Patriot

Patriot is a series that seems to have slipped under even the most seasoned TV-bingers’ radars, which is baffling. The unique and original idea, that stems from the mind of Steven Conrad, looks at the unglamorous side of being an undercover agent. Forget shaken-not-stirred Martinis, perplexingly impressive stunts and seductive women, this Amazon-produced show concentrates on the nitty gritty, ugly reality of espionage.

Protagonist John Tavner is a secret agent for the American Intelligence, tasked with obtaining a menial engineering job (under an assumed name) in Luxembourg in order to ferry an inordinate sum of election-swinging money to Iran. However, right from the outset, things don’t go to plan: a better candidate applies for the job he needs, Tavner is forced to reveal his true identity to an employee to borrow his non-drug-infused urine to pass the required drugs test, and this revelation is unfortunately eavesdropped by an overweight security guard. Couple this with the stark reality that Tavner’s security team working behind the scenes is seemingly useless, to the extent that they are incompetent enough to put one too many numbers on his fake social security number, and it doesn’t bode well for John.

However, the above could lead you to believe that this is a slapstick farce of a series. It is, in fact, completely the opposite. Oppressively dead-pan, this is a black comedy combining dark humour with a gripping storyline. Drama is constantly undercut by awkward silence, unexpected, weird happenings, and by the phenomenally-interpreted character of John Tavner: overly tired, ludicrously overworked, unhealthily stressed yet immensely talented. This is all combined with the fortuitous addition of an alluring acoustic soundtrack, owed to Tavner’s strange hobby: to deal with his debilitating stress, he verbalises his days in the form of song lyrics, opting to sit in a park or in a desolate, open-mic bar, to share his experiences with the unknowing world on his guitar.

Michael Dorman (who plays Tavner) is remarkable and the series is sensational. Its peculiar and dark sense of humour may be an acquired taste, but there’s no denying this show’s high calibre.

Check out the trailer here and stream it now on Amazon Video, trust me, you won’t regret it.