2 out of 5

Created by: Frank Spotnitz

I’ve watched my share of spy shows, new and old.  Some crawl, some move blazing fast, some are meticulously procedural, and some are cryptic to the point of madness.  However, if they’re set in a recognizable present day, they almost all have an element in common: the consequences are established by the lead character/s official affiliations.  Meaning that you’re either a government sanctioned group – cue conspiracy, generally, but the ‘threat’ can be big and bad because you’re licensed by your country – or you’re a private firm / lone wolf – cue conspiracy as well, but the ‘threat’ will come from discovery or infiltration by the also existing government sanctioned groups.  While ‘Hunted’ starts off with a classically complicated diversion so our spies can steal some goods, once things settle down into agency business – lead Melissa George as Sam Hunter works for private firm ‘Byzantium’ – creator / writer Frank Spotnitz decides to try and set his own rules by combining those common elements: Byzantium is not linked to the government (they have a mysterious client motivating their missions), but MI5 is fully aware of their activities.  In this fashion, Spotnitz, perhaps, hoped to avoid having to come up with a political motivator for his main concept, but hold on to the large scale stings that only a known agency could get away with.  Unfortunately, this change also completely robs the series of any sense of consequence right from the get-go.  Bodies are dropped left and right which have to be “cleaned up,” and MI5 looks on and nods and goes about their business.  Layer all of the extra mystery into events you want (and Spotnitz tries), but it can’t work around this main hitch with the setup.

Add to this a pretty poor pacing curve: Hunter is shot and (so we suppose) left for dead while between ops.  She goes into hiding for a year, then returns to Byzantium to try and figure out the who and why of the assassination attempt.  This is when we run into that speed bump with Byzantium’s place in the scheme of things, and it’s also a strange, backdoor way to get back to spy stuff.  Sam is welcomed with a “where were you oh well back to work” mentality that doesn’t really vibe with how much Importance the whole event the script initially gave the event, and then instead of giving us some episode by episode operations that would give Sam a chance to investigate things from within, Spotnitz and team launch into a season-long arc about some dirty money dealings to buy a dam and the family Sam has to infiltrate to get some precious information for Byzantium’s client.  …And instead of letting this op at least take a back seat to things, no – it’s All In.  But of course it ends up being tied to Sam’s personal quest, and of course there’s some kind of conspiracy that traces back to Sam’s past which she can’t remember but has frequently repeated flashes of, and It Goes All The Way To The Top of other randomly named agencies.  The shadows and secrets are the bread and butter of spy stuff, but nothing about ‘Hunted’ feels organic: its all been shaped around whatever Spotnitz never got a chance to reveal (as there was no season 2), and thus the twists and turns have no momentum – they only exist because the script was written to justify them.

Now what’s too bad about all of this extra crap is that there seems to have been a pretty great spy thriller kicking around beneath the surface.  George surprises: sporting a perpetually pouty, open-mouthed look, you’d never believe she could pull off the tough stuff, but when she buttons that lip with determination and lets loose with the kicks – it’s her, or at least you believe it’s her, and you believe in her anger and fear.  She’s excellent in the show, assisted by some really tight choreography – nothing too flashy or unbelievable, well shot and executed and brutal.  Stephen Dillane is perfect as the monotone ‘business is business’ boss, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje allows for just the extra bit of humanity needed to make his role as team leader an important separation from Dillane.  The rest of the team is stocked with human beings (not always the case with this kinda stuff) – though Adam Marsh as George’s one-time love is rather uninteresting and the bad guy, played by Patrick Malahide, is about as one-dimensional as you can get, until his villain monologue toward the end.  When the show narrows it’s focus down to individual spy tasks – steal this, protect them, etc. – it’s exciting stuff, to the point where you’re wrapped up and completely distracted from all the dour over-plottings.  At those moments, I’m wanted more.  But then it’s over, and we’re back to wandering and delaying whatever small reveals it’s determined it’s okay to release in that episode…

‘Hunted’ definitely had the potential to be the kind of cold and ruthless spy thriller we don’t see too often.  The able direction and solid batch of actors could easily have brought that world to life.  Unfortunately, we can never know if that style of show would’ve found an audience… since creator Spotnitz tried to over-complicate things with forced mysteries and mythologies and a season long plot without much payoff.  Start with some other BBC spy shows if you’re hungry before you give this a shot.