citadel proves unworthy of Priyanka’s magnificence, Madden’s intensity, or veteran talent like Lesley Manville and Stanley Tucci wasted in mundane roles, Sukanya Verma laments.

The word “trust” comes up all the time citadelis the soap drama of spies. While the slimy ones bond immediately but keep wondering if they can trust each other, the smarter ones like to warn, “I’m extremely untrustworthy, I’m a spy!”

For elite agents saving the world from nuclear catastrophe, they’re a surprisingly small group of clueless, sloppy individuals who blindly trust the inventions of the script while being armed with snazzy-looking gimmicks that have met with little success and no know-how Guarantee friendship and favors beyond.

Driven by far more twists than insights, the ambitiously staged first installment in an international franchise spends so much time on here-comes-another-bomb that it loses all charm.

Created by Anthony and Joe Russo, the world-travelling spy masala was never too bright from the start, but its star-studded appeal, particularly the razor-sharp Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her flirty conversations centered around the suave Richard Madden, ramped up citadelis cliche writing with harmless fun.

I didn’t mind the first one two airy episodes and enjoyed how smoothly PC entered its unpretentious space of the low-budget-big-budget.

The actors are silent citadelis the biggest draw in the following episodes.

The first parts of the first season, which have already been extended by a second, established Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and Mason Kane (Richard Madden) as partners in a world-class spy agency, mixing business and pleasure and trying to figure out their place in it each other’s lives and an imminent nuclear threat after their memories are erased using a technology called backstop.

Episodes three, four, five and the finale eschew the action bits to talk about the romance hanging in the balance and how not every single character is what they appear to be.

Everyone lies or is lied to.

Everyone is a suspect in their deadly mole game.

Seeing characters through a moral prism would be a lot more exciting if citadel would devote herself to her mystery and her motivation.

One of the most intriguing character strands involves Mason’s wife (Ashleigh Cummings). Their backstory and conflicts add structure to an otherwise flat narrative. If season 2 is set to get better, here’s a character to invest in.

Priyanka alternates between restraint and startling effect while also dropping some possible references to the roles of Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan in Raj and DK’s Indian edition of the series.

Ever growing beyond the foreseeable written matter, citadel proves unworthy of Priyanka’s magnificence, Madden’s intensity, or veteran talent like Lesley Manville and Stanley Tucci wasted in mundane roles.

Between a never-ending back-and-forth in the timeline and globe-hopping, citadelThe real issue is pushed into the background. When the problem is finally fixed, it’s so moronic that you’ll want to try some of that backstop technology.

citadel Stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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