Warning: This article contains spoilers for ‘The Night Agent.’

After a long and difficult day at Carnegie, you would want nothing more than to just go home and binge watch a new Netflix political thriller; “The Night Agent,” which debuted on March 23rd. This action packed series juggles multiple plotlines- from an FBI cat and mouse chase to trying to stay alive while solving a mystery involving those at the very top of the United States government. 

“The Night Agent” follows the story of FBI agent Peter Sutherland and ex-CEO Rose Larkin,who find themselves thrown into a huge conspiracy plot regarding a potential mole(s) in the Whitehouse. To save America from catastrophic betrayal, Sutherland and Larkin embark on an exhilarating journey full of mystery, lies, and deception. Who doesn’t love a good heart wrenching, mind boggling betrayal when you least expect it?

“The Night Agent” has been continuously ranked number 1 in the US Netflix charts since it’s debut over two weeks ago. 6 days after its release, Netflix announced the series renewed for season 2. (which we cannot wait for!) 

First, let’s start with the characters. Each character has extreme depth and their personalities became very defined as the show progressed. By the end of the series, each character’s development became very intertwined with their original personalities.

To add a little bit of ‘spice’, we’ll introduce the characters based on how much we like them, starting off with characters we like.

Peter Sutherland

As the protagonist of the show, AKA the actual Night Agent, we can’t help but notice that Peter is a softie at heart (and looks!). With his mission of protecting Rose, he shows his duality in being a tough government agent, as well as a passionate and caring caretaker who is very misunderstood. Peter is battling his own demons dealing with being the son of a government official who was accused of a heinous tragedy: a metro bombing. Also, more importantly, a potential love interest for Rose Larkin.

Diane Farr

If there’s anything Diane Farr is, it’s the GOAT. Not only does she represent a powerful, high rank government official who leads with equal parts logic and compassion, but she is also the only person that is adamant on protecting Peter’s innocence. Though Peter was on the scene of the metro-bombing, Farr actually believed that he did not have anything to do with it. If you watch the show you will see what we mean.

Erik Monks

Erik Monks is a secret service agent employed to protect the Vice President’s daughter. Honestly, the only reason we like him is because we could sympathize with him when it came to having to work with someone as annoying as his fellow Secret Service Agent, Chelsea Arrington. But also because he has a compelling story, being shot on the job and coming back from previously being addicted to painkillers. He is very wise and very, very patient. And a little heroic. 

Moving on to Characters we don’t like, for very logical reasons.

Jamie Hawkins

Hawkins is the deputy director of the FBI. This guy was close to the devil incarnate. Essentially, he is probably the king of betrayals, and he is very annoying about it. He accused Peter’s late father of being the person behind the metro bombing, and this basically cripples Peter’s reputation for the rest of his life. He’s also the one who went against the secret service and incriminated the location of Rose and Peter, basically almost killing them several times. Let’s just say, we were happy when he died. Good riddance!

Matteo

He’s literally the guy who’s twin brother, Colin bombed a metro bus. Not to mention he kidnapped the Vice President’s daughter. Not much to say.

Paulo

Paula was the art teacher that used the Vice President’s daughter. Mind you, he was being coerced by Matteo to do this in order to lure her to be kidnapped, however he was still creepy, and annoying, and frankly, when Matteo killed him there were no sad emotions.

Gordon Wick

We hate him for the exact same reason we hate Jamie Hawkins, except he’s 5x more corrupt, and it took him a lot longer to be exposed, which was annoying.

Ellen and Dale

They are so annoying, and really cringy. They are the bounty Hunters who killed Rose’s aunt and uncle, and hunted down Rose for the entire show. They are the poster antagonist, and Ellen’s wigs are really ugly. She looks like Edna from The Incredibles/

Now, the ones coming up are some of the characters that are SUPPOSED to be likable, but they end up just perceivably annoying and lack depth.

Rose Larkin

Rose, a former tech CEO, is a very important character, she is the one that Peter is supposed to protect after her aunt and uncle were murdered by Ellen and Dave. Even though she hasn’t done anything actually bad, her actions are just intolerable, especially in the earlier episodes. She was too defiant, and asked too many questions, which isn’t bad, but personally, if a secret service agent told us that we need to stay protected by the government because our lives were at risk, we would just shut up and follow directions, because I don’t want to die. We can’t say the same for Rose.

Maddie Redfield

Maddie is the college-aged daughter of the Vice President of the United States. Just like Rose, she didn’t actually do anything actually wrong, but once again her actions are intolerable. Like, ditching your secret service agents, who were instructed to protect you? Notice how the one time she ditched them she got kidnapped. What is with these people and defiance? Also, her almost-relationship with Paulo (the art teacher who used her and led to her kidnapping) was also weird.

Chelsea Arrington

Chelsea was the Secret service agent who has been protecting Maddie for years. We don’t like her because she has an obvious superiority complex towards Erik Monks, the new SS agent who was hired to assist her in protecting Maddie. For some reason she just can’t get over the fact that Erik was an addict, and she blows up on him too often in the first few episodes, and this just makes her so unlikeable, even though she’s one of the ‘good guys’.

