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The Consultant

The Consultant season 1

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Kristin Smith

TV Series Review

Sang Wu was 13 years old when he created his first video game in South Korea. Since then, he’s gone from a teenager making games in his mom’s basement to a the head of CompWare, a successful gaming company in downtown Los Angeles. 

At CompWare, Sang and his employees work to create engaging games that anyone with a smart device can access. While Sang may be known by some of his workers as narcissistic and immature, most don’t know too much about him. 

The exception? His creative liaison, Elaine. 

Elaine sees Sang’s immaturity and ego. But she also believes that Sang’s not really a bad guy. 

So, why would an elementary-aged student, on a field trip to CompWare, open fire on Sang and kill him in front of his fellow classmates? 

The child tells the news media that “the devil” made him do it. And the blood smeared on Sang’s office window certainly makes it seem like a diabolical, random act. seems to confirm that. But Elaine and coder Craig aren’t so sure. 

In fact, they’re not sure of much surrounding Sang’s death. And they’re not sure of the new guy, either–the fellow who showed up and took over Sang’s office only a few days after his death. He calls himself Mr. Regus Patoff, the Consultant. 

According to Mr. Patoff, Mr. Sang hired him to do a full evaluation of his business before his death. There are legal documents to support his claim (or, at least, they appear to do so), but even with paperwork and confirmation from the legal department, Elaine and Craig still aren’t buying it. 

Patoff is strange. He’s paradoxically both impulsive and calculated. He fires employees for the slightest inconveniences. There is no trace of him on the internet. And, if Elaine and Craig are correct, he is hiding secrets that would make the devil blush. 

They’ll just have to prove it before Patoff finds out. Or before they’re dead. 

Gaming Is A Time Bomb 

When I watched the trailer for Amazon Prime’s, The Consultant, I assumed it would have some elements of a thriller, thanks to the show’s antagonist, Christoph Waltz. I mean, he played a genius villain in Skyfall and he has this look about him that says “I would be a great sociopath.” 

And that’s exactly what he is on this TV 16+ series. 

The crux of this show is, of course, learning just how evil Mr. Patoff can be. But it also asks viewers how evil they might become if job promotions were on the line and if sexually and emotionally intimate relationships were violated. But the show itself commits plenty of violations itself. 

According to Amazon Prime, The Consultant holds its mature rating for content issues such as nudity, violence, substance use and foul language. These are all fair and true cautions, but I feel that I should expound.

This blend of mystery, drama and thriller uses an excess of profanity (the f-word every other second), wallows in plenty of on-screen violence (as in, blood splattered against a wall after a man is shot) and doesn’t blink when sexual activity appears (a very disturbing shot of a man performing oral sex on another man). 

This show may highlight the gaming community, but its content is nothing to toy around with.

Episode Reviews

Mar. 24, 2023–S1, Ep1: “The Creator”

Sang Wu, the founder and head of a popular games studio, is shot and killed. His replacement, a mysterious man known as Regus Patoff, takes over the company, but no-one knows anything about him, and the internet doesn’t have a clue, either.

An elementary-school-aged boy shoots Sang Wu in the chest, in front of his terrified classmates, and we see blood splattered against the wall. A man plays a violent video game at night. Elaine reads that a CEO in Moscow, who worked with Sang, was found decapitated. 

After reading an article where a boy claims that “the devil” made him commit murder, a woman suggests her fiance pray for his soul. 

Mr. Patoff coerces Sang Wu to perform oral sex on him (we see this violent act from afar). A man is forced to bathe himself from a bucket in his office (we see him get completely naked, from behind, and scrub his body). Elaine comments that Sang Wu never had sex.

Elaine and Craig smoke marijuana together. The f-word is used nearly 20 times, once by a child, and the s-word is heard twice. 

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kristin-smith
Kristin Smith

Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).

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