The Night Agent

Netflix

3 stars

Hollywood has not made a hit television thriller involving the White House since Scandal (2012 to 2018) and House Of Cards (2013 to 2018).

But the propulsive The Night Agent, Netflix’s top English-language series globally for the week of March 20 to 26, proves there is plenty of mileage left in this subgenre.

It amassed 168.17 million hours of viewing worldwide over its first four days – the third-highest figure for a series debut since Netflix started releasing its weekly top 10 lists in July 2021.

Only Wednesday (341.23 million hours) and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (196.2 million) rank higher.

Here are three reasons to stream it.

1. Underdog federal agent

While most shows set at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue revolve around those in charge, this follows low-level Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso, whose last lead role was as author-politician J.D. Vance in the 2020 film Hillbilly Elegy), who works in the basement.

His reward for foiling a terrorist attack a year ago is to now be dogged by conspiracy theories suggesting he was the one behind it.

So White House chief of staff Diane Farr (Hong Chau) assigns him a dead-end night-shift desk job in a windowless room, where he mans an emergency phone that never rings.

Except one night, it does. And the call – from a young cyber-security expert named Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) – leads him to uncover a conspiracy involving the highest echelons of government.

2. Echoes of Homeland and 24

The Night Agent lacks the geopolitical savvy of acclaimed series such as 24 (2001 to 2014) and Homeland (2011 to 2020), which also involve counterterrorism and government agents going rogue.

Some of the plot details here do not fully compute either, and the characters are mostly two-dimensional.

But it shares DNA with Homeland and 24 in its slick and pacy editing, which propels the viewer from one nail-biting moment to the next with no time to dwell on plot holes.

3. Boy Scout with chip on his shoulder

Basso’s Sutherland is a pretty straightforward nice guy.

The only interesting wrinkle to him is the baggage he carries as the son of a disgraced FBI agent, but even that does not add much depth.

Still, it is easy to cheer for him and his budding romance with Rose. If you are in the market for a popcorn political thriller, this is it.