Citadel Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Secrets in Night Need Early Rains

Citadel Season 1 Episode 6, “Secrets in Night Need Early Rains,” pays the price for the season’s issues, resulting in an extremely underwhelming finale.

The season has been plagued with pacing issues, and the show has prioritized showing us the past over spending time developing storylines, characters, and relationships in the present.

And with only a six-episode season, there hasn’t been anywhere near enough time for Citadel to try to do half of what it wants to accomplish. This caused Citadel to jump from twist to twist, depriving us of the opportunity to become invested in anything or anyone.

On top of that, Citadel mishandles what great plot devices and characters it has. Mason’s memory loss is an example of this.

The show never explores all the nuances of his memory loss, which is a shame. Instead, it becomes a convenient way for Citadel to wait until the last second to reveal that Mason is the one who betrayed Citadel instead of using it to explore his relationship with Nadia vs. Kyle’s relationship with her.

There could have been some wonderful moments with Nadia and Kyle trying to have some kind of relationship as they work toward saving Carter and Asha. Then, when the memories come back, there could’ve been a very noticeable shift in how Mason acts toward/around her.

Additionally, the show could have explored more of how Kyle/Mason being helpless and not able to contribute to the mission and save his daughter affected him. This would have been a compelling reason as to why he is so determined to restore his memories.

But, the show wants to give Richard Madden his action moments, so there’s the clever little loophole that being backstopped doesn’t take away your muscle memory. I guess we are all ignoring the fact that it didn’t seem to be the case back with Nadia on Citadel Season 1 Episode 2, “Spies Appear in Night Time.”

The most interesting part of all the little secrets Mason Kane has been hiding is his reaction when he remembers the truth — he lies about it. This has the potential to be surprising, but it isn’t due to all the time we’ve spent with Mason in the flashbacks.

If Citadel didn’t show us anything prior to the train debacle 8 years ago, then we could be shocked that Mason would lie — after all, it’s not something Kyle would do. But, we’ve spent time with Mason and saw how he handled the whole Celeste situation, so we’re not all that phased by the lie.

Citadel had the makings of a good spy show, but it squandered it all away. In addition to the news that it’s been renewed for a second season, “Secrets in Night Need Early Rains” ends with a glimpse as to what’s next for “the Citadel spyverse.” A new series is coming out next year, Citadel: Diana.

At this point, it’s unclear if the new show will be different enough to where it can avoid Citadel‘s mistakes, or if we will be in for another underdeveloped spy show. I’ll need to know a bit more about it before deciding whether or not it’s worth my time.

What did you think of the Citadel finale? Will you tune into Citadel: Diana next year? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Citadel Season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.

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