Citadel (Prime), spies

[Tonguez]

So just finished the Prime video spy thriller Citadel, produced by the Russos and starring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden both of whom start with amnesia (though this is barely an inconvenience).
It looks good, with lots of globetrotting, plenty of action scenes (including violent deaths), plausible tech, villainous bad guys and a couple of nice twist.

Overall I enjoyed it. Its fun though the story is standard for the genre. Its been confirmed for season 2 although that will be an expansion of the spyuniverse focussing on a new, different agent.

Moreover Prime has also announced they’re spinning of regional (non-English) stories too set in India, Spain, Italy and Mexico. Which is kinda cool and which got me thinking about Spy genre and Spy RPGs. (The last one I played was Spycraft first edition, a while ago now).

Also due to Citadel and went and had a look at Fubar on Netflix which is Arnold Schwarzeneggers new Spy series (action-comedy), which is fairly derivative of his movies, has unfunny humor and a secondary ‘family tension’ storyline. But I’ve only done 2 episodes of that…

anyway Any thoughts before this message self destructs? …..

 

[Rabulias]

I enjoyed it overall, but I thought it had too many twists. So many that by the third episode, I had already guessed who the mole was. Some twists I did not see, but there were so many that they became implausible. I liked the action scenes and the spy tech, and seeing Citadel "back in the day" in its prime (pardon the pun ;-) ) was better, IMO. That kind of show would be cool - it's what I was hoping Agents of SHIELD would do. But I realize it is difficult (and expensive) to do that and do it well.

I'm confused a bit by the teaser they showed for Citadel: Diana next year, and they talk about the "Citadel spyverse." Will we see Nadia and Mason again in a season 2, or do they plan to be more anthology-like and tell different stories with different characters each season?

 

[Tonguez]

I enjoyed it overall, but I thought it had too many twists. So many that by the third episode, I had already guessed who the mole was. Some twists I did not see, but there were so many that they became implausible. I liked the action scenes and the spy tech, and seeing Citadel "back in the day" in its prime (pardon the pun ;-) ) was better, IMO. That kind of show would be cool - it's what I was hoping Agents of SHIELD would do. But I realize it is difficult (and expensive) to do that and do it well.

I'm confused a bit by the teaser they showed for Citadel: Diana next year, and they talk about the "Citadel spyverse." Will we see Nadia and Mason again in a season 2, or do they plan to be more anthology-like and tell different stories with different characters each season?

Apparently its going to be anthology style - which is what allows Prime to do original non-english stories too. Madden, Chopra and Tucci may show up as guest stars but the focus is on different characters.

it appears this is Primes strategy to launch its own ‘MCU’ - a new multifaceted Spy franchise with worldwide appeal

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I watched is. It was okay, but it was nothing like as good as it thought itself to be. Aside from the predictability of it's big twist, it's action sequences felt flat, which I reckon was because the show lacked memorable theme music. There is a James Bond rip-off sequence in Episode 2. It's far more exciting if you turn off the sound and play the James Bond theme instead. Mission Impossible, The Avengers where also made much better by cool music, with a fraction of the budget.

 

[bloodtide]

It was ok, for a spy action drama. It sure did have that "MCU Shield" feel, but it was the Russo brothers.

I loved seeing Priyanka Chopra as a spy.

The show did feel rushed. The add was "people that forgot they were spies", so I was thinking it would be more of that in the show...but they just skip it and go to "you are super spies".

A Citadel verse can work....as long as they can avoid "oh no the world will be destroyed, again" this season...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Never mind the plot, admire the budget!

 

[Tonguez]

Never mind the plot, admire the budget!

the amount of money gambled by these big studios has become so mindboggling to the point of being meaningless. Amazon has budget and believes this product is good enough to launch a new franchise. I’d be interested to see how the series goes in the India market (is Chopra still big there?)

The show did feel rushed. The add was "people that forgot they were spies", so I was thinking it would be more of that in the show...but they just skip it and go to "you are super spies".

A Citadel verse can work....as long as they can avoid "oh no the world will be destroyed, again" this season...

yeah I’m really suprised they tried to squash the story in to 6 episodes rather than giving a little more time to characters actually being introduced and developed, beyond the quick cartoon style.

I also liked that this story was more focussed on evil capitalist and the fall of the Citadel itself rather than Destroy the world via the nuclear codes

*also I for one liked the ski slope battle homage