‘Patriot’: A Quirky New Spy Series
Patriot is a frequently funny new drama that is ostensibly about a young spy named John (Michael Dorman) who, in a plot set primarily in 2012, is trying to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capability. That sounds grim, doesn’t it? Yet the 10-part series, which begins streaming on Amazon Prime on Friday, is a lark of an enterprise, full of comic twists and turns that stray from the serious storyline.
Familiar faces include Lost’s Terry O’Quinn, a veteran spy and John’s father, and Kurtwood Smith (That ’70s Show) as the boss of the piping company John is working for as a cover for his spy work. Created by Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), who has written and directed all the episodes I’ve seen, Patriot has a deadpan air, even when unlikely things are happening. Such as John being attacked by a team of Brazilian jiujitsu practitioners for no immediately discernible reason, or John being chased by a little-person police officer whom he picks up and stuffs into a locker. This is the kind of show in which, if a character says twins freak him out, you can bet that in the next few minutes we’ll see that he’s the father of two adorable twin daughters.
The sight gags are shot with the sort of center-of-the-frame camera angles that might make you think of a Wes Anderson movie, but Patriot has its own rhythms — even musical rhythms: John frequently picks up a guitar and sings about the things he’s doing. These are long, rambling tunes; as his father explains, his son “records folk music under an assumed name because he says it helps him with his feelings.”
To say that Patriot won’t be for everyone is putting it mildly. Then again, I didn’t think another Amazon series, Mozart in the Jungle, would be a hit, and that thing wins awards. So perhaps there’s room in the vast current TV landscape for a show as assiduously eccentric as Patriot.
Patriot is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
Read more:
Ken Tucker on What’s Next for Nashville
Big Little Lies Star Zoë Kravitz Admits It’s ‘Annoying’ How Nice Her Character Is
Oscars: What Jimmy Kimmel’s Past Hosting Gigs Tell Us About What to Expect
