Netflix’s latest espionage offering, Treason, ostensibly appears to be Marvel alumni Charlie Cox’s audition for the currently vacant position of the next James Bond. However, if the evidence on show is anything to go by, Cox may have blacklisted himself for the foreseeable future.
Despite his and his fellow cast members’ best efforts, Treason is what happens when you take a later career John Le Carre novel and sap the source material of every interesting and nuanced element. The result? A last-minute contender for 2022’s worst TV and streaming series.
On the surface, series creator Matt Charman appear to have done their homework with the premise and setting — under-the-radar deputy Adam, played by Cox, is forced to face the spotlight of running the UK secret service, MI5, after the chief is poisoned in London by a Russian spy who has connections with the deputy’s past.
The production team also seem to have complemented Charman’s premise by casting a number of household names from UK espionage thrillers over the years — Ciarán Hinds plays the poisoned chief Sir Martin Angelis, Olga Kurylenko plays the Russian spy Kara and even Alex Kingston is roped in for the role of politician Audrey Gratz.
But that’s as far as it goes, unfortunately. Instead of offering something fresh or original, the appearances made by these talented character actors just makes you want to go back and watch their earlier works instead, be it Daredevil, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Quantum of Solace or Doctor Who.
In Treason, the supporting cast’s job simply seems to be to converse in the most unnatural manner possible, where any significant details are just for the purpose of explaining the plot to you. Developing meaningful chemistry between these characters appears out of the question as Cox is just made to look like a mix between “labrador” cute and exasperated at the latest highly avoidable obstacle at his new job.
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Just a trend-hopper
Charman is intent enough on taking you through every “gripping”, “edge-of-your-seat” cliche in the book, from the slightly rebellious teenage daughter to the increasingly sceptical wife to the “twist” of Kara poisoning her driver, Thomas Keegan, for a mistake early on.
Ground-breaking dialogues stoically delivered like “You got this” and “I don’t make mistakes” are the order of the day, as every character is portrayed to be both highly skilled operatives and outright unintelligent within the same scene.
And yet, instead of taking the opportunity to offer a deeper topical insight about the state of UK intelligence or a realistically thrilling product as someone like le Carre would have, Charman’s work comes across as more of a trend-hopping bandwagoner.
Overall, Treason is little more than an exercise in wasting everyone’s time and the perils of phoning in your material. Cox, Hinds, Kingston, Kurylenko and the rest of the people involved in this production deserved better, especially when there’s a myriad of superior programs in this genre for audience to choose from.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)