Gone Too Soon: Whiskey Cavalier

If you’ve been following along with Gone Too Soon, you will have noticed that I watch a wide variety of TV shows from Ravenswood to Hap and Leonard to Eye Candy. This week we are pivoting once again to Whiskey Cavalier, a will-they, won’t-they spy/team show. 

Whiskey Cavalier  was on ABC (a repeat offender for canceling their shows too soon, you will be seeing them again) in 2019. The show lasted for one season (13 episodes) before being canceled, almost brought back, and then canceled again. Seriously, it was so close to getting a second season!

Maybe it’s because Prague is one of my favorite places, (seriously I cannot wait to go back.) It’s possible that I loved this show because I really love all the actors. The draw might have been enemies to coworkers to lovers, found family, and spy games are extremely my shit. Say what you want about “Prestige TV,” but personally that’s not what I want to watch. I like things that tend more towards fluffy or ridiculous. I love genre TV and romance. Not every show needs to be Breaking Bad to have merit. I think that Lizzie covered that pretty well here.

Whatever the reason, I still think that Whiskey Cavalier was gone too soon. 

The Gist

The show follows FBI agent Will Chase (Scott Foley, Scandal), aka Whiskey Cavalier, who after a bad breakup and a serious betrayal is partnered with CIA operative Frankie Trowbridge (Lauren Cohan, The Walking Dead). Together they lead a team of spies who save the world and navigate personal relationships. Who wouldn’t want to watch that?

The team is made up of Susan Sampson (Ana Ortiz, Ugly Betty), Edgar Standish (Tyler James Williams, Everybody Hates Chris), and Jai Datta (Vir Das, who stars in the Fresh Off the Boat spin-off, Magic Motor Inn that is currently awaiting a decision), with occasional help from Ray Prince (Josh Hopkins, Cougar Town) and Tina Marek (Marika Dominczyk, Grey’s Anatomy).

The majority of the show is filmed in Prague, with a few of the episodes set there. As I said Prague is one of my favorite places that I have ever been, so seeing the city on TV added to my enjoyment of the show.

Should You Watch It

Do you watch shows like Bones and Castle for romance? If you said yes, then this show is for you. If you were already into the will they, won’t they dynamics and enjoyed the crime of the week, then you will want to watch this. The big difference here is this show centers on a spy team.

Which leads us into one of my very favorite tropes: found family. Much like iZombie the team on this show becomes a family. Each character has a part to play, even characters that you don’t like that much at first become more enjoyable as the show progresses. You want to watch another found family, then you should check out Whiskey Cavalier. 

The final kicker is that the show travels the world, a lot. Most of the episodes take place in different countries so there is always a little more intrigue whenever the team ends up in a new place. 

Stand Out Moment

There isn’t one moment to me that really stood out, other than shippery moments so I am gonna shout out all the beautiful shots of Prague. I know that I have said this a lot, but it’s a lot of fun seeing a place that you’ve been on TV. You get to point out all the little parts. I similarly geeked out when Spiderman: Far From Home showed the Charles Bridge. 

Sunken Ship

So, this show actually had two major ships, Frankie and Will of course. They were on their way to being a great procedural-type couple a la Castle and Beckett or Booth and Bones. They start off the show as antagonists who have to learn to work together and lead a team. I really loved their chemistry.

The other was much more surprising, Ray and Susan. I think that if given enough time, I would have really liked their development. By the end of the season I was already really intrigued by the dynamic and though it kind of came out of nowhere, I can see why they would like each other. 

Each couple really should have been given more of a chance to develop. These were couples that you could root for. 

Caution: Cliffhanger

So yeah this show has a major cliffhanger, one that I truly don’t think the show would have gone ahead with if it was renewed. The cliffhanger in no way makes watching this show less enjoyable. It was a much nicer ending than, say, Stitchers. Whiskey Cavalier’s final episode is action packed and leaves you wanting more. 

Spoilers ahead! Scroll past the gif to avoid them. 

In the final moments of the show it looks like Will and Frankie are finally going to kiss, which is a lot faster than most shows, but the scene cuts to Standish in New York. While he is leaving Will a voicemail he is stabbed by the believed to be dead Ollerman. So in the end we don’t know if Standish would have survived, but I’d put money on his survival. 

Where to Watch

Unfortunately you can’t stream this show for free anywhere, which is a shame. There are a lot of shows that aired on ABC that don’t stream, several of them we will be getting to for Gone Too Soon. Maybe they will be permanently added to Hulu eventually, but for now you will have to use other methods to hunt down the series. 

Seriously why can’t you stream this anywhere? You can’t even buy it. I know the show was canceled, but Disney owns Hulu and ABC! Make your TV shows available to stream once they go off the air, even if they only last for a season. People would still watch. I would love to be able to do a rewatch, but no it isn’t available anywhere. 

So did you watch Whiskey Cavalier? Were you a part of the campaign to get it renewed like I was? Let me know what you think and check out my other Gone Too Soon, articles, like Daybreak.