In “The Night Agent,” a young, square-jawed FBI agent runs afoul of his bosses and is relegated to a desk job on the overnight shift in the basement of the White House. His purpose: To monitor an emergency phone line that never rings. And then one night it does. Propulsive and smart, the 10-episode Netflix action-thriller is based on the 2019 novel by Matthew Quirk.
The series is less “Jack Ryan,” both in tone and interests, than “Three Days of the Condor,” the 1975 political thriller starring Robert Redford as a guy who comes to the stomach-churning realization that he doesn’t know who he can trust — especially within the government agency where he works.
Traitors are potentially everywhere. But instead of a pensive and Redfordian leading man — the ‘70s really were a zenith for that sort of thing — “The Night Agent” chucks all that for something more indicative of the 2020s.
