After a run of clever comedies and thoughtful dramas, I found myself craving a mindless action series, preferably one about spies rather than cops. My mind instantly went to two series, but I ruled them out right away: The Americans, because it’s not current and I want to save it for when I have literally run out of things to recommend, and Slow Horses, because everyone I know watches it already. So, I was left searching for a good current action series to recommend. Then I realized I was already in the middle of one.
Two years ago, before I started this weekly column, I binged the first season of The Night Agent on Netflix. Yes, there are seemingly a ton of these action/spy/thriller series around,
how on earth are you supposed to tell them apart? There’s Reacher, The Recruit, Patriot, Jack Ryan, The Terminal List, Citadel, I could go on and on. So which one is The Night Agent, you ask? No, this isn’t the show where Tom Hiddleston plays an ex-spy having to deal with Hugh Laurie playing an arms dealer…that’s The Night Manager (although that is also a good show, and it’s returning for a second season soon!).
No, The Night Agent is about Peter, an FBI agent, played by Gabriel Basso, who stumbles onto a vast conspiracy that goes all the way to the highest levels of government, forcing him to go rogue in order to track down the mole. He teams up with Rose, a computer genius, played by Luciane Buchanan, whose aunt and uncle are murdered as part of the conspiracy, and, together Peter and Rose have to figure out how to not only stay alive, but how to save the country.
Sounds cheesy, right? Well, I’ve watched a lot of cheese, and this is the best kind, because it’s cheese done right. The Night Agent knows exactly what it is, meaning it doesn’t try to be too smart, it doesn’t spend too much time building characters or waste time on sentiment or romance or complicated themes. It just keeps popping the corn with action sequence after action sequence, giving you exactly what you came for. No dark depressing vibes of Black Doves or conflicted moral principles of The Agency here. Peter barely has time to think before he has to break down another door, escape down another alley or patch up another gunshot wound. Like the Energizer bunny, he keeps going. And, because this is TV, he’s hot, has a great body, and absolutely nothing that happens in The Night Agent is realistic in the slightest. But who cares, because the show is so much fun.
I had watched that whole first season back in March of 2023 and had promptly forgotten about it until I saw that a second season had just dropped in January, which should tell you all you need to know about this show. Unlike other shows that stick in your head and you mark time until they return, like Slow Horses or Severance or Stranger Things, The Night Agent isn’t a show you miss or think about when it’s gone, but when you are craving something with just that perfect combination of adrenaline, action and accessibility, nothing answers the call better.
The Night Agent has two seasons available to stream on Netflix and has been renewed for a third, coming in 2026.