‘The Night Agent’ Season 1 Recap: Everything To Know Before Season 2

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Serving the nation and serving the institutions that uphold the sovereignty of said nation can often be at odds with each other—a theme that is utilized in spy thrillers time and again. One of Netflix’s most popular series, The Night Agent, an adaptation of crime journalist Matthew Quirk’s novel of the same name, rehashes the same theme with a sleek, fast-paced political conspiracy narrative—meandering through a familiar path of bureaucratic intrigues, cover-ups, and deceit. Despite starting off strong, the ten-episode first season of the series might feel like it drags at times—and by the end you might feel they had overcomplicated a simplistic plot for apparently no reason at all. However, the leads—who manage to find depth even in the simplistic characterization—keep viewers engaged through their performances. This is also possibly the main reason that series fans will consider binge watching the upcoming second season of The Night Agent, which will premiere later this week. Let us catch up on the events of the first season to have a better understanding of the character dynamics and existing status quo in the context of the upcoming season.

Spoilers Ahead


A Terrorism Plot and Night Agents

The series begins with a perceptive FBI agent, Peter Sutherland, saving a subway full of passengers from a bombing situation, but he fails to capture the culprit who had planted the bomb in the first place—catching only a glimpse of his serpent tattoo. Instead of being hailed as a national hero, Peter finds himself at the end of unwanted controversy as conspiracy news channels question his involvement with the terrorism plot. Peter’s late father used to be a decorated FBI agent who was branded as a traitor for allegedly leaking confidential information, and before he could be proven guilty or, alternatively, clear his name from the charges, he lost his life in a car accident. Part of the reason Peter opted for a job as a federal agent was his hope to one day prove his father’s innocence to the world—although his own godfather, crime journalist Jim Wilson, believed that his good old friend was guilty, which led to an estrangement between him and Peter. After the bombing incident, Peter found himself burdened by his father’s sins; his true motivations were suspected. 

Peter became increasingly withdrawn afterwards, and at this critical juncture, White House Chief of Staff, Diane Farr, offered Peter a job as Night Action telecommunications operator. Night Action is a secretive agency of covert counterintelligence operatives who are deployed by the President themself to investigate affairs that need urgent attention and work beyond the scope of other hotshot intelligence and counterterrorism agencies of the country. Peter’s job is operating the emergency service for the Night Agents, and he is answerable only to Diane Farr and FBI Deputy Director Jamie Hawkins. Hawkins is rather harsh and judgmental with Peter, while Diane appears quite supportive towards him. Diane is also revealed to have played an instrumental role in setting up the government of the current president, Michelle Travers, who is also her close friend. 


Series of Murders and a Political Conspiracy 

A year after the bombing incident, Peter receives a distress call from Rose Larkin, former CEO of a failed cybersecurity firm. Rose didn’t have the faintest idea that her only guardians, her uncle and aunt, Henry and Emma Campbell, were Night Agents and were involved in a top-secret investigation that would end up bringing a squad of hitmen to their doorstep. Anticipating their arrival, the Campbell couple had sent their niece away, asking her to call the Night Action emergency number. Peter is able to guide Rose to safety all the while sending the authorities to ensure her protection, and soon enough, the FBI and Secret Service are all over the case. Diane entrusts Peter with safeguarding Rose and extracting intel about what she might have heard or witnessed during the final discussions of her uncle and aunt. Putting his own life on the line, Peter saves Rose on multiple occasions from the hitmen sent after them—soon it becomes quite clear that someone in the White House is pulling the strings from the shadows and could very well be a mole. 

