The first episode of Prime Video’s spy thriller series “Butterfly” opens with a pair of interconnected action sequences that drop viewers right into its world of deadly clandestine operations. I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite spy shows, “Alias,” while watching secret agent Rebecca Jung (Reina Hardesty) wearing an eye-catching wig and a fake pregnancy belly as she carries out the assassination of a high-level Russian official who’s in Seoul for a diplomatic meeting.
“Butterfly” recalls “Alias” in another key way, as Rebecca teams up with her father David (Daniel Dae Kim), a fellow spy who unexpectedly comes back into her life after years away. Based loosely on comic books created by Arash Amel, “Butterfly” is fast-paced and fun, without the heavy, drawn-out plotting of a prestige drama or the unwieldy efforts at world-building that doomed Prime Video’s would-be espionage franchise “Citadel.”