Rating betrayals 

Now considering this show is about government corruption, and betrayals, it’s only fitting for us to discuss some of the biggest highlights of the show when it comes to betrayals, and even rank them!

Ellen and Dave kill Rose’s aunt and uncle

From episode one, things move quickly as Rose’s aunt and uncle (The Campbell’s) return from their trip and are then murdered by Ellen and Dave, a bounty hunting couple who were actually hired by secret government officials (Wick, Redfield, and Farr). However, this was not known at the time. 

Ellen and Dave snuck into The Campbells house in the late hours of the night and choked Rose’s uncle, and shot Rose’s aunt several times. Harsh. Imagine being hunted by someone hired by the people you worked for?

The tactic they used was very sly, and frankly impressive, but the fact that Rose managed to escape from them brought down the ranking significantly. Also, it was just a bit cliche. How many times have you seen a murder with a witness in a crime-thriller?

Betrayal rating: 5/10

Jamie Hawkins- Secret service 

In episode two, while on the run trying to keep Rose safe, Peter and Rose find out that somebody in the Secret service had been tapping/tracking them and had given there location to Ellen and Dave, and that ‘someone in the White House can’t be trusted’, low and behold this ‘someone’ was deputy director of the FBI, Jamie Hawkins. 

There’s no better way to betray someone than through government corruption within the FBI! This is definitely a 9/10 betrayal. Hawkins didn’t have to get his hands dirty, he just hired someone to try to kill Peter and Rose. The only reason this isn’t a 10/10 is because Dave and Ellen ended up killing Hawkins. What goes around comes around.

Betrayal rating: 9/10

Love or lies? Maddie Redfield (VP’s daughter, Paulo- art professor, Matteo- Paulo’s boyfriend)

In episodes three and four, the life of the twenty-year-old daughter of the Vice President of the US (Maddie Redfield) is shown. The main detail surrounding her life is that she has fallen for her art teacher, Paulo (who is obviously a good 10+ years older than her). Well, she thinks she is sparking a genuine relationship with him, however something that we know that she doesn’t is that Paulo is actually secretly working with a man named Matteo who is the one orchestrating Paulo to seduce Maddie into an intimate relationship with him so that she reveals important information to them about the Vice President.

We find out later that Matteo has a twin brother named Colin who was the culprit of a metro bombing incident that happened years back. So all in all, Matteo is a bad guy. Oh and he ends up kidnapping Maddie and has prospects to assassinate the Vice President.

Sigh, a betrayal of love: a particularly heartless type. This is a double-kill-type of betrayal because not only is Paulo betraying Maddie in thinking that he genuinely likes her, but he also puts her and her fathers life at risk by working with Matteo. Impressive.

Betrayal rating: 10/10

Erik and Arrington: Secret service agents tasked with protecting Maddie

In episode six is where stuff gets crazy. Or crazier. The episode continues with Ellen and Dale following Peter and Rose on the way to the White House. Peter hopes by going to the white-house, he can ask Farr for more security detail on Rose, who agrees. After realizing they are being followed, Peter and Rose flee to Cisco but Peter takes a pitstop in the white house. 

Erik and Arrington start investigating Paulo’s house while VP Redfield is being updated regarding Maddie’s kidnapping. 

At this point, Peter and Farr meet again. Peter updates her but soon, Farr mentions a state trooper watching over Rose. Peter instantly realizes he never told Farr about his friend taking care of Rose and immediately tries to compose himself and call Rose to go to Cisco.

Farr’s betrayal was highly shocking and emotional, especially for Peter and Rose, who saw her as their only hope for finding the truth. 

This betrayal was unexpected and shocking at first, but it made sense. Despite Peter and Rose making highly intricate plans to escape from assassins, they continuously got caught within a short timespan. Farr, a power hungry, high level government official did have the means to pull off such a massive, double sided betrayal that would leave viewers, and us undoubtedly shocked. Also, we found this betrayal slightly cliche. It’s so common for people higher up to work on both sides of morality, but we really did feel for Peter and Rose at that moment. 

Betrayal Rating: 7.5/10

Sara Redfield: Deceased daughter of the VP

Episode seven starts with a flashback of the drowning of Sara Redfield, the VP’s daughter and Maddie’s sister. We were fuming when Redfield blamed Maddie for Sara’s death. As if he wasn’t negligent. 

Betrayal rating: 7/10: Imagine your father turning against you and blaming you for something you weren’t present for? Ouch.

The flashback ends with Maddie waking up in a tiny room on a bed following being kidnapped. Matteo (the guy who kidnapped Maddie) forces her to pose with a newspaper article on her kidnapping. She pleads with Matteo, who then leaves the room and slams the door. Ouch, rude much?