Rose had heard the Campbell couple mentioning that something is going to happen soon, that the hierarchy of the White House has been compromised, and also that a certain individual named ‘Osprey’ needs to be warned. Rose refuses to share intel with either Hawkins or Diane and is able to put her trust in Peter instead. Assassin duo/couple, Dale and Ellen, are assigned by private defense contractor, Gordon Wick, to eliminate Rose and Peter. As it is later revealed that Hawkins used to be the former handler of the Campbell couple and is acting shady all of a sudden, Peter believes Rose’s suspicions to be true. However, Hawkins, who had started investigating his former agents on his own, is killed—making the entire ordeal more confusing than ever. Peter risks his career while assisting Rose in investigating the truth behind the series of deaths, and at one stage, he even starts doubting Diane’s motivations as well, although her show of trust clears her from his list of suspects. Following the breadcrumb trail of clues left by the Campbell couple, Rose and Peter reach Lorna, one of the Night Agents’ trusted contacts, whose intel turns their investigation in a new direction as they realize the Campbell couple was looking into the subway bombing incident—which was seen as a terror attack, but in reality was set as an assassination attempt. Dale and Ellen continue their pursuit, and even though they aren’t able to eliminate their targets, they leave a bloody trail behind. Lorna is killed by them, and later on, they also kill Peter’s good friend, Cisco, who was trying to protect Rose. Peter learns the assassination target was a Balkan dissident, presently a politician, Omar Zadar—whose ties with the American government were detrimental for the likes of Gordon Wick—who previously eliminated people like Andrej Pavelic, who raised his voice against the role of the States’ private defense contractors in Balkan nations. The ‘Osprey’ mentioned by the Campbell couple was none other than Zadar, who is going to meet with President Travers, and another assassination plot has already been set in motion. After learning that Vice President Redfield is involved with Wick and had likely played a part in the subway bombing, Peter shares the intel with Diane only to realize Diane is also in cahoots with the conspirators, and he goes completely off-grid with Rose—much to the dismay of the chief of staff. While escaping, Peter and Rose come across Dale and manage to kill him. 


Kidnapping of VP’s Daughter Adds A New Angle

In a parallel narrative course, Secret Service agents Chelsea Arrington and Erik Monks come into focus, who have been entrusted with the safeguarding of VP Redfield’s daughter, Maddie. Chelsea, a tough-as-nails, competitive, and ambitious agent, has formed a bond of friendship with Maddie and is able to sympathize with her plight of being treated horrendously by her abusive father. Erik Monks, on the other hand, took a bullet to save the former president from an assassination attempt, and while recuperating from his injuries, gave in to addiction. Now trying to get the balance of his life back, Erik finds it tough to prove his mettle to Chelsea. 

While investigating, Peter, who used to be her fellow trainee in the academy, comes across Chelsea once again, which creates some sort of confusion in the chain of command. Anyway, Chelsea’s unwillingness to trust Erik’s experience proves disastrous, as Maddie gets kidnapped by a killer, Matteo, after being honey-trapped by his boyfriend. Peter’s investigation reveals the bombing suspect, Colin Worley’s tattoo matches with that of Matteo’s, and eventually the connection behind the aforementioned investigation and Maddie’s abduction comes to light. 


The Truth Behind The Entire Conspiracy

Through the course of ten episodes in the first season, it is revealed that one year earlier, VP Redfield and Wick had planned to kill Omar Zadar using the subway terror attack as cover, and Wick had employed Colin Worley to plant a bomb on the train. However, thanks to Peter’s presence, not only did the passengers (all except one) escape the blast, but Omar Zadar remained safe as well—and Wick and Redfield planned to tie off the loose end by killing Matteo. Coincidentally, Matteo had an identical twin brother, Colin Worley, who didn’t have anything to do with all this—and he was killed by the hitmen sent to kill Matteo. Assuming the identity of his deceased brother, Matteo vowed revenge and planned meticulously to abduct Maddie and use her to force Redfield into confessing his and Wick’s role in the bombing. Diane Farr was not involved in this mess at the beginning, but she decided to join Redfield’s side after realizing that if Redfield’s actions get exposed, President Travers and her government will suffer in the worst way possible. 

Peter Sutherland’s involvement in the bombing incident had made him a threat to the existing status quo, and to discourage him from investigating the incident, Diane decided to employ him as a Night Action telephone operator to keep him under her control. It was Diane who had the Campbell couple killed. After Peter realizes Diane has played him and manages to go off the grid, the Chief of Staff uses Maddie’s abduction to advise VP Redfield to pin the blame on Peter, making him a fugitive and getting him branded as a traitor, just like what happened with Peter’s father. Erik and Chelsea are instructed by Diane to consider Peter as the prime suspect in Maddie’s abduction, although they realize that his connection with the case doesn’t add up.


