The Call – As the first episode of The Night Agent begins, Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) gives up his seat on a train to a mother and her daughter. Peter notices a man placing his backpack under a seat before getting off the train. When he gets the bag, he finds a bomb and admits he doesn’t know how to disarm it. The train is stopped. Peter tells everyone he is with the FBI and they need to exit the train calmly. He helps the young mother and her daughter get off the train before the bomb explodes. Once the police arrive and Peter gets up, he is told only one person died so it could’ve been a lot worse. He is told to stay put.

When he sees the suspected bomber in the crowd, Peter gets up and tries to go after him. Peter chases the man into an alley before pulling out his gun and searching for him. Once Peter finds him, they end up fighting. Peter notices an odd tattoo on the man’s side. The bomber runs away again. Peter chases him until he gets hit by a car and watches the man run down a dark alley. Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) prepares for her upcoming TED Talk about cyber security. Her friend arrives with the seed funding documents. Rose signs the paperwork. One year later, Peter wakes up and goes to work. His boss asks him about a video in which Elliot Rome accuses him of being involved in the bombing.

Elliot also claims his father killed himself after selling out the country. Peter questions whether Deputy Director Hawkins saw this only to learn he sent it to her. She says the Rome Tome is a bunch of conspiracy theory trolls spreading lies. Peter needs to keep saying no comment to get his promotion and Hawkins will have to sign off on it too. Before Diane leaves, Peter says he appreciates everything she has done for him. Then, Peter is told he’ll need to come in early for the President’s pickup basketball game. When he is asked why he isn’t working in the Secret Service, Peter says he isn’t dumb enough to throw his life away for someone just because they got more votes than someone else.

Hawkins (Robert Patrick) interrupts to tell Peter they’re still waiting on the crime-trend report. Hawkins doesn’t like Peter taking orders from Diane Farr (Hong Chau) who isn’t with the FBI. Before Peter goes to work, Hawkins tells him he wants his report by the end of the week. Later, Rose welcomes Aunt Emma (Simone Kessell) and Uncle Henry (William MacDonald). She reveals the board of her startup officially fired her. Once they go inside, Rose says she will need to personally file for bankruptcy. In the middle of the night, two people get out of a vehicle outside before Rose is awoken by chatter. They discuss fighting back. They talk about burning the documents and finding a way to warn Osprey that they’re coming for them.

Rose investigates and hears Emma saying nobody in the White House can be trusted. Emma tells Rose that she can’t give her the whole story right now but someone is outside. Henry gives her something and tells her to go to the Feiner’s house down the hill. She is told to call the number and say night action. Once Rose leaves, Emma and Henry carefully look through the house. Henry is choked while Emma fights with one of the intruders. Both are killed. Rose looks back in time to see a man walking out of the house so she begins running away. When Rose makes it to the neighbor’s house, she breaks a window and goes inside. She ends up calling Peter’s phone and saying night action.

Then, she gives him the code they gave her. Peter begins asking questions that she doesn’t have the answer to. He tells her that he needs to keep the line open and she reached the wrong number. Rose tells him about Emma, Henry, and the intruders. Once she gives him the address, Peter asks for the police to be sent there. He also asks for Farr and Hawkins to be contacted because they have a night action alert for Sidewinder and Gazelle. Rose looks outside and sees a man with a flashlight approaching the house. Peter tells her to go upstairs, lock the bathroom door, and don’t go inside. Then, she is told to go to the furthest bedroom and go inside the closet. As she hides there, Peter tells her that the police are on the way.

She hears the intruder breaking down the bathroom door so Peter tells her to stay quiet. Rose believes it is too late. Peter tells her to press the zero on her phone if she cannot talk to him. She does. Peter tells her to fight him if he finds her. He is relieved when he learns that the police are there. Farr calls him moments later to talk about the night action. Diane wants to get Rose away from local PD to find out what she saw. She tells Peter to get Rose and take her somewhere. He shouldn’t tell anyone until they can set up a debrief with her and Hawkins. Jamie Hawkins approaches Rose and says he is the deputy director of the FBI. He informs her that her aunt and uncle are deceased. Hawkins explains he works at the White House.

Peter arrives and interrupts to say Diane sent him to take Rose. Hawkins doesn’t like that, but Peter says Diane said she sent over authorization from the president. While Hawkins checks his inbox, Peter tells Rose they’ll get her some new clothes. Hawkins tells Peter that he made his choice. As Peter drives Rose away, he says he is taking her to his apartment because he needs to get something. Rose says her aunt and uncle told her they worked in acquisitions. She questions who they really were, but Peter cannot tell her anything. At his apartment, Rose learns that the President’s Chief of Staff Diane Farr will debrief her tomorrow. Peter asks for her phone because he needs to find out if they’re being tracked.

