TL;DR – One or two exciting scenes, a show does not make.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

When we were first introduced to Citadel in The Human Enigma & Spies Appear In Night Time, a relatively straightforward introduction into a world where shadows move in the dark and whole spy organisations can collapse in an afternoon. It was an interesting opening, but soon some of the narrative scaffolding became clear. Can they build from that point, or will the fractious production shine through?  

So to set the scene, after tangling with Davik Silje (Roland Møller), Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) takes a wounded Mason (Richard Madden) to a Citadel safehouse in Cáceres, Spain. Unlike Mason, Nadia has all her memories back for better or worse and is understandably distant from Mason. However, ten years ago, in the Citadel US HQ in Utah’s deserts, Mason was given a mission to the Alborz Mountains in Iran. Where he meets Citadel’s newest agent. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.      

Well. This is becoming a complicated series to review because since watching last week, I have discovered just how much of a mess the production was for this show, and the fact that it even made it to the screen has probably been an immense challenge. However, that messiness is unfortunately on full display, and it is hard not to see it start to fall apart.

One place you see that is in the escape from the Iranian Base. I am unsure if it was an issue with the shoot with the skiing or if they did not give the visual effects team enough time to put the sequence together. But I am unsure if anyone actually used skis. The insert shots of Richard Madden look like James Bond surfing down an iceberg, and the wide shots look poorly optimised. This is the tent poll moment of the episode, and it unfolds like a mess. Though not as bad as the plot point that Abby Conroy (Ashleigh Cummings) is actually Brielle, who was in a relationship with Anders Silje (Roland Møller) before she, too, lost her memory and somehow ended up with Mason.

However, there were at least a couple of moments in the episode that were mildly entertaining. The first is that Stanley Tucci is making a meal from every moment he is on screen, and the Black Panther throne room style intro and outro was at least an interesting choice. Also, it is good to see that Richard Madden & Priyanka Chopra Jonas have great chemistry, and I am surprised more of this show is not positioning itself around that dynamic.

In the end, do we recommend Citadel: Infinite Shadows? Unfortunately, no. I think we have taken a step backwards again. I can see the nugget of a good idea in-between all the weeds. However, it just has yet to come together.    

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Citadel yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 
  
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Citadel
Directed by – Newton Thomas Sigel & Jessica Yu
Written by – David Weil & Melissa Glenn
Created by – Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh & David Weil
Production/Distribution Companies – AGBO, Midnight Radio, PKM, Picrow, Super Epic, Amazon Studios & Amazon Prime
Starring – Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ashleigh Cummings, Roland Møller, Osy Ikhile, Caoilinn Springall, Lesley Manville & Stanley Tucci with  Moira Kelly and Nikki Amuka-Bird, Leo Woodall, Gráinne Good, Sen Monro & Pedro Leandro