‘Citadel’ Season One Review: A Sleek Spy Thriller With Too Many Secrets

As Citadel closes on its first season and has been renewed for a second season, it’s time to review. Citadel is on Amazon Prime and stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, with the Russo brothers serving as executive producers. By all accounts, it’s a visually stunning spy thriller that is captivating enough – even if, at times; feels generic.

The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful

I don’t want to be too hard on the show. I enjoyed it honestly. I thought it looked great, had some really surprising twists, and of course, it had Stanley Tucci – who is always amazing. I’m a huge fan of Richard Madden, so I’ll watch anything with him in it. And Priyanka Chopra Jonas really felt like she was putting her all into this show – she commanded the screen every moment. But, I had to ask myself – is the show actually good, or is it just look at all the pretty people, does that make this show good?

While there were a fair amount of surprises that were well-earned, the layers of twists became a little too much. Oh, you see this person? You thought they were so and so? They’re actually this person and have a connection to this person – bet you didn’t see that coming. I think the show emphasized that they were spies too much – almost feeling the need to remind the audience every few minutes. We get it, you’re spies. This is a spy organization. You lie.

Some Good

Let me go back to some of the things I liked. While I don’t think Madden’s character Mason will be the next Tom Cruise, I think he was a good series lead. Madden is a great actor and he worked well with Chopra Jonas. This show is sexually charged and there wasn’t ever a moment where I felt the two were awkward – they really had a natural chemistry with each other.

However, while Madden and Chopra Jonas were good, Tucci was great. I almost forgot that this show was about the former two and found myself happier whenever Tucci was on screen. What can I say, Stanley Tucci just radiates charisma and that was very electrifying. The action was also well done and I enjoyed the fight scenes. It had some pretty powerful punches and some shocking blood content.

Some Bad

Okay, back to the things I disliked. While I think the Russo brothers absolutely know what they’re doing to espionage and spy thrillers, I felt the CGI was shotty at times. Why did we need to dye Madden’s hair to the point where it looked fake? Let him have some grey hair like he did in The Eternals – it looks natural on him. Chopra Jonas of course looked gorgeous in every scene she was in.

Citadel is renewed for a second season and while I probably sounded more negative in this show than I intended, I will watch another season. I think the show can certainly improve and become a more compelling spy drama than season one was. Have you seen Citadel? What did you think?

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