Prime Target Is The Antidote To Action Thriller Fatigue
Finally, a normal guy gets the spotlight.
There’s a certain subgenre of TV that’s most accurately defined as “Dad TV,” and there’s no better example than the conspiracy thriller series, the kind of show that follows a low-level male employee, usually with a military background, as he finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that requires him to go rogue to solve. The Night Agent, The Night Manager, and The Bodyguard are all great examples of this ultra-specific subgenre.
But at a certain point, you can only watch so many pencil pushers become action heroes before it gets tired. Thankfully the latest entry in this genre, Apple TV+’s Prime Target, completely turns the tropes on their head, creating a conspiracy story that actually feels believable even when it gets ridiculous.
Edward Brooks is living the normal grad school life, studying and flirting with bartenders.
The one singular change is also the most central: the protagonist. Edward Brooks (Leo Woodall) is not a grizzled nobody with a dark past, nor is he an action hero living a lowly life. Instead, he’s the kind of guy an action series never touches: a mathematician graduate student. He’s living life in Cambridge, cycling between tutoring sessions and pursuing a strange field of study: attempting to find the meaning of prime numbers. On his off time, he’s flirting with a local bartender (Fra Fee), even if he’s not totally open about his gay identity.
Little does he know all of his research is being watched by NSA agent Taylah Sanders (Quintessa Swindell.) Taylah is the one who fills the action-hero role instead. She’s got a complicated past and a close relationship with her supervisor Jane (Martha Plimpton), but she genuinely wants to do the right thing with Ed, even when he’s hesitant.
A surprising amount of Prime Target’s story is not focused on math but on antiquities. As Leo correctly observed, so much of what we take for granted in math was discovered by ancient Arabic civilizations, so when an explosion exposes an ancient library, Ed believes it holds the secret to not just his research, but a code that could be used to control every computer in the world. It’s a race to the end result — or a race to force Ed to create the end result — to see which massive power will get the code, one full of set pieces and car chases, par for the course with this kind of show, though there are some twists like Chunnel espionage and a ‘90s flashback.
Quintessa Swindell’s Taylah Sanders fills the action hero role in Prime Target.
Ed’s tunnel vision is charming for a protagonist like this, but there’s plenty of the same tropes that keep viewers flocking back to this kind of show. It’s also surprisingly interesting to look at, with lots of stylized shots that drive home the mathematical overtones of the story, and the acting feels more akin to a Netflix prestige show rather than a rote conspiracy drama.
There’s something to be said for more of the same, but that’s what second seasons are for. Prime Target takes a much-loved genre and finds the corners of the envelope that still could use some pushing. It may not be the sure thing The Night Agent was, but it’s definitely a great thing.
