Citadel spy-ride worth your time

Games that spies play… full of intrigue and treachery. And when it’s a high-stakes thriller like ‘Citadel 2’, no less than a Russo Brothers production, espionage moves touch a new level, certainly better than in the prequel.

We have seen the first season where our very own Priyanka Chopra did a wonderful job. She is no less impressive in the second outing as Nadia Sinh. Only, the series, which moves from one European nation to another, kickstarts with the man, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who envisioned Citadel as a conglomerate of spies. He is held to ransom by Paulo Braga (Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone), who wants Bernard to develop a software to be co-opted in a person’s mind and turn him or her into an assassin.

Whom Braga of the now in control Manticore, nemesis of Citadel, wants to kill and why unravels a bit later. In the process of his dangerous ambition, if there is any collateral damage, the delectably, deviously charming Braga couldn’t care less. He has a human side too and much time is devoted to showcase the devotional father in him.

But more on emotions later, which will come in abundance as former lovers, nay once husband and wife, Mason (Richard Madden) and Nadia, reunite. Needless to say, since Mason/Kyle has a dual identity, he has another wife, Abby Ashleigh Cummings, who too was once a Citadel spy, Celeste Graham.

Bernard, with generous help from a former CIA agent turned rogue James Hutch (the effervescent Jack Reynor), ropes in Mason, for no one quite kills like him. Yet we see the more vulnerable side of a rather restrained Mason, who will betray for the sake of his loved ones.

Betrayal and deceit are par for the course and the series finds its engagement quotient in these very moves, largely unexpected. If ever there was an opposite of slow-burn, ‘Citadel 2’ it is. So much is happening and at such brisk pace that when mother-son (Lesley Manville as Dahlia Archer and Mason) sit down for a sentimental soiree or Braga indulges in stumping Mason with a verbal assault, things seem a bit stretched. Everyone’s past story matters, not just Mason’s and Nadia’s, but also of our chief antagonist Braga’s.

Fans of Raj and DK’s Citadel ‘Honey Bunny’ can rejoice in the reference to Honey, which by now we all know is Nadia’s mother. Only here, it’s not Samantha (that would have been preposterous), but another actor who plays her part, fleetingly of course. To drive home Nadia’s Indian antecedents harder, we even have the famous Kishore Kumar song, ‘Aa chal ke tujhe main le ke chaloon ek aise gagan ke tale’. However, ‘pyar hi pyar’ clearly has little place in the world where a mother can turn against a son, a wife can kill and a former lover can stab his beloved in the back. Thus, key characters often fall by the side, taking you by surprise.

The episode in which the newly assembled Citadel team breaches the CIA office to gain access to the identity of a South Korean hacker goes on a bit too long. Despite the novelty of their mission, it has some standard tropes too. Yet the writing has enough humour, characters enough spice and performances enough heft to make this spy-ride worth your time.

The scale of the series expected from Russo Brothers, we all know, is stupendous. Chosen locales match the ambition of the $300 million extravaganza. The final episode, too, packs enough tension and the twisty climax and twister of an anti-climax are something you, at least we certainly, didn’t see coming.

“No one has the right to wield so much power,” utters Bernard. But the series has enough entertaining power to keep you hooked and engaged, if not immersed, right through the end. Apart from the romantic lead, senior actors have a field day literally and otherwise. Stanley and Lesley are too good and so is Gabriel’s Braga, at his chilling best when he confronts his son’s teacher.

Merle Dandridge’s Joana has just the right vibe befitting her character of a woman who is out to finish what her lover started. Fans of action laced with just that dash of emotion will find enough reason to binge-watch the series, which like its music by Emmy winner Jeff Russo, touches the right notes if not rises to the crescendo.

Whatever may be its flaws, ‘Citadel 2’ remains high on glossy entertainment.