Stream It or Skip It: ‘Patriot’ On Amazon Prime Video

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Patriot

Here at Decider, we’ve committed ourselves to watching the fall pilots for you and reporting back to help you prioritize your viewing using our super-scientific rating system. Below, we tell you everything you need to know about one of Prime Video’s latest drama contenders, Patriot, a political thriller from Steve Conrad, screenwriter of films such as The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty and The Pursuit Of Happyness.

A Guide to Our Rating System

Opening Shot: The opening of a pilot can set a mood for the entire show (think Six Feet Under); thus, we examine the first shot of each pilot.
The Gist: The “who, what, where, when, why?” of the pilot.
Our Take: What did we think? Are we desperate for more or desperate to get that hour back?
Sex and Skin: That’s all you care about anyway, right? We let you know how quickly the show gets down and dirty.
Parting Shot: Where does the pilot leave us? Hanging off a cliff, or running for the hills?
Sleeper Star: Basically, someone in the cast who is not the top-billed star who shows great promise.
Most Pilot-y Line: Pilots have a lot of work to do: world building, character establishing, and stakes raising. Sometimes that results in some pretty clunky dialogue.
Our Call: We’ll let you know if you should, ahem, Stream It or Skip It.

Patriot

Opening Shot: After a title card that offers a descriptive definition of the professional duties of Non-Official Cover (or N.O.C.) employees, we jump smack dab into the middle of a job interview, and a very technically complex one at that. Also, one that is not going so well for our protagonist (Michael Dorman, Wonderfalls), so much so that he overhears the hiring committee saying they’re going to hire the “little Asian guy” who interviewed before him. Then this happens:

A bold opener, for sure!

The Gist: John (the aforementioned protagonist of the show) is a government intelligence operative given an assignment with the highest possible stakes: preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. That said, James Bond he is not. John has no access to high tech gadgetry, fast sports cars or exotic women; instead, his battle could not be any more mundane. Before he can save the world, he needs to score a job as a mid-level corporate bureaucrat working for a company in Milwaukee, of all places. The symptoms of PTSD induced by prior assignments—which he deals with by smoking copious amounts of weed and singing hilariously literal folk songs about his misadventures—don’t make this task any easier. Oh, and did we mention he’s the well-intentioned-but-clearly-damaged black sheep of his well-connected family, which includes his father (Terry O’Quinn, aka Locke from Lost) and his exceedingly sweet older brother (Michael Chernus), both of whom are high ranking government officials (the State Department Director of Intelligence and a Congressman, respectively)?

Our Take: As we mentioned at the outset, Patriot is the brainchild of screenwriter Steve Conrad, a screenwriter whose work tends to revolve around men struggling to deal with bouts of ennui (see: Walter Mitty, the Nic Cage-starring The Weather Man). This pilot’s central figure is also experiencing some of those same early mid-life crises, too, but don’t get it twisted: this is NOT a show about wallowing. The scenes of inner turmoil are balanced nicely with moments of levity and even a few pulse-pounding action sequences, and the easy rapport between the three male leads showcases some truly outstanding familial chemistry. In other words, we ran the gamut of emotions during the show’s 58 minute running time: not an easy task!

Also! Although female characters admittedly do not play much of a role in the pilot, Conrad sets up a few threads that would add to the diversity of the show if it were to (hopefully!) move forward. Some hints of a potentially rich backstory revolving around marital strife are hinted at between John and his wife (Kathleen Munroe), and there’s also a brilliant homicide detective from Luxembourg (of all places!) who is hot on John’s trail played by Aliette Opheim.

Lastly, we should mention that the soundtrack is top notch (the opening credits sequence set to Vashti Bunyan’s 1966 “Train Song” aurally sets the thematic table for the entire series), there’s a bravura tracking shot that closes the episode (shout out to DP James Whitaker who knocked this assignment out of the park), and there are enough open threads here that we would cry literal tears if we never got to find out how they played themselves out.

Roy Price, we beg of you — more of this, please!

Sex and Skin: There’s a bit of nookie between John and his understanding but semi-estranged wife, Alice (Aliette Opheim), that’s played more for laughs than eroticism. There’s also a hilarious scene in which John’s co-worker disrobes in front of him in an attempt to prove how “ripped” he is.

(And, FWIW, he is ripped!)

Sleeper Star: Fans of Orange Is The New Black will recognize Michael Chernus, who plays Piper’s sweet, stoner brother Cal. (He’s also on Manhattan, one of the best and smartest shows you’re probably not watching.) Here he plays