Netflix’sThe Recruit, the witty spy adventure series starringNoah Centineoas a freshly-hired CIA lawyer who gets caught up in the convoluted world of international politics and espionage, returned earlier this year with a Season 2 that climbed into thetop 5 of Netflix’s listof its most popular shows… and wasrewarded with a series cancellation. The news came as a surprise, to say the least, withDeadline pinning the blameon Netflix’s notorious algorithm and a schedule that put it up againstThe Night Agent, with marketing efforts heavily favoring the latter.
At leastThe Recruitgot viewers; across the other side of the TV dial, Prime Video’sPatriotdid not, a victim of the streamer’smishandling of its original programmingat the time. Those looking to fill the void left byThe Recruit’s passing would do well to check it out. But be forewarned:while it’s similar in scope,Patriotis a different beast altogether, a series that is “really, incredibly, ecstatically messed up.”
‘Patriot’ Isn’t Easily Defined, and It Works
The word “quirky” is thrown around so often that it loses all meaning, but there’s really no other word to describePatriot. It isa spy show, a blackly comic drama, with a protagonist that’s a low-level CIA officerwho’s unfriendly, not terribly good at what he does, stoned most of the time, and has a penchant for breaking out into folk songs about his secret life as a spy in cafés, like this little ditty about being tasked with assassinating a scientist:
“To keep Iran from activating short-range nuclear weapons to de-stroy Israel, I got some really bad intelligence, shot an old male hotel maid who was just making the physicist’s bed … I was arrested by the Secret King’s Police and got a fair dose of black torture, which is supposed to completely erase your sense of self.”
Said CIA operative is one John Tavner (Michael Dorman), who is in Amsterdam,trying to recover from a failed mission that saw him subjected to extreme torture. He’s damaged goods, but his father, CIA executive Tom Tavner (Terry O’Quinn), believes he’s the best option for an important mission. Long story short, the leading candidate for Iran’s presidency dies, leaving the door open for pro-nuclear, anti-Israel candidate Cantar Walley (Jay Abdo) as the likely winner of the upcoming election.
It’s an important mission, yes, but a relatively simple one. Infiltrate a Milwaukee industrial piping company, become part of a delegation being sent to Luxembourg by the company for a conference, pass a large amount of cash to an Iranian ally there, enough so that a rival moderate candidate can rise up and overtake Walley in the polls, and in doing so prevent a very dicey, potentially highly dangerous situation. It’s an exchange that should be effortless, but instead ends up taking two full seasons to play out.
‘Patriot’ Defies the Expectations of the Spy Genre
The first holdup is John simply trying to get a job at the piping company. John, alias John Lakeman, totally blows the interview. When it’s clear that the position is likely going to fall to Stephen Tchoo (Marcus Toji), a polite man with extensive qualifications, John resorts to pushing Stephen out of the way, in front of a moving truck, in order to secure the job for himself.It’s a primary example of the dark humor that’s prevalent throughout the series, especially when it’s revealed that Stephen survives — not only survives, but is still better at doing the job more efficiently than John, despite being hindered by a protective helmet and the slurring of his sentences because of the “accident.”
Nevertheless, John gets the position, aided by urine from another worker to pass a drug test. He’s on the Luxembourg team, but the bag of money is stolen in Luxembourg by airport worker Edgar Barros (Norm Sousa). John is forced to track down Barros to get the money back, but is attacked by Barros and his brothers. In the ensuing scuffle, he kills one before managing to escape with the bag. A little, unwanted detour, but John’s back on track and ready to proceed with the mission.He hands the money off, and his mission is complete — or would have been, if the person he gave the bag to was the one he was supposed to give it to and not Walley’s agent, Mikhan Candahar (Kane Mahon).
The Recruit’ Deserved a Season 3
“Is two seasons and a movie a thing?”
That introduction is a microcosm of the series as a whole. John is forced to deal with problem after problem, often of his own making, and he’s forced to deal with them using solutions that are, at times, ingenious and complex, abrupt and brutal, or desperate and not fully thought out. All the time, the series zigs when it should, by rights, zag, creating hairpin turns that drop without warning, creating the intrigue and suspense that makes the series utterly riveting. It’s a testament to the multi-hyphenate talent behind the series,Steven Conrad, who almost relentlessly places obstacles in his hero’s way, with John getting back up time and time again to do what’s asked of him, like a true “Patriot.“Michael Dorman is excellent in the role of John, up to the task of what Conrad throws his way, as much of a patriot as the character he plays. It takes a deft touch to balance the dramatic elements with the darkly comic, and be expected to warble a tune now and again, and Dorman has it in spades.
A series succeeds on the strengths not only of its lead but in its supporting characters as well, andPatriotdelivers. Terry O’Quinn is always excellent, but, arguably, the two that really stand out are Edward Tavner and Leslie Claret, played byMichael ChernusandKurtwood Smithrespectively. Edward is a strait-laced, affable Congressman and John’s brother, who longs to live the action-hero life that he believes John lives, and Chernus brings the cuddliness and oblivious nature required for the character, and Smith uses the same intrinsic talent for comic exasperation he exhibited as Red Forman inThat ’70s Showto his role as John’s boss at the piping company, who is constantly run through the wringer by John, and, as he did with Forman, brings a deepness to Leslie that makes him one of the series' most compelling characters.It all adds up toPatriotbeing the best show you’ve never heard of, and the perfect replacement for your hankerings forThe Recruit.