Crucial Alliance

A romance plot involving Peter and Rose is shoehorned into the narrative, which was really unnecessary and undermines Peter’s altruistic nature somewhat, but it is mainstream fiction after all—so you can’t do without it. Anyway, Peter and Rose are apprehended by a Secret Service agent duo, who are able to track them by looking into the connection Peter shared with his godfather, Jim Wilson. As Peter and Rose are able to show them enough proof about the ongoing conspiracy, and a link is found between the bombing case and abduction, the agent duo question their judgment and acknowledge that they have been manipulated by their higher-ups. 

On the other hand, Maddie had secretly recorded her father, VP Redfield’s abusive behaviors towards her, and wanted to expose him to the world and thereby shatter his concocted image of a perfect man. She tries to convince her captor to join hands with her, as they share a common goal of ruining Redfield’s life, but to no avail. But this allows Maddie to manipulate Matteo into letting her relay intel to Chelsea, using which Erik, Peter, and Chelsea manage to locate and rescue her from Matteo. Keen to avenge the death of Dale, Ellen shows up at the place and ends up shooting Matteo and Erik to death and gets herself killed as Rose shoves her from a height. Convinced about the existing political conspiracy, Chelsea decides not to share any information about Peter with her higher-ups and asks Maddie to do the same as well. 


Peter and Co. Save the Day

After returning to her home, Maddie overhears an ambitious Redfield discussing with Wick how they will end up killing President Travers as well during her meet with Zadar. The fact that, in the light of recent failures, POTUS has started distancing the chief of staff from major affairs only helps their planning even further, as Farr is excluded from the meeting. It should be mentioned that the Director of the Secret Service, Ben Almora, who used to be Erik’s partner, remained unaware of all this. But the deputy director of the Security Service, Nathan Briggs, turned out to be in cahoots with Redfield and Wick, as he brought in new security detail in Camp David—where the meeting between Zadar and Travers is going to take place. Redfield became aware that Maddie knows about his plans and decided to take her to Camp David as well and separate her from Chelsea by locking her in the panic room. However, Maddie is able to coerce her father to let her leave, threatening to expose him in public. 

On the other hand, learning about the whole story, Peter and Rose decide to directly go to meet Farr to force her to reveal details about the meeting place. To their surprise, they learn Farr is totally unaware of the presidential assassination conspiracy—and she agrees to sneak them into Camp David after realizing the true extent of Redfield’s diabolical plans. Reaching the location, as Peter engages with rogue agents following the death of Almora at the hands of corrupt operatives, Chelsea becomes aware that another bombing has been planned and manages to rescue Maddie and evacuate present staffers from the location. Chased by marines and agents, Peter risks his life by taking the president hostage to convince her security detail that her chopper has been rigged with an IED, and Peter’s interference saves President Travers’ life. Redfield and Farr are taken into custody following their harrowing conspiracy coming to light. 


Peter Learns The Truth About His Father 

As a recognition of Peter’s contribution, President Travers assigns him as a night agent in the final moments of the first season. Adhering to his request, the president reveals the truth about Peter’s father, and much to his agony, he was indeed a traitor who leaked confidential intel to a foreign nation. However, he agreed to repent for his action by joining as a double agent, but was killed in action at the hands of foreign forces—and his death was staged to keep the truth from the public. Peter finds some solace; even though the truth is heartbreaking, at least it is better than remaining in the dark about everything. On the other hand, Agent Chelsea is promoted to become a part of the president’s security detail, a job she is eager to take on. Maddie shares with her that she will pursue higher education by leaving the States and moving as far away as possible. As for Rose, nothing much is certain, except for the fact that she will wait for Peter to return to her and will probably turn over a new page in her life, now that she has learned the truth about her guardians’ demise. 


Siddhartha Das
Siddhartha Das
An avid fan and voracious reader of comic book literature, Siddhartha thinks the ideals accentuated in the superhero genre should be taken as lessons in real life also. A sucker for everything horror and different art styles, Siddhartha likes to spend his time reading subjects. He's always eager to learn more about world fauna, history, geography, crime fiction, sports, and cultures. He also wishes to abolish human egocentrism, which can make the world a better place.


 

 

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