Entertainment Review: Citadel 2

The first season of Citadel by produced by the Russo brothers was meant to be a prestige project for Amazon, but the reported 300 million dollar budget didn’t get the spy caper an equivalent amount of fan love.

After a three-year hiatus—and bolstered by the regional spin-offs Citadel: Diana (Italy) and Citadel: Honey Bunny (India)—the flagship series has returned for a second season.

Season One was was defined by the memory erasure trope, focusing on Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) trying to remember who they were. In Season Two, they know who they are, but it hasn’t uncomplicated their lives.

In amnesiac condition, Mason had married Abby (Ashleigh Cummjngs) and had a kid by her. He was also married to Nadia and they had a daughter. So there are some ‘who does Mason really love’ undercurrents, amidst the carnage that goes on relentlessly.

The central conflict has shifted from a simple good Citadel vs. evil Manticore teams to a bigger power struggle. With Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci) is in captivity to megalomaniac billionaire, Braga (Gabriel Leone), who has him working on a chip that could turn a human into a mindless assassin. He stalls the project and escapes Braga’s Italian mansion. Braga is so awful that he is more concerned about his rare tiles ruined in the attack, than the dozens of men killed. His only soft spot is his son.

Barnard, Mason and Nadia are forced to recruit new operatives, which brings in the wise-cracking Hutch (Jack Reynor) and Frank (Matt Berry) to add a bit of humour and variety to all the emotional drama involving Mason and his seemingly reformed Manticore mother Dahlia (Lesley Manville), plus the two wives.

The Spyverse integration is impressive, with past series Easter eggs hidden for those who have watched earlier shows and spin-offs to find.

For those who watched Honey Bunny, there are references to Nadia’s childhood; mention of a contact in Milan (referencing Diana) or a background news report about a tech heist in Mumbai.

​Joe Russo, taking a more direct hand in directing this season, ensures the action matches this grander scale. Though some of the action scenes go on for too long. It is difficult to decide what’s more boring– the high body count fights or the heart-to-heart chats characters have from time to time, unloading their angst.

While moving to seven episodes (up from six) allows for more character development, it also makes the pace sag, in spite of the action, which, because it is so extravagant, gets a comic book quality.

The visual quality and tech work is brilliant, but maybe Citadel needs to be more fun and less of a save the world slog!