The scene then shifts to Peter and Rose on a boat. Peter admits his guilt towards the danger he put Rose in, who then proceeds to say it wasn’t his fault and everything they are doing is to protect the United States. As we guessed, they then ended that conversation by making out for a whole 20 seconds. Kinda sweet, but more gross. 

Arrington and Erik investigate Peter Sutherland’s house, trying to deduce whether or not Peter kidnapped Maddie. They agree that it doesn’t make sense, but then decide to follow up with an earlier lead that Arrington kept hold to. They arrive at New Leaf, a NGO that Paulo founded, and learn that he and his boyfriend, Matteo (yes, the same guy who kidnapped Maddie) planned to bring Maddie there.

Back at the White House, the president has a conversation with Farr. At this point, our ears are burning and we are quite literally fuming. Diane Farr can’t keep this act up for much longer, can she? The president asks about Maddie, and also asks Farr to take a step back from Peter’s case.

The episode continues with Peter and Rose attempting to find information about his father by searching the internet and public records. On the other side, Wicks, Farr, and the VP meet. Wicks received a video of Maddie in distress. Buckle up, the rest of this is wild. Wicks wants the VP to confess his involvement in the metro bombing (shocker!) but Farr says that is not an option, especially since Maddie has proof of the truth of what happened to Sara when she drowned. This proof was hidden on a nanny-cam, which is what Ellen and Dale killed that woman for earlier. 

This back-and-forth thing continues until Erik and Arrington find Peter and arrest him.

Betrayal rating: 10/10. This was good. But we all know Peter will tell them the truth. Right?

Colin: Matteo’s twin brother, primary metro bombing suspect

Episode 8 also begins with a flashback during the Metro Bombing, while Peter is getting care, he spots Colin (metro bombing guy) then runs after him. This is when we find out Matteo is actually Colin’s twin brother who has been living as Matteo, when Wicks ordered his men to kill Colin.

Betrayal rating: 8/10. If pretending to be your dead twin brother doesn’t count as betrayal, we don’t know what does. 

Peter and Rose try to convince Erik and Arrington of their innocence (maybe not innocence, but lack of involvement) regarding Maddie’s kidnapping. 

Farr, Redfield, and Wicks meet again once Wicks receives another video of Maddie, and Redfield pleads with Wicks to know the truth about who was behind the kidnapping. They ultimately decide to ignore the video.

We would count this as a betrayal.

Betrayal Rating: 2/10: Redfield needs to stop the father act, Farr and Wicks need to shut up fr. 

Back in the storage room, Maddie convinces Colin to send one more video to her father, where Maddie pleads for him to confess his involvement in the metro bombing. During this, Maddie is seen playing with her necklace, and gives Colin Arringington’s number instead of Redfields

Erik and Arrington visit a storage unit by the time Maddies video reaches Chelsea.

Maddie’s video reaches Arrington, and Peter helps her try to decode it. Arrington recognises a gesture Maddie makes while filming the video, and they are able to find her location.

Arrington calls Erik to meet them at this location but unfortunately, Ellen started to trail Erik. Ellen sets up as an assassin on a rooftop, while Colin hears Peter and Arrington. Shots are fired, Maddie escapes, and Erik gets shot. Rose spots Ellen on the roof and pushes her off the structure. Ellen falls to her death and Erik dies from gunshot wounds.

Sadness rating: 10/10. Erik almost died taking a shot for someone previously, but this time he doesn’t survive.  Rest in peace Erik. 

Episode 9 also starts with a flashback. Farr is on her way to the Whitehouse after urgently being called to meet the VP. He and Wick confess their involvement in the metro bombing and they come up with a plan to proceed.

The flashback ends with the team filling Maddie in. The police arrive and Peter and Rose flee to Peter’s godfather’s house. Rose hacks Ellen’s phone and finds documents related to the night action leak.

Maddie and her father reunite, but of course, the VP is a lying narcissist who claims he did not get any of her videos.

Peter and Rose come up with a plan involving Farr’s secretary. They wait outside her house and use her computer to get proof linking Farr to the night action leaks. 

This is where things get hectic. Suddenly, everyone flees to Camp David. We can already feel the tension.

In episode 10, Peter and Rose force Farr to take them to camp david, where Peter suspects there is a plan to assassinate the president. Of course, Peter is right and holds the president at gunpoint while trying to get the secret service to search for the jet. They end up agreeing there is a bomb, the jet explodes, and Peter proves his innocence, is promoted, and  starts his new jpb overseas.

Peter says goodbye to Rose, and hops on his jet.

Betrayal rating: 10/10: We did not see the bomb thing coming, and we are glad Diane, Redfield, and Wick got caught. 

Needless to say, The Night Agent is a head-spinning political thriller that everyone must watch. After all, who doesn’t love a show full of twists and betrayal?

Our overall review for this show would be an 8/10. Despite being quite cliche at parts, we did enjoy the plot and each character’s depth. We hope the complicated plot will resume in season 2, though filming and the released date have still not been announced.