After bringing the Marvel superhero to life, demolisher, Charlie Cox faced the challenge of living Adam Lawrence, an employee of MI6 (the British intelligence agency) who has his life turned upside down when his boss, Sir Martin Angelis (Ciarán Hinds), is poisoned and almost dies. The plot that promised a lot of suspense and a dose of action is from the original Netflix miniseries, Betrayalwhich hit streaming in the last week of December.
It turns out that even with a good premise and a pleasing first episode, the production does not deliver anything truly attractive to hold the public’s attention, and is left with the eternal promise of “now go”.
The story begins with the scene of an alleged shooter whose pistol is pointed at a house where Adam and his children are. After that moment, the series goes to five days earlier, and shows him in a classroom, explaining to the children—in a simplified way— how the hierarchy of the agency and its work works. This moment is a success of the work, because it also serves to explain to the public the dynamics of what we will see below.
From then on, a succession of sinister facts begins; Martin Angelis is poisoned, we are introduced to a Russian spy named Kara Yerzov (Olga Kurylenko) and, soon after, we discover that she has a common past with Adam, and secretly helped him get to power so that he could call in a favor later.
A script with some holes and not very attractive
You can’t deny that the plot of the series is interesting at times and talks about the corruption of the British government and the power game that it involves, but there are holes so clear that they discourage the viewer a little.
One is the ease with which Kara and Adam meet, get the leads they need, and get past security. Given that we’re talking about one of the safest bodies in England, that fact is laughable.
Another point that bothers is the development of Maddy (Oona Chaplin), Adam’s wife. Although romance is not the focus of the plot (and it doesn’t even need to be), their love relationship needs to be better developed.
That’s because she’s almost like a loose character; having important moments, but being portrayed as a woman with no history. After all, how did they meet? What is her background as a war veteran? And why, despite being experienced, is she so insecure and taking such amateurish attitudes? These questions go unanswered and weaken the script a bit.
It is important to say, however, that even with flaws, the Betrayal is, for the most part, coherent, and avoids nonsense, contrary to what happens in Recruit, series starring Noah Centineo.
acting does not dislike
If, on the one hand, the script is lukewarm, on the other hand, the performance of the cast is not displeasing. Cox convinces as the MI6 agent, although he’s a little goofy. Oona Chaplin also shows her potential as the loving wife and devoted stepmother, but as stated, she deserved better character development.
The highlight is Olga Kurylenko who lives the protagonist Kara. She demonstrates that she has control on the scene and does not look bad in the moments of action. Also, it’s interesting to see her speaking both English and Russian fluently.
closed ending
After five episodes of approximately 40 minutes each, Betrayal manages to resolve the open questions, reveal who the double agent was, and deliver a proper solution. The fact that it has few episodes is another success of the series, which does not stretch the avoidable.
And, despite having a conclusive outcome, the production managed to leave a hook for a possible second season. But, it is worth mentioning that when it ends, the plot does not leave a taste of “I want more”.
Therefore, it is plausible to say that Betrayaldesigned by Matt Charman (bridge of spies), has a lukewarm plot with the potential to conquer fans of police productions, but without delivering anything really surprising. It’s worth the play for being something short and quick to watch.
If you want to give the series a chance, you can watch it. Betrayal at Netflix.
