Netflix’s Massive Hit “Night Agent” Is Back With A Definitive Third Season

People talk a lot about “Wednesday,” “Stranger Things,” and even “The Squid Game,” but one of the most successful shows in the history of the most successful broadcast company was Shawn Ryan’s hard-hitting “The Night Agent,” the most-watched show of 2023, and one of the best shows of its kind right now. Yes, every season, including today’s youth is reasonably bananas. The latest campaign involves a conspiracy to the White House and, if true, would make headlines around the world, but it is executed with such confidence and pacing that one suspends disbelief just to see what happens next. Bolstered by the show’s best ensemble of young supporting actors to date, the third season of “The Night Agent” is arguably its best yet. After opening two hot episodes, it focuses on what is an 8-chapter film, and argues that the real villains of this world are not the low-level players who commit acts of violence but the high-level ones who sponsor terrorism for political gain.

The almost Hitchcockian premise of the first season of “Night Agent,” in which an ordinary agent receives a sinister phone call in the middle of the night that implicates him in an international conspiracy, is gone. Which is not a problem. You can’t cast Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) as a “nice guy in over his head” for long without the repetition becoming ridiculous. The first season of “The Night Agent” continues as an incident that plunges this noble man into a web of dirty criminals. Answering that call connects him with Rose Larkin (notable for her absence like last season) so much so that he chooses to protect her by selling part of his soul to an intelligence broker named Jacob Monroe (a very good Louis Herthum). At the beginning of the third season, an act of terrorism pushes him into a situation where he thinks he can finally find Monroe in the chance to hand him over to Catherine Weaver (Amanda Warren) and her gang. You are very wrong in that thinking.

His mission to bring down Monroe leads Peter into the life of Isabel De Leon (Genesis Rodriguez), a financial reporter who believes she has connected the dots between terrorist acts and those who pay them. Peter and Isabel are contacted by a financial analyst named Jay (Suraj Sharma), who is the first to uncover suspicious transactions, but that information gets him into trouble with Monroe and his people.

While all of this is going down, “The Night Agent” tracks down a few more that end up crossing lines, deftly moving between them as the show progresses. For one, we’re joined by Chelsea Arrington (Fola Evans-Akingbola, who’s having her best season yet), who’s not only married but now Head of Security for the First Family, including President Ward Horton (Richard Hagan) and First Lady Jenny Hagan (Jennifer Morrison). When Chelsea is involved in a shooting at the White House, she begins to suspect that POTUS and FLOTUS are hiding something because they are.

Two other new faces made a significant impact this season. “True Blood” star Stephen Moyer works well as a hired gun known only as “The Father” because he happens to be traveling with his young son, who tries to keep him from knowing his father’s real job. (Why he would be traveling with her and trying to keep her in the dark will be revealed in ways that the plot synopsis in the review can’t convey. Don’t worry.) Moyer transitions well from cold killer to warm father in an effective performance.

Even better is “ER” vet David Lyons (also fresh off a great performance in “The Beast in Me”) as Adam, the Night Agent assigned by the President to work and protect Sutherland. This 007 show can sometimes struggle, always thinking his way through each situation, and Lyons balances that out with more world-weary laughs. They made an effective duo for most of the season.

Well-cast, well-paced, and well-written, the only places where “Night Agent” stumbles a little from Netflix’s classic bloat. The first few episodes struggle too much to find a rhythm that probably should have been one, and the later chapters struggle with Netflix’s classic problem of repetitiveness, though it doesn’t happen enough to sink the entire show.

“Night Agent” doesn’t break new ground, but not every show needs to. If “The Pitt” has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a longing for classic drama structures done right. This one doesn’t rise to the levels of that HBO hit, but it does what it sets out to do remarkably well. It values ​​escapist entertainment above all else. Can it take a strong political stand? Of course. Does it make more sense when you think about it? Maybe. But the important thing is that these questions don’t get stuck while watching it, which is the definition of escapism done well, the programs that push the world and its criticism.

Just as “The Pitt” set up a world where decent people do their best against a broken system, this one scratches that timeless itch when we want to see good men and women fight the corruption that is destroying this world, often with their fists. Peter Sutherland exists on the same spectrum as Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer, men willing to sacrifice personal need for the greater good. No wonder it’s a big hit. We all hope that when things go down, there will be a Peter Sutherland there to answer the phone.

The entire season was screened for review. Now on Netflix.