The Night Agent: top notch action thriller

The Night Agent is a well-written, action packed thriller about spies and traitors within the American government. The hero in the story is surrounded by a group of strong, smart women. The story begins with Peter (Gabriel Basso) saving a subway car full of passengers from a bomb.

The Night Agent is an FBI employee who sits in a basement room in the White House all night in case a phone rings. It seldom rings. Peter is a young FBI agent who is asked by the President’s Chief of Staff Diane Farr (Hong Chau) to man the phone. He thinks he’s relegated to this low level job because he’s a suspect in the subway bombing.

Diane Farr encourages Peter to think she’s got great plans for him, and this is just the first step in his career progress. Kari Matchett plays the POTUS.

With Peter’s position in the story established, we cut to Rose (Luciane Buchanan). She’s just gone bust with a security startup and has come to visit her aunt and uncle while she nurses her wounds. The home is attacked. Rose’s uncle tells her to run to the nearest house, call a certain phone number and say certain words.

Rose runs, makes the call, says the right words. Peter answers the phone. From there the story explodes into action. Once Peter and Rose meet, they become a team working outside the box to solve the big tangle of storylines that ensue.

The aunt and uncle were spies. They were assassinated by Ellen (Eve Harlow) and Dale (Phoenix Rail), who get equal time in the story along with other storylines as they merrily assassinate more characters.

Some of the main plot points are that someone in the government is a traitor and responsible for the subway bomb, the killings, and the attempt to blame everything on Peter.

There’s a subplot involving the Vice President’s daughter Maddie (Sarah Desjardins). She’s a college student being protected by Chelsea Arrington (Fola Evans-Akingbola) and Erik Monks (D.B. Woodside). Her story eventually intersects with the larger one about traitors in the government.

Peter and Rose follow one lead after another, while the folks in the White House aren’t able to get any answers. Perhaps because the traitor among them is responsible for the mess. The potential bad guy changes from one episode to the next with the twists and turns that Peter and Rose uncover. It takes several episodes before it’s finally clear what’s happening and who is guilty. It all twines together in a big shebang of a final episode.

There are plenty of the standard gun fights, car chases, explosions, and fist fights you expect in an action series. As this type of story goes, this one is well-organized and written. The story was interesting and nuanced, and the women characters were all well drawn. It was created by Shawn Ryan with a nice ratio of women on the writing staff. Women directors included Ramaa Mosley and Millicent Shelton.

Except for Kari Matchett and D.B. Woodside, I wasn’t familiar with any of the actors. Gabriel Basso as the hero is a young version of Matt Damon. I predict he’ll be an action hero many more times in the future. Luciane Buchanan as Rose was excellent – smart, brave, determined. I developed a huge liking for Hong Chau, who got to say “clusterf*ck” about 100 times. Eve Harlow as the assassin who just wanted a cozy life in a suburban home was a delight as well – she was a little bit Helena from Orphan Black and a little bit Villanelle from Killing Eve.

If plot twists, action, and suspense are your jam, I think you’ll enjoy this one. It’s streaming on Netflix. Season 2 has already been approved.