An FBI agent working nights in the basement of the White House and a phone that never rings doesn’t sound too exciting, but you’d be surprised at how intense things get once a call goes through. “The Night Agent,” a series based on Matthew Quirk’s hit novel of the same name first dropped on Netflix in 2023 — and had viewers on the edge of their seats from the first second of the show. The first season was 2023’s most watched series and the seventh most popular English show of all time.
Enter Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent who has only one job: sit in a dark, and frankly, sad looking basement in the White House and wait for the off chance that the phone in front of him will ring. The phone, by the way, is an emergency line for undercover spies who are in serious trouble, and lo and behold, it rings! And let’s be real: it wouldn’t be much of a show if it didn’t. Could you imagine watching 10 hours of some guy sitting in front of the phone? Sutherland picks up the call and answers the one and only Rose Larkin, whose aunt and uncle were spies and were murdered by intruders.
Sutherland goes above and beyond his job description (do TV FBI agents in basements make minimum wage?) and risks his life and career to protect Larkin from the assassins, and bam! A plot unveils in the form of an insane conspiracy involving the president, the chief of staff and so much more. In the end, Sutherland saves the president, becomes a night agent and gets handed his first case.
But you already know that, since you’re here for the season two review, and if you don’t know that, you should watch before reading the rest of this, so let’s go ahead and unveil the plot of the first two episodes — with minimal spoilers. Scout’s honor.
The first episode immediately kicks things into gear. In “Call Tracking,” our agent is in Bangkok, Thailand with Brittany Snow, who plays a new character, who is unnamed at this point, as another agent. She and Sutherland are tracking someone when things go south. By south, I mean they both need an extraction. The new guy on the night agent phone picks up the call, Alice (Snow’s character) gives him the code and off we go.
Never mind! Alice gets shot and Sutherland books it across the streets of Bangkok, also to call the night agent phone. He says “Hummingbird,” referencing Alice by her code name, is dead and that he has three guys tailing him. He calls “Reindeer” and reveals that someone betrayed them as these guys knew everything.
An unnamed man in a car uses a flash drive to view a classified file and Sutherland gets shot. Mind you, we are not even 15 minutes into the first episode and things are going by at the speed of light. Larkin, fumbling a presentation due to an international call, finally answers it and find out from a mystery voice that Sutherland is in trouble. She calls “Reindeer,” Catherine, and they meet up. Catherine shuts her out, but Larkin does her own work to try and find Sutherland.
Sutherland is in some sort of hideout and plays basketball with a kid who reveals his father has been texting him on signal. It seems important, but we’re unsure of why yet. Something is deeply wrong, but I won’t go too deeply into it for spoiler’s sake — I need to keep the mystery alive somehow. The show is moving fast, and the plot is unraveling even faster. Who’s the mystery phone man? Why has Sutherland not made his way back? And what are the consequences of Larkin using her security app to search a secret agent up? At the end of episode one, everyone’s in trouble, and although Larkin and Sutherland are reunited, at what cost does that come with?
Let’s find out. Episode two, “Disconnected,” starts with Sutherland flying in on a helicopter and meeting Catherine, who reveals herself as his case officer. This seems to be some sort of flashback to provide context for the previous episode, which is a nice way to both cool off from all the action and understand everything that occurred. Catherine is not Sutherland’s biggest fan and even offers him an out, which he does not take.
Alice, “Hummingbird,” is introduced more formally as well. She warns him against continuing a relationship with Larkin and advises against calling her like he promised. And back to the action we go. Sutherland is obviously distressed at how Larkin found him, which is fair, since he is a secret agent after all, and Larkin catches him up on everything that occurred to get her there.
Sutherland reveals more about his mission and talks about how things went poorly and what it means that someone knew about their plans and was able to both kill Alice and ruin the mission. The rest of the episode is packed with action and filled with information that just keeps you wanting more.
I wish I had the time to binge watch the entire season, but for now I’ll settle for an episode or two whenever I have free time. “The Night Agent” is an intense and action-packed show, but one thing it has going for it is that the plot is just as good and able to stand up on its own. As a thriller spy show, it’s hard for “The Night Agent” to pop out when there are so many other shows with similar premises, but with interesting characters and a story line that immediately pulls you in, it finds a way.
I highly recommend tuning into this show, and if you’re worried about a cancelation, because I know I always am, just know that “The Night Agent” was renewed for a third season, so we will be back in action in no time, or should I say, “The Night Action?”
Rating: 4.5/5, would pick up the call