Amazon Prime Citadel (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

My only issue is more of a pet peeve I guess.
I don’t believe for a second that someone can bump into another person and magically take their wallet away from them as it happened in the first show.

It definitely can and does happen, but usually involves some sort of distraction at the same time so the victim isn't focused on the pocket that's being pilfered from.

Watched the 5th episode last night. Lots of information in present time and flashback. I have no good feel for how they are going to leave us after the 6th episode

It's kind of ridiculous all of the many ways the various characters are interconnected with one another at this point, but I'm still enjoying the ride.

One thing I have to say though...I wish Thomas Newton Sigel (the director) would stop it with the trope of starting a scene upside down, and slowly rotating the view to right-side up. Starting the first episode that way was fine, but he's overusing it.

That really started to bug me this episode too.

 

[jayembee]

So, the season finale was a humdinger. I had a feeling that

Spoiler

Mason

was going to be the mole, but I never suspected

Spoiler

Dahlia was his mother

.

Now the long wait until S2, although before that, we're getting the Italian Citadel series, Citadel: Diana next.

 

[NeilO]

Yes, after you eliminate the other mole possibilities, you are just left with one suspect. The reason why, though, was the big surprise which we found out. Ultimately, it appears to have been a tragedy of secrets.

Overall, I'm glad I watched the series and I'm looking forward to more Citadel.

We just started watching Magpie Murders which stars Leslie Manville as the main character who will need to figure out a mystery by the end of the series. Actors can be pretty amazing. Such a completely different character.

 

[David_B_K]

The final episode was pretty intense. I was watching it while peddling my exercise bike. At the cool-down phase where I usually slow down to bring my heartbeat back down, I noticed I was still peddling rather furiously.

One thing I wondered about was the use of footage from John Frankenheimer's Seconds. I have seen Seconds numerous times and it is a favorite of mine. However, I know few people who have even heard of it. I wonder if the use of the footage was lost on people, and if it was even necessary?

 

[NeilO]

One thing I wondered about was the use of footage from John Frankenheimer's Seconds. I have seen Seconds numerous times and it is a favorite of mine. However, I know few people who have even heard of it. I wonder if the use of the footage was lost on people, and if it was even necessary?

I have never seen it and I think I appreciated what they were trying to do there even though I didn't know the reference.

 

[jayembee]

One thing I wondered about was the use of footage from John Frankenheimer's Seconds. I have seen Seconds numerous times and it is a favorite of mine. However, I know few people who have even heard of it. I wonder if the use of the footage was lost on people, and if it was even necessary?

Regardless of whether one knows where that footage came from, it worked allegorically as a parallel to the central narrative of characters "dying" and taking up other identities. It probably wasn't necessary for some values of necessary, as that narrative point has been clear all along, but I thought it was a clever Easter Egg.

 

[bukun]

Amazon is really struggling with this one. They were expecting a lot more and the buzz and viewership hasn't been great. After Rings of Power, they are pretty touchy about this stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes it if does keep a second season.

 

[Malcolm R]

Well, they reportedly spent a ridiculous $300 million to make just six episodes of an original script starring two mid-level actors. Not sure what they expected to happen here or where they thought the buzz was going to come from. The biggest names involved here are the Russo Brothers and their only involvement is as Exec Producers (of which they are 2 of a whopping 18 listed EP's).

Viewer ratings aren't great at 3.7 of 5 stars. That would equate to a numerical average of 74 or grade "C".

 

[bukun]

yeah. there can be a bit of an echo chamber at Prime Video right now, so how they look at forecasting and performance can be a little skewed. I think it will take one or two more projects like Rings and this one to make them finally make a shift. The question will be what the learn from it and what corrections they make. I'm not at all convinced it will be the right lessons.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I struggled to the end (fortunately a short run). It didn't fulfil the promise of the inital fight on the train at the beginning, the CG was weak and it was very dark. Lacked originality.

A second season of The Night Manager is apparently in production, that's the way to do a short series thriller/drama.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So, the season finale was a humdinger. I had a feeling that

Spoiler

Mason

was going to be the mole, but I never suspected

Spoiler

Dahlia was his mother

.

I saw the second reveal coming before it happened, but I didn't see it until this episode.

Yes, after you eliminate the other mole possibilities, you are just left with one suspect. The reason why, though, was the big surprise which we found out. Ultimately, it appears to have been a tragedy of secrets.

It sounds like Mason thought his mother was going to expose Citadel with the information he provided, rather than go scorched earth, kill all of his colleagues, and then hand what remained over to the organized crime syndicates.

What's interesting is that once Kyle gets Mason's memories back, he's not really Mason or Kyle any more. Mason could do lots of cool shit that Kyle didn't know how to do, but Mason didn't know how to be a husband or a father. But Kyle does, and he spent the better part of the past decade fully dedicated to both. The part of the reintegrated person who is Kyle will be able to be a much better father to Asha than Mason would have been.

The biggest question mark for me heading into the next season is what Celeste/Abby knows or doesn't know. If she didn't actually get backstopped, or if her memories were returned at some point, then she knows what Mason did to her and found a way to love Kyle in spite of that. But if she didn't and she can't, then how does their marriage survive that once the truth comes out?

And Asha and Hendrix both have a half-sister they didn't know about, and they're almost close enough in age to be Irish twins.

I have never seen it and I think I appreciated what they were trying to do there even though I didn't know the reference.

Same.

Amazon is really struggling with this one. They were expecting a lot more and the buzz and viewership hasn't been great. After Rings of Power, they are pretty touchy about this stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes it if does keep a second season.

While it's underperformed versus expectations in the US, it's done really well for Amazon internationally, which probably helps explain the quick renewal.

The economics for Prime Video are also different than the economics for the other streaming services in ways that I don't completely understand. But from what I gather, it's basically a loss leader to drive Amazon Prime subscriptions to drive Amazon purchases.

 

[NeilO]

It sounds like Mason thought his mother was going to expose Citadel with the information he provided, rather than go scorched earth, kill all of his colleagues, and then hand what remained over to the organized crime syndicates.
.....

The biggest question mark for me heading into the next season is what Celeste/Abby knows or doesn't know. If she didn't actually get backstopped, or if her memories were returned at some point, then she knows what Mason did to her and found a way to love Kyle in spite of that. But if she didn't and she can't, then how does their marriage survive that once the truth comes out?

Yes, Dahlia was saying that she was going to bring them to justice. He sure didn't think she was going to try to kill them all including himself and Nadia.

We saw Kyle with memory flashes from Mason so there is no reason to believe that Abby hasn't had similar experiences.

It was renewed in March even before the first episode aired in the US. We know there are several spinoffs being produced in other countries with the Italian one being the first one out of the gate. I think building up all the international interest was a key reason that it was renewed before it even started airing. It is a big international project and lower than expected results in the US won't stop the whole thing. All those other series may continue to feed interest into this initial one.

 

[bukun]

While it's underperformed versus expectations in the US, it's done really well for Amazon internationally, which probably helps explain the quick renewal.

The economics for Prime Video are also different than the economics for the other streaming services in ways that I don't completely understand. But from what I gather, it's basically a loss leader to drive Amazon Prime subscriptions to drive Amazon purchases.

It's doing less well than you might think internationally as well, but better for sure. And it's not doing what was expected in terms of conversion to platform either. It did well when it dropped for a bit, but as word of mouth spread about the quality of the show, the number of people presumably joining prime in order to watch the show dropped off pretty quickly. I think a second season will be pretty rough for them as well, but only time will tell. Amazon takes a very optimistic view of the data and how it compares to other titles, but I also think that will change by the end of this year. I expect some big changes over there soon.