The first thing that you need to do when it comes to Citadel is that you need to suspend belief and just live in the moment. You have to take it for what it is and enjoy it. You have to just come to terms that it will be exciting and it will make you curious and it will make you wonder what is happening.
But after this episode, I will say this – I do believe that Mason Kane is a jackass. Like he’s a first class dickhead. I will also say that I do believe that there is not a spy in this show that doesn’t have so many secrets that you wonder if they actually know reality or if they are just living in complete denial.
The hardest thing about Citadel is that as a viewer, I really have no clue as to what is going on. But what I do know is that the show is setting it up (in my opinion) so that we’re only going to get a few clues and then by the end of the season, we’ll know something. Where as normally, that would piss me off, it doesn’t here.
There is one big reason for that. I love the writing, the acting and the mystery. Not to mention its lead stars – Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, and Stanley Tucci.
Episode four of Citadel has me trusting none of their characters. Not a single one. Why? Well, it’s because of the series dependence of flashbacks to build each characters narrative. Thought Madden’s character of Mason Kane doesn’t remember his past, it is the flashbacks of Kane and Chopra Jonas character of Nadia that makes me wonder – who is really trustworthy.
And in this episode I do think we get some answers, but I do wonder if we can trust those answers. This is a spy show after all.
We begin this episode with Mason and Nadia going to save Carter (a Citadel spy) from the clutches of Manticore. Before we even dive into this more, I am still not understanding the animosity between Manticore and Citadel. I do get that they are rival spy agencies, but why? And why would Manticore want to tear Citadel apart? Do we all not know that there is enough spy issues to go around? You can’t corner the market, because you would truly never be able to do it all.
I digress.
Carter isn’t happy to see them. Well, he’s not happy to see Nadia. But the question is why. Well, that’s going to be the big question.
We already know that Nadia is up to something, but what it is, we don’t know. We’re about to understand a little bit more, during a flashback. However, the flashback makes us a little afraid, because all of these characters – even after having no memories – are so closely intertwined.
We find out that Abby Conroy (Mason’s wife) was a Citadel agent. She was also Nadia’s friend. Nadia brought her in to be a tier one operative and would do anything for her friend. TBH, I kinda liked Abby as an agent. Her name was Celeste and she was brought in to infiltrate Anders/Davik Silje (Roland Møller) enterprise and retrieve a powerful weapon.
The weapon is a cyber weapon that can basically hack anything. Mason tries to get Celeste ready – he is coaching her on how to go under cover and just what it’s going to take from her. His tone is pure faking BDE. Props to Celeste for being able to sit through that.
She does her job and she does it well. Celeste has real feelings for Anders and she has them for him. I mean, I can get that. He’s hot.
But when she goes off the grid, Mason sends a team in and she’s pretty pissed off about it. Celeste doesn’t appreciate it and she reacts. Hell, Mason is full of excuses and anger, but he’s thinking that yelling and screaming and kicking is the way to go.
No Mason, it’s definitely not the way to go.
What was interesting to me is that Mason was the one who had Celeste’s memory erased. He’s the one behind a lot of his wife’s woahs. Part of me now wants to know if her memory was actually erased or if she has been playing the long game of revenge.
I kinda hope that she’s playing the long game. Why? We find out that Mason used Celeste to cover for Nadia. So, if Mason knows that Nadia isn’t on the up and up, why is he covering for her? Is he involved? Carter calls him out in the past, but then we head straight back to the present.
Carter is in his cell, and he’s freaking out. He is saying basically “it’s your fault” and in a corner. Mason thinks Carter is talking about him, but he’s actually talking about Nadia.
I am second guessing everything I think about everyone, but that’s the sign of a good show. You’re wondering what you see, drawing conclusions, and you become deeply invested in the characters. However, one has to wonder what they will be able to tie up or give to us with only two episodes left.
Yes, we have more questions than answers, but that’s okay. We’re always open to a season two and a good cliffhanger.
Please tell us that if they don’t wrap stuff up we will get a good cliffhanger.
Citadel is streaming now on Prime Video.
