Citadel — the second most expensive series ever made arrives on Amazon

Amazon’s new spy actioner Citadel has an inadvertently perfect opening scene. What could be more fitting for a show whose production was derailed by creative differences, negative early feedback, mass lay-offs and costly reshoots than introducing it with a spectacular train wreck?

After several years of development hell, the first season of what is reportedly the second most expensive series ever made has turned out to be a third-rate piece of television. Where the numbers — reportedly a budget of $300mn for six 40-minute episodes — tell a revealing story of Amazon Studios’ profligate approach to content creation, the actual story that Citadel tells is a by-the-numbers espionage yarn.

It is set in a conspiracy-theorist-validating version of reality in which the fate of the world is held by two shadowy spycraft organisations. One, the titular Citadel, has “helped shape every major event for good”. The other, Manticore, operates to further the interests of a handful of global elites, whose desire for total world domination hinges on the eradication of Citadel.

Which brings us back to the carnage of the opening scenes and an attempt by Manticore to assassinate the Citadel’s two top agents aboard an Alpine train. Although they survive the crash, Mason (Richard Madden) and Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) have no memory of who they were. For eight years they live as ordinary, oblivious civilians until they find themselves hunted down by old friends and foes alike.

That there’s an explicit, tongue-in-cheek reference to famed amnesiac spook Jason Bourne only accentuates the sense that what we’re watching is a chintzy yet overpriced imitation of better, smarter intelligence-set stories. And if there are just about enough action scenes to dilute the brute force of relentless exposition and plot contrivance, it’s slightly bemusing to hear that the extensive reshoots were motivated by a desire to do more “character work” given the vacuity and inauthenticity of the two leads.

Support comes in the way of Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville (Citadel and Manticore veterans respectively) who do their best with limited material to little avail. “Listen to me and I will get you through this,” Tucci promises at one point. Sorry Stanley, but I’m not sure you can.

★★☆☆☆

First two episodes on Amazon Prime Video from April 28; new episodes weekly