He tells her where to get some clothes and recommends packing for a few days. While Rose grabs clothes, Peter opens his safe and gets something. Then, he sets up a camera in the room and makes sure the stream works on his smartphone. Rose looks at a notebook that has newspaper clippings about a traitor in the FBI. When she sees Peter’s badge, he says he is with the FBI although he works in a windowless room at the White House. Rose wants to go to a police station where it will be safe. Peter warns her that they don’t know what is safe right now because they don’t know who killed her aunt and uncle. He explains he was ordered to protect her with his life and he will do that.

As they leave, Peter gives her advice for staying safe. Peter ends up fighting with multiple men. He grabs one and demands to know who they are and why they’re after Rose. They say they’ve come for him because he tried to blue up a metro full of people. They say he is a traitor like his father. Peter denies it and blames the Rome Tome for spreading those lies. After taking their licenses, Peter says he’ll hold onto them and they’ll wait for agents to show up to question them. In the car, Peter calls Diane to tell her about the Internet tough guys. Diane agrees to send some men there before asking Peter to take care of Rose. After the call, Peter tells Rose that he was at the bombing although he stopped it.

Peter insists he isn’t a traitor and his father wasn’t either. While his father was accused, they never had any proof. He died in a car accident before he could clear his name. Rose says Emma did more for her than anyone. Peter normally analyzes reports and he only got one report like hers. It was a wrong number. Rose says everything feels wrong now. Peter notices someone behind them so he tells her to get down. As the chase begins, Peter tells Rose to call the top number in his favorites. Peter calls a night action and tells the recipient what is going on. The passenger in the pursuing vehicles begins shooting at them. Rose confirms it is the guy from her aunt’s house.

After crashing into the vehicle, Peter manages to escape. He takes Rose to an Airbnb that is under his friend’s account. Rose thought her life was over 24 hours ago. She’d do anything to go back to then. Rose tries on the clothes and learns they belonged to Peter’s ex-fiancée named Zoe. Rose thinks they’re after her now. Peter suggests they think she saw something or knows something. Peter recommends telling them everything at the debrief because they want to help. Rose wants to know everything he knows first. He eventually tells her that night action is a counterintelligence program.

He answers the call for night agents in distress and routes the call. Rose suspects her aunt and uncle were spies, but Peter can’t tell her anything else. Peter stays away when Rose goes to bed. When he sees someone in his apartment, he quickly calls Diane to tell her. Two agents storm the apartment only to find it empty. Peter takes a picture of the ring the intruder was wearing. In the morning, Peter takes Rose to meet Diane. While Rose uses the bathroom, Peter talks to Diane and Hawkins about the two brothers and the man who broke into his apartment. He talks to Rose in private. She admits she can’t tell them everything because she heard her aunt saying there was someone in the White House they couldn’t trust.

She won’t tell them the truth if it can get her killed. A woman walks outside to confront a man and woman. She asks the woman if she wants to take a look inside and show him her old room. The woman claims she lived there until she was 13 before they moved to Cleveland for her dad’s new job. They allegedly came back to Racine because of her grandmother who isn’t okay. The woman continues talking to the homeowner about the past while the man goes to change the baby. The homeowner catches her in a lie. The man chokes her and kills her. Once he finds what they’re looking for, they leave without the baby. He is told to get back to DC and finish what he started.

A news report says police are searching for a baby that was abducted from her mother.

 

The Night Agent Review

The opening episode of The Night Agent was decent although it is hard to find anything new in the script. It does feel like all of this has been done before and it was probably done much better in the past. Nevertheless, Netflix isn’t really putting out a lot of content right now so The Night Agent is the best it has to offer.

The series is a bit dry at the moment since the characters haven’t been developed and they haven’t been allowed to show their personalities. Gabriel Basso is decent enough to carry the show if Peter Sutherland is allowed to come into his own, but that will depend on the quality of the script from here on out.

The script is one cliché after another so it is difficult to be confident in that happening. Some of the performances could be better and there are many things that don’t ring true. Still, The Night Agent wasn’t bad so it may be a good binge for viewers willing to shut out any doubt and just go with it. The opening episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Night Agent can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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