Citadel is a spectacular science-fiction spy drama with high-paced action scenes and fluid storytelling and has high-quality acting.
I watched Citadel earlier this week and it is an amazing show. The show features big names like Stanley Tucci and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and had a huge budget at its disposal. The show is produced by the Russo brothers of Community and Marvel fame. The show is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Citadel: More than your average spy drama
The show revolves around two top spies who are trying to keep uranium from the bad guys. The opening scene on the train is spectacular. The fighting choreography. The winning of the fights of the main leads was perfectly orchestrated. But the best part was when Nadia held the man with the case with uranium at gunpoint only to be told that this was all a trap.
It was the intention to neutralize Mason and Nadia that night. Instead, the two of them fight back in a spectacular scene. Up until the point where the entire train compartment is blown up by a grenade. Mason grabs Nadia and jumps off the train.
Mason has a severe brain injury that has left him with amnesia. All he has on him is a passport with the name Kyle Conroy. And that’s the life he started to live. 8 years later and Kyle has a new life with a wife and child until one day his former boss Bernard Orlick, played by Stanley Tucci, shows up and kidnaps the entire family.
Bernard hopes to reactivate Mason’s brain by injecting him with a serum that will make him remember his life. And he has secret hopes to reboot Citadel.
But first, Bernard shows Kyle what he has been missing out on. Bernard informs Kyle that he was once Mason Kane. A top spy, not the kindergarten spy from the CIA or the FBI.
What happened to Nadia?
In the second episode, we watch Nadia crawl on land. Her leg was shot during the fight on the train and the blood loss and shock and trauma make her lose her consciousness.
She wakes up in bed. Her wound has been taken care of but another threat is looming. It is the man who got her out of the water and put her in his cabin. He asks questions about her wound while he is holding her at gunpoint with a double-barrel shotgun.
A fight ensues and the two of them trade big blows. Nadia is forced to kill the man. There was no other option other than kill the man because he would have killed her if she hadn’t stopped him.
The fight was quite spectacular and I would have happily paid to see that.
While she gathers her strength after that brutal fight, Bernard manages to contact her. He tells her that he will reset her memory in order to stop the secret organization called Manticore from finding her.
Nadia tries to stop him but the device that wipes memories has already been activated. She quickly writes “Go to Valencia, Spain” and when the memory wipe has finished Nadia checks her arm before leaving for Valencia.
The dynamic duo reunite
While Bernard tries to reactivate Mason Kane’s memories and tells him that the inventor of Citadel created serums that could reactivate the memories of agents who had theirs wiped in case of extreme emergency. The case with the vials of serum is inside the facility and Mason/Kyle has to go get them.
He runs into Anders Silje and Davik Silje, who both work for Manticore. They are the hound dogs who clean up all the mess that Manticore leaves behind. So it was also their job to find and secure the vials to reactivate the memories. They failed, big time!
While escaping the facility, Bernard and Mason/Kyle are chased. Bernard gets shot and loses consciousness while Mason/Kyle is on the run.
He quickly figures out that he needs to find Nadia who is now living a life as a restaurant manager in Valencia, Spain.
Mason/Kyle arrives at her restaurant and asks about Italy 8 years ago. But Nadia had her memory wiped too and now goes by the name of Charlotte Vermon. She immediately goes on the defense by saying that the dead man was dead when she regained consciousness and that she had nothing to do.
It isn’t until Mason/Kyle tells her that she is Nadia. When the suitcase with the vials of serum recognizes her as Nadia, she starts to believe Mason/Kyle.
The brothers have followed Mason/Kyle to Valencia as well and find Nadia too a fight ensues and Nadia is completely overpowered until Mason/Kyle steps in. While he is overpowered too, Nadia reactivates her memories using the serum and kicks total ass.
Mason/Kyle’s vial was destroyed so he is more Kyle but with Mason’s reflexes. Nadia has her full memory back and we will see more about that in the upcoming episodes.
Meanwhile, Bernard is taken to a facility for questioning and the interrogator hopes to turn Bernard. Since she already did a good job when she had Citadel agents eradicated by turning one of them.
Citadel versus Manticore
The show’s essence is about Citadel, a top spy organization that prides itself on being independent of any country. Opposed to other agencies who are in service of their country and will eventually turn on one another and are sensitive to corruption. For a century Citadel has kept the world safe by guiding events and manipulating the outcome for the good of mankind.
Manticore was established by the 8 richest families in the world and they live off greed, and power and are willing to terminate people with extreme prejudice in order to get what they want.
Over the course of the show, we will see each family at least in some capacity. For now, the only one we know is Dahlia Archer. A ruthless politician who would terminate people with extreme prejudice and isn’t afraid to blackmail high-placed people from the CIA for instance to get what she wants.
Manticore managed to turn one of Citadel’s high-placed agents in order to eradicate Citadel off the map giving them free rein in the world.
So in short, it is a classic tale of good versus evil. But then wrapped in a spy drama and with good acting and direction.
The main leads in Citadel
The main leads are Mason and Nadia played by none other than Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas. Stanley Tucci plays the role of Bernard Orlick, a handler from Citadel.
The show’s producers are none other than the Russo brothers. They are well-known directors whose credits include but aren’t limited to Community, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame but also directed Captain America: Winter Soldier for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So expectations were high when the Russos took on this project.
And it paid off. The story so far is very good, consistent, and action-packed like we are used to from the Russos. Everything is a bit over the top but that’s fine.
Priyanka Chopra-Jonas is in top form when it comes to her acting. I have followed her since her hit show Quantico and she stole the show there as well. She does here too, she holds her own versus Richard Madden, who is also pretty convincing after he loses memory but keeps the reflexes. The facial and body expressions are on point when he catches a knife at high speed.
I am hoping they will have at least some cameos from the cast of Community. I am sure Donald Glover is too busy but what about Danny Puddi or Yvette Nicole Brown? Not that they are too busy but the Russos usually take some of the cast to their movies and the cameos are top-notch.
Citadel is a great show so far and it has already been renewed for a second season. The show isn’t just shot with American / UK actors but it has several spin-offs already with Citadel agents popping up all over the world in their respective languages. So it’s a worldwide TV show but for now, we will solely focus on the US Version.
