Maybe knowing Citadel‘s daring proposal to connect its history around the world, we can sustain interest in the series, but for now, it’s more action content that looks like a vehicle for a 007 audition for Richard Madden. In other words? Nothing we haven’t seen, consumed, and reviewed over decades in film and TV. It’s not cool.
Citadel is the name of a mysterious global spy organization that has a difference. As it is independent, it does not submit to the interests of Governments or politicians, it is responsible for maintaining the safety of all people around the world. Yeah, a bold argument: mercenaries of good! Citatel’s rival is the shadowy Manticore syndicate, a mercenary group that only wants money. Who introduce us to the complex universe that travels around the world are agents Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), who in the opening of the series are betrayed, attacked, and have their memories erased while barely escaping with their lives.
We meet them again 8 years later, Kane is now a married man who has no idea of his past and has a new identity: Kyle Conroy. Even in the middle of nowhere, he is tracked down by former Citadel colleague Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who needs to reactivate him as “Mason” to prevent Manticore from being able to access data and passwords that will put the world at risk. Bernard also needs to ‘reactivate’ an equally hidden Nadia, which occupies us in the opening episodes. Together, Mason and Nadia have to travel the world in an attempt to stop the villains, but the secrets of their past and their relationship surprise them.
Supposedly, it would also surprise us. Plot twists that are as unexpected as believing someone died to find out they (yet) haven’t, or that Mason’s family also has secrets is a parade of clichés, explosions, and just plain boring trajectory.
Citadel is an Amazon Prime Video super-production and has the signature of showrunner David Weil (Twilight Zone 2020, Solos, Hunters), but it does not engage. That is if you’re looking for something more than shooting and fighting choreography. This has heaps. Maybe if it followed the line of Ghosted, which was in a movie, it would pass. But there are SIX episodes to stretch a plot with nothing innovative. In interviews, the showrunner argues that unlike the Bourne franchise, James Bond, or even Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible, Citadel ‘innovates’ by bringing the domesticity of spies’ lives to the plot. I disagree with a pain in my heart because I was excited when I saw the teaser and the cast, which includes Leslie Manville in a wonderful role.
Unfortunately, Amazon Prime Video content lacks a good story. Citadel should have more seasons, but it’s just a distraction with nothing original besides posing as an original. Oh! About Richard Madden as a potential James Bond? It has been on the list for years.
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