Since the release of Amazon Prime’s Reacher, it has felt like other streaming services have been looking for their rebuttal, an action thriller with a bit of mystery that can draw in viewers. Well, Netflix certainly succeeded in this mission through The Night Agent, yet it is how the show differs from Reacher that makes it a series that can stand on its own rather than simply being derivative. This political thriller follows Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Brasso), whose job is to answer a phone that special agents will call in an emergency. When Rose (Luciane Buchanan), an innocent civilian, calls the phone after her aunt and uncle are killed, Peter is thrown into a conspiracy theory that goes to the top of The White House.

Similar to Reacher, both shows live and die based on the characterization of their protagonist. However, Peter is portrayed as far more vulnerable than Reacher (Alan Ritchson) in both stature and emotional state. Furthermore, The Night Agent‘s political conspiracy is far deeper than what we follow in Reacher, and it succeeds in making the stakes and scale of the scenario feel as heightened as possible.

Peter Sutherland is Far More Vulnerable Than Jack Reacher in ‘The Night Agent’

Probably the most noticeable thing about Reacher is the sheer size of the titular character, being emphasized in the opening scene of the pilot, “Welcome to Margrave”, when police officers try to arrest him before being manhandled by him. Well, in The Night Agent, whilst Peter is in shape and a decent fighter, he isn’t a mountain of a man and, whilst Reacher‘s fight scenes are entertaining, the added vulnerability makes the action in The Night Agent constantly feel tense, especially the amount of punishment that Peter takes. When, at one point, he fights Dale (Phoenix Raei), one of the hitmen after Rose, there is a brutal back and forth that culminates in Peter having to let out his more savage side in order to prevail.

This vulnerability goes beyond his size but into his very nature. Whilst Reacher is a confident nomad, made Stoic by his past in the army and losses in his family, Peter’s past makes him crave people’s respect. This is because Peter’s father, who died before the show began, was viewed as a traitor for leaking classified documents that endangered the U.S.’s defense policy, even though, according to Peter, there was no real evidence. This insecurity, the feeling that everyone thinks he will turn out like his father, haunts Peter from the beginning of the show when he is accused by conspiracy theorists who believe that his heroics in stopping a metro bombing was actually a failed attack Peter himself was attempting to perpetrate.

Because of this, we feel Peter’s struggle for respect and immediately understand his loyalty to Farr (Hong Chau), the President’s Chief of Staff, who originally gave him the job of Night Agent. It also gives us a clear motivation to follow Peter, as we understand what drives him to protect Rose no matter what, desperate to do the right thing so he can prove his innocence and worth to others like the F.B.I. Deputy Director Hawkins (Robert Patrick), who dismisses Peter’s abilities and doesn’t trust him. Whilst Reacher’s Stoic confidence is entertaining, Peter’s open desire for respect is far more engaging as it is easier to relate to and helps us care about the wider conspiracy occurring.

‘The Night Agent’ Succeeds in Broadening Its Scope To a Wider Conspiracy

What is rather remarkable about The Night Agent is how thrilling its political mysteries are. Whilst Reacher typically deals with local/regional corruption within Margrave, as well as focusing on an organized criminal such as Kliner Sr. (Currie Graham), The Night Agent‘s crime begins and ends within the most influential systems of power in the U.S. Whilst Reacher operates off the grid as a nomad, Peter Sutherland is forced to go rogue multiple times as he cannot trust anyone around him, isolating him and only heightening the number of obstacles in his way from Secret Service to F.B.I.

Additionally, Peter is anything but confident in weaving his way through the corruption and picking who to trust. Whilst Reacher is normally confident in who to trust, Peter is forced to trust Rose as the only person who is involuntarily involved in the saga, and it provides a greater mystery for the viewers, as the real villain is introduced late into the series. Every step involves Peter and Rose working together to solve the mystery, such as covertly using White House resources to decrypt and steal key information on a hard drive, with Peter providing physical access and Rose hacking in to access the hard drive’s files. Knowing that this type of plan, for example, relies on stealth rather than being able to fall back on the idea that Peter could plow his way through hellfire means that the stakes are extremely heightened, with no option but success, coupled with the fact that they are breaking in to one of the most safeguarded places on the planet.

There is so much to love about The Night Agent in what it does differently to a show like Reacher, as it shows the different ways 2 shows within the same genre can be presented. Whilst Reacher has a greater focus on making its titular character a near unbeatable machine with a calm mind, The Night Agent gives us a protagonist who has very few advantages. He isn’t physically imposing, nor the best fighter/marksman, nor is he a powerful individual. Peter is simply trying to protect someone and do the right thing, which is one way the 2 shows are similar. Yet the closer to home antagonists give us a heightened degree of tension throughout the show, as, for most of the season, it is not about how Peter and Rose will survive, but if they’ll even figure out who is trying to kill them. It may be different in nearly every way, but if you enjoyed Reacher for what it contributed to the thriller genre, then The Night Agent will give a fresh interpretation of the genre that keeps a similar moral code for the protagonist.

Season 2 of The Night Agent will premiere on Netflix on the 23rd of January.