The Night Agent has one job. It's literally written on the tin. But the titular protagonist of Netflix's latest action series refuses to keep work-life balance a priority, spending most of the series working in the day. It's not only a personal betrayal for this unnecessarily flustered viewer, I'm concerned for him.
I'll admit it, there's plenty more about The Night Agent series to focus on: There's a mole in the White House? Who set up the Night Agent as a deep state accomplice and ruined his reputation? Who are all these shady characters, and why do they want a former tech CEO dead? But it's the principle of the thing: The Night Agent working during the day is all the evidence we need that capitalism is well and truly fucked.
Call this professionally vampiric man's manager. The Night Agent needs time to sleep, regardless of how work-life balance looks at the White House.
Based on Matthew Quirk's novel and created by Shawn Ryan, The Night Agent follows low-level FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) who works in a windowless room in the basement of the White House. He's a lowly part of what's known as the "Night Action" team, which always makes me point finger guns at the screen whenever it's named aloud. Under the command of White House chief of staff Diane Farr (the incredible Hong Chau), Peter's job is to sit around processing paperwork and waiting for hotshot Night Agents to call the secret landline if they're in need of assistance — something he fails at the first time we see the phone ring. Three rings, Peter? You picked it up after three rings? Sir, this is the FBI. One ring.
On the end of this call is cybersecurity entrepreneur and ex-CEO Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), whose connection to two super duper Night Agents drags Peter out of the basement and into the field. Now he's technically a Night Agent! And he can kiss his sleeping hours and the title of the show goodbye, as he'll be required to be a Dayman ah-ah-ahhhhh! too. Which is great, but not 👏 what 👏 we 👏 are 👏 here 👏 for.
Does the Night Agent ever sleep?
Friends, I'm concerned for the wellbeing of our eponymous hero. FBI agents need sleep like the rest of us. Dana Scully and Fox Mulder snoozed in The X-Files. Clarice Starling napped in Silence of the Lambs. Dale Cooper loved a post-memo kip in Twin Peaks.
The Night Agent sees Peter staying awake for his job over several nights, keeping watch over Rose in his apartment, outside her family's cabin, just everywhere. Peter insists on staying awake; he's used to the 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. shift after all. But the thing is, Peter always seems to do something in the day after his night shifts, which means he goes straight from an eight-hour shift to either a breakfast date, a work briefing, or a full-on pursuit by assailants, without so much as a nap. Peter does accidentally take one nap, on the White House chief of staff's couch but it's unclear how long he's been lying there. This man needs a good night's sleep!
The Night Agent is now streaming on Netflix, all day and all night.
