‘The Night Agent’ Summary: Season 2 Episode 2

The night agent

Interrupted

Season 2

Section 2

Editor’s assessment

3 stars

***

Photo: Christopher Saunders/Netflix

New character time! After a premiere told almost entirely from Peter and Rose’s perspectives, this follow-up begins to build the true supporting cast for this season. We have yet to see the mystery buyer again, nor have we learned anything really new about Catherine Weaver or the man who killed Alice. But “Disconnected” introduces us to the world of the Iranian embassy in New York City in the week leading up to the annual United Nations General Assembly, and there are some promising conflicts developing.

Noor Taheri (Arienne Mandi) and her friend Haleh are the two aides to the Iranian ambassador Abbas Mansuri (Navid Negahban, who previously appeared on 24 and Homeland). Haleh doesn’t understand why Noor doesn’t want to pursue a relationship; she is the only unmarried woman on the mission, and the handsome security chief, Javad Rahmani (Keon Alexander), is clearly interested in her.

What Haleh doesn’t know—what no one knows, including Noor’s mother, Azita, and brother, Farhad, at home—is that she’s caught up in something dangerous, something that takes precedence over dating: She’s a potential CIA informant who’s stealing intelligence from her boss in the hope of securing asylum for his family. But copying the details of Iran’s drone program is not enough; she must provide information that the CIA does not already have. Fortunately, Noor heard through the grapevine about the ambassador’s secret meetings with an American in the intelligence community. If she can find evidence, her trades will honor the agreement.

For obvious reasons, however, Noor is torn. First, she begins a flirtation at the most inconvenient time possible; she and Javad both have family from Isfahan and he is very interested in trying some good bodega food with her. On a deeper level, however, she feels understandably conflicted about selling out of the embassy, ​​where she does good, important work that makes her family proud. Javad’s complimentary words remind her of that fact.

Noor seems like a likable, interesting new character to base a story on, but how does it all fit into the conspiracy that Peter Sutherland is beginning to unravel? As Director Gedney and Deputy Director Mosley tell Catherine, Warren Stocker may be responsible for the apparent intelligence leak to the embassy. It is possible that after the fall of Bangkok he returned to the country to sell information to Iran.

“Disconnected” is really the Warren episode, considering he’s dead by the end. After Peter and Rose escape from the thugs and return to his place, Rose stays up all night putting Warren through his terrifying algorithm. She pops several hits from the past week using “publicly available” camera footage that will be important later.

Peter’s apartment is the first place where he and Rose can actually sit down and have a proper talk, and much of the episode is about everyone catching up with each other on what they need to know. There’s clearly still heat between the two as Peter comments on the difficulty of being a night agent and Rose deduces about adjusting to being a employeebut there is also a slight stiffness in their interactions. He never called her during the mission in Bangkok, advised by Alice to cut off all communication with personal contacts. There’s still a part of him that’s resistant to starting up again with Rose for obvious manly hero reasons: He doesn’t want to put her in danger.

Peter also can’t contact President Travers and re-enter society until he gets hold of Warren and finds evidence of the sabotage that led to Alice’s murder. Sensing that his goal will tear Ethan away at the basketball playoffs, Peter takes Rose to school. Sure enough, by the time they arrive, Warren has already intercepted Ethan and tricked him into ditching the game with him—not to mention busting Ethan’s stepfather, Frank. Peter passes himself off as the FBI to Frank and Patricia, the latter of whom helps Rose pinpoint the location of the small airport where Warren has taken Ethan.

The fight between Peter and Warren is satisfyingly wild, and in the end Peter wins and throws him in the back of his van to go…somewhere. Our hero clearly still has some baggage related to his father, which he projects onto the treacherous Warren and his clueless son. The scenarios seem pretty similar, to be fair. But Rose seems worried about this slightly more pigheaded, lone-wolf version of Peter, and before leaving on her taxi ride to take Ethan home, she warns her almost-boyfriend to never stop being ” the real Peter”.

If Rose really thinks he’s going to get dirty and torture Warren for information, I understand her concern. But it’s not like this version of Peter is unrecognizable—he didn’t even keep the beard from Bangkok—so I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the suggestion that it’s “not him.” Let’s wait until he does something really sick before we get dramatic.

For now, while Peter fixes things, Rose will fly back to California and wait again for his call. She goes on an awkward note with him, but I have to say I still don’t care for the bleak relationship drama between these two. The show is typically at its best when they’re on the same page as they go on a crazy mission together, and the sooner the show gets back to that place, the better. I have a feeling Rose won’t be leaving the big apple after all.

Peter gives a tied-up Warren the opportunity to come clean and threatens to turn him in to the FBI if he doesn’t share what he knows about the leak. He brings in his own experience with his father and paints an ugly picture of how Ethan’s life could turn out if the FBI rewrites the narrative of his father’s life. Warren doesn’t know as much about the buyer as Peter (or we) would like, but he does offer some solid information to follow up on next time, mentioning a secret military program called Foxglove that was supposedly shut down years ago and involved experimental weapons . . It is then that he is shot in the head through a nearby window, quickly answering the question of whether he will ever see his son again.

Again, the “cliffhanger” in this episode isn’t much to write home about: Peter answers Warren’s ringing phone while a sniper may be lurking nearby. But reducing the cast a bit by killing off Warren means this season can move into its next phase. Now that there are new characters to invest in, the real story can begin in earnest.

• The opening flashback in Bangkok shows Peter meeting Catherine and Alice for the first time nine months ago, but it doesn’t provide much new information beyond establishing Peter’s reasons for cutting ties with Rose.

• Catherine learns of Peter and Rose’s role in rescuing Ethan from his father, prompting her to follow Rose’s taxi. But she’s not the only one following Rose.

• There’s some really good fight choreography in this one, even outside of the Warren fight, especially during that back alley skirmish where Peter hits a guy in the head with a metal garbage can lid. Also well captured by director Guy Ferland.