‘Citadel’ season 2 review: Spy series ups its game and rescues itself from oblivion

Does criticism really matter? For the makers of the Prime Video series Citadel. it would appear so. They seem to have responded to the indifference that greeted the first season in 2023. The seven-episode second season has less off-the-cuff writing, better secondary characters and more evenly balanced action and emotion.

Season one laid out the groundwork for what was meant to be a multi-country franchise. Citadel explores the battle between competing spy agencies. While Citadel hopes to maintain the global order, Manticore, which is funded by the world’s richest eight families, wants to play dirty.

Citadel’s chief Bernard (Stanley Tucci) has come up with a temporary procedure called backstopping that erases agents’ memories. Mason (Richard Madden) is one such backstopped candidate. The wipe-out makes him forget his love for fellow spy Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and Asha, their child. Mason is married to Abby (Ashleigh Cummings) and has a daughter with her too.

It is revealed at the end of the first season that Mason was manipulated into gutting Citadel by Manticore’s chief Dahlia (Lesley Manville), who is his mother.

Season two, created by Josh Applebaum, Bryan Oh and David Weil and executive produced by the Russo brothers, involves a lot of location-hopping, side-switching and deal-making. Bernard assembles a team comprising...

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