An FBI agent is thrown into a vast conspiracy about a mole at the highest levels of the U.S. government. To save the nation, he launches into a desperate hunt for the traitor, while protecting his accomplice from the people who murdered her aunt and uncle. Sound familiar? Of course. In a genre that shows no sign of disappearing, the challenge for showrunners is to somehow come up with a new twist or make the tropes especially suspenseful and enticing. Netflix has accomplished the latter and adapted a heart-stopping spy thriller. The series premiered in March 2023 and immediately became one of the streamers most popular programs. Ahead of its second season premiere in January this year, the show was renewed for a third season.
Gabriel Basso (The Big C) plays Peter Sutherland, a young FBI agent assigned to Night Watch, a clandestine counterintelligence program. He mans a landline phone in a windowless room buried in the White House. The only task on his midnight shift is to answer the phone in the event a distress call comes in from the field. As he’s told, “it rarely rings.” Until one night it does, setting off a cascade of unimaginable choices for Peter. He’s quickly on the run with Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), a cyber wiz, who is being pursued by the killers of her relatives. Her skills become increasingly useful as she becomes an unofficial member of the intelligence team.
Season Two picks up 10 months later and finds Peter in Thailand going rogue to investigate a covert CIA program involving the development of deadly chemical weapons. It’s a gripping moral quandary for Peter and his compatriots. Rose continues to assist Peter with her computer and people skills. Noor Taheri (Arienne Mandi), a low-level aid at the Iranian Embassy to the UN becomes an important ally. Once again, it’s territory we’ve been in before and we are asked to suspend reality. But if you liked 24 and Homeland (two of my all-time favorites) you’ll be drawn in by The Night Agent. It’s not showy, fluffy, or mired in character development. Instead, it piles on the suspense at a fast pace with perfect timing. Buckle up and go for the ride.
Trivia: Gabriel Basso played what character in a film directed by Ron Howard starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close? Name the character and movie.
Answer below
Answer: Basso played J.D. Vance in Hillbilly Elegy.
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