
Dead Sea Squirrels
Some 2,000-year-old squirrels offer some great lessons about both the Bible and life in this clever new Minno series.
About a year ago, Rose thought her life was over. She’d been fired from her own tech startup. Her name had been dragged through the mud by the media. She was living with her aunt and uncle. And she was going to have to file for bankruptcy.
At the time, she would’ve given anything to go back to that.
But then Rose was woken in the middle of the night by her aunt and uncle arguing. She overheard them talking about White House moles, burning documents and something or someone called “Osprey.”
Before she could get any answers, they told her to run because there were people coming for them. And their final instructions: Call this number and say “Night Action.”
On the other end of that number sat Peter Sutherland, an unpopular FBI agent. Peter had helped save a lot of people from a bomb on a subway train. Unfortunately, the culprit got away, so the press got it in their heads that Peter must have been part of the plot. After all, Peter’s dad (another FBI agent) was famous for betraying the country before his untimely death.
Peter insisted he and his father were innocent. And since the White House and FBI believed him (about himself, at least), he managed to keep his status as an agent. But in order to keep him out of the public light, they reduced him to a desk job located in the basement of the White House. Acting as the equivalent of a 911 dispatcher, he answered calls from secret “Night” agents in distress.
Rose was his first call.
Long story short, Peter and Rose put their lives on the line to save a lot of people, including the president herself. But after it was over, despite romantic feelings between the two, they went their separate ways. Rose went back to Silicon Valley to rebuild her tarnished reputation. Peter got deployed overseas, activated as a new Night Agent. They haven’t spoken since.
However, when Peter’s cover as a Night Agent is blown—resulting in the death of his partner, Alice—he returns to New York in secret, hoping to find the ones who betrayed him and recover the top-secret information they stole.
Nobody knows precisely where Peter is, since he went AWOL. But they do know where Rose is—and it just so happens that her specialty is tracking down people who don’t want to be found. It’s a good bet that if Rose knows Peter is missing, she’ll go searching for him. All they have to do is wait and she’ll likely unwittingly lead them straight to him.
Just who are “they?” Well, that remains to be seen. Last time the good guys were infiltrated by bad right to the core of the government. Who knows how deep the conspiracy goes this time.
Netflix’s The Night Agent is based on the novel by Matthew Quirk. And while the story is certainly an intriguing one, it’s not one that’s easily watched.
In the first episode alone, two people are brutally strangled—lifted off their feet by their killer. Others die from gunshot wounds and explosions. And many of these people aren’t even secret agents: they’re innocent bystanders.
Language is brutal, too. There are multiple uses of the f-word and s-word, as well as some harsh abuses of God’s name. The show isn’t rated for sexuality, but there are sensual moments where clothes are removed.
As far as spy thrillers go, The Night Agent is par for the course. But as far as family viewing goes, it might be better to blacklist this one.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After his cover is blown, Peter secretly returns to the United States to avenge his partner and to recover stolen intel. When Rose gets wind, she unknowingly leads his enemies straight to him.
Peter and his partner, Alice, are attacked. Many gunshots are fired as they’re chased through the streets. Someone tosses a grenade at Peter. He’s able to leap out of the way, but we later learn he was injured. Unfortunately, Alice is shot and killed. Other people are chased and shot at elsewhere. Peter gets into a fistfight with a man, unable to fire his weapon since Peter needs the man alive.
A neon sign outside a strip club depicts a cartoonish woman in lingerie. Two people flirt and otherwise act couple-y, but it’s part of their cover. The woman tells a story about how she got a tattoo on her back.
Secret agents tail several people, hoping to recover stolen information, but they fail. People lie. Rose changes the coding on her company’s software (without permission) to search for Peter. Peter uses a kid, pretending to mentor the boy, to gain access to the youngster’s dad.
Rose is in therapy for the trauma she experienced in Season One, and we hear some earnest conversations about her recovery and prolonged anxiety struggles. Peter’s handler says that Peter may also be experiencing some mental health problems following the events of Season One.
A woman says she does yoga to reduce stress. Rose is a bit obstinate toward trained government officials, claiming to know better than them despite being a civilian. A shelter gives Rose information about Peter in spite of its privacy policies.
We hear two uses of the f-word and three of the s-word, as well as “p–ck.” Someone says, “Doing God knows what for God knows who.”
After people attack their home, Rose’s aunt and uncle instruct her to call a mysterious number for help. The man who answers identifies himself as Peter. And pretty soon, the pair are involved in a huge conspiracy.
Several people are attacked and killed by assassins (two are garroted and one is shot). In other scenes, Peter and other FBI agents fight these killers in hand-to-hand combat. During a car chase, characters exchange gunfire. Peter purposely crashes his vehicle into his pursuers to stop the chase. Someone plants a bomb on a subway train. (The train is evacuated and only one person is killed when the bomb goes off, though several people are seriously injured). Two men attack Peter with batons, but he disarms them and has them arrested. A man is hit by a car while chasing an assailant. A woman is cut by shattering glass. We see a large scar on the back of a man’s neck. We hear about a fatal car accident and some people speculate if the driver purposely took his own life.
We see a man without his shirt on. There’s a joke about Viagra. We learn Peter used to live with his ex-fiancée. People joke about drinking. Some folks have wine with dinner. We hear a company was the victim of ransomware (where hackers hold digital data hostage in exchange for money). A terrified woman hides from an assassin. Rose mistakenly believes that Peter is robbing someone. People break into Peter’s house but don’t steal anything. We hear about a kidnapping and later see the child abandoned by her kidnappers. People lie.
We hear five uses each of the f-word and s-word. God’s name is abused twice, once paired with “d–n.” We also hear uses of “a–,” “a–hole,” “h—” and “p-ss.”
A man offers his seat to a woman and her child on a packed train.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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