Tension, betrayals, murder, paranoia. Pretty standard British espionage fare. The general setup of Treasonisn’t anything new. Daredevil’s Charlie Cox plays up-and-coming MI6 employee Adam Lawrence, who gets called to the big spot after head honcho Martin Angelis (Ciaran Hinds) is poisoned. Treason was released last December, but it’s still a bit weird to see Cox and Hinds back at it again at Krispy Kreme (if you’re not picking up on that meme reference, that’s cool) after watching Kin so recently. Before he can get comfortable, though, accusations against Lawrence and his involvement in Angelis’ assassination attempt come thick and fast, and we’re supposed to question how trustworthy Lawrence actually is.
A Russian ex gets involved, shots are fired, and excrement generally hits the fan (yes, excrement; come on now, do you think I’m going to drop an s bomb here? How dare you? I’ll have you know that my reviews generally contain no swears at all). The series is clearly trying to riff on spy series like Spooks, but any attempt at serious drama is undermined by ludicrous situations and a somewhat threadbare script, which is disappointing considering Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman was behind the table on this one. Equally, it tries to ride on the wave of Bodyguard hype with all the paranoia and back stabbings (no bare backs here though. Sorry, Charlie Cox stans), but its commitment to delivering a serious narrative and refusal to lean back into any tongue in cheek humour doesn’t allow for much of an engaging narrative.
Cox has already proved his acting skills in lead television roles with both Daredevil and Kin, but he doesn’t quite fit here. The James Bond type that Charman seems to be going for doesn’t gel, and the supporting cast don’t quite convince either. If you’re looking for a less demanding series with fairly predictable twists and turns to binge during this yuletide season, though (there’s only five episodes compared to the standard British six), there’s still a lot of fun to be had.