Butterfly features Daniel Dae Kim, Reina Hardesty, and Piper Perabo in an action thriller full of spies and danger. It’s based on the Boom! Studios graphic novel by Arash Amel. For a series of this type it actually has a coherent plot that makes sense of all the violence and fight scenes. It throws in some bonus character development as well.

Butterfly is set in South Korea. David (Daniel Dae Kim) has been assumed dead for nine years when he shows up in Seoul in search of his 23 year old daughter Rebecca (Reina Hardesty). After David disappeared, Rebecca was raised by Juno (Piper Perabo).

Juno runs a spy outfit called Cadis. She and David started it together years ago. Juno trained Rebecca to be an assassin and she’s very good at it. Juno has a son named Oliver (Louis Landau). Oliver is a bit of a wimp when compared to Rebecca, so Rebecca gets to do all the field work while Oliver stays in the office where his mother is calling all the shots.

David wants to get Rebecca to come away with him and his new wife Eunju (Kim Tae-hee) and 7 year old daughter. Rebecca’s mad about him being “dead” for 9 years and finding out she has a 7 year old sister, so she’s not on board with leaving Juno at first.

Juno is not at all happy about the idea of Rebecca leaving her, either.

When David and Juno began the company, they were the good spies. But now there are rumors Juno might be selling secrets to the Russians. The CIA and a U.S. Senator Dawson (Charles Parnell) are investigating that possibility.

Juno decides her best bet is to kill everyone, including David and maybe even Rebecca, who could cause her a problem.

David has been out of the spy game for nine years, but he’s still tough and smarter than everyone. He and Rebecca decide to bring down Juno and come up with some clever ways to do it.

Action movie fans will love all the car chases and fight scenes. There are plenty of those. In between that kind of action we got to know the characters in some depth and with some nuance. Not qualities you often find in action pix.

Piper Perabo, a woman I once called the best action hero on TV, is now behind the phones and screens in a large office giving orders. She’s not the hero, but the morally compromised dragon lady at the top.

As action series go, this one is pretty good. It ends on a huge cliffhanger that might indicate another season is something we may see happen. The entire season is available now on Prime Video.