boring.