The Night Agent

I have to say that I came away impressed with The Night Agent. I actually liked the first season so much that I couldn't stop watching and binged the entire season over the course of a weekend. Then the second season came out and I was hoping for more of the same. While I thought the second season was worth watching it wasn't nearly as good the first. The series is about a rookie FBI agent (Gabriel Basso) who gets assigned to the basement of the White House to guard a phone that never rings. Until one night it does. What follows is an action packed conspiracy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the series. I know this series has been killing it on Netflix as both seasons did very well and among their most watched shows ever. I saw they plan on doing a third season and I can't wait to see where this show goes.

The thing that made season 1 good was that the story and the action kept the story moving along. It was intriguing, interesting and compelling. I watched the first season in 2 or 3 days and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Season 2 is the exact opposite. Lots of pointless dialogue that doesn't move the story along. Lots of repeated conversations. Too many characters that have no purpose. Lots of talking. Little action. I am 4 episodes in and feel like I am now trying to get through this. Forcing myself to stick with it. Pretty much everything that made the first season good is missing in the second season.

A lot of nonsensical plot holes, disjointed and formless story lines thrown together in a blender. Clearly not based on a book like season 1 but rather a tv writer effort to leverage the original. I kept watching in spite of it. It's not terrible but there are much better other spy thriller shows. Some notable standouts for acting were Javar and Solomon and Peter. The women in this series to me were portrayed as weak, emotional and frail. Too stereotypical. Everytime an obvious solution was presented they meandered down a new weird fork in the road. Watching this required a lot of patience but I didn't have anything else to do so...

I can't remember the last time a show surprised me by how much I liked it like The Night Agent did. I didn't know much about it but saw it was the #1 show on Netflix for a while and thought the trailer looked pretty good too. Then after reading the mostly positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike I was sold. It not only met my expectations but surpassed them in every way. It may get slow in some parts but for the most part it's very entertaining. It has a cast of mostly unknowns but Gabriel Basso is definitely the break out star here. His performance in this will definitely lead to more starring roles. I'm so glad this has already been renewed for another season.

Unfortunately the momentum of the original show was lost on season 2. Poorly written female roles really made this tough to watch. Actors had little to no depth.

The logic and trade craft for supposed operators is highly questionable in the second season. Always going into situations that can be avoided or dealt with more professionally.

The cast is very talented but they were limited here by the script. Wish it wasn't so but I definitely found myself doing secondary tasks while watching. Didn't keep me glued to it like season one. I say watch them both and you be the judge as I would any show.