Citadel Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2 Review: The Human Enigma / Spies Appear in Night Time
Citadel Season 1 Episode 1, “The Human Enigma,” and Citadel Season 1 Episode 2, “Spies Appear in Night Time,” are a solid introduction to the high-stress world and our three main Citadel agents.
We briefly get to see Bernard, Nadia, and Mason in action before all hell breaks loose, which allows us to see how Citadel operates and gives us a chance to get to know them pre-memory erasure. Nadia and Mason’s relationship is a little strained, which is not the impression Mason/Kyle gets from his mysterious visions/dreams of her.
A two-episode premiere is a smart way to kick off this series as it gets most of the necessary groundwork out of the way. Now that Mason and Nadia are reunited — and one of them has their memories — we can pick up where Bernard left off with his investigation into Manticore.
One thing that this premiere fails to do is show us Bernard’s time since the train explosion. We see what happened to Mason and Nadia, but Bernard’s operation is a mystery.
He clearly has dug up a lot of information on Manticore, and it would’ve been beneficial to have him discuss at how he found all that out. Bernard was a one-man team — it’s unclear how much his ex-wife and her new wife were involved — and he knows basically everything about Manticore.
It’s impressive how much he digs up, but that level of skill doesn’t then match up with him failing to realize that he and Mason are being followed by Manticore agents after stealing the x-case. Sure, Bernard was the tech guy, but he should’ve considered that they’d be followed or that there would be a tracker in the case.
Mason not getting his memories back keeps things interesting.
It would’ve been a bit too easy if both he and Nadia were back in fighting shape. Plus, through him, we’ll be able to have certain things that a Citadel spy should know explained to us, and it will just make for a better, more complex dynamic between him and Nadia.
“The Human Enigma” reveals that while they were partners, something happened between them to change that. Mason gets to start fresh with her, sort of, and I’m curious how Nadia will treat him. There’s the history between them that’ll affect her behavior as well as the simple fact that he’s a pretty useless spy without his memories.
The premiere tells us that Citadel was betrayed by one of their own, and the show is heavily hinting that it’s either Nadia or Mason. As of right now, my money’s on Mason.
He conveniently doesn’t remember betraying them. Also, there’s the tidbit that Manticore wants him brought back alive and doesn’t seem to care about Nadia, and it doesn’t make sense why he would be more valuable to them than her.
However, both Mason and Nadia would have to know that their memories could get wiped, you’d think they would have a backup plan if they were helping take down Citadel. It is possible that Mason is faking it — he did catch the knife whereas a memory-wiped Nadia did not.
Do you have any theories on who betrayed Citadel?
Stray Thoughts
- I’m suspicious of “Kyle’s” wife. I can’t explain it, but I don’t trust her.
- Waiting for Manticore to catch up to Bernard and Mason is so stressful.
- I’ve missed Priyanka Chopra-Jonas being a spy.
What did you think of the two-episode premiere of Citadel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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New episodes of Citadel premiere Fridays on Prime Video.
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a show to binge-watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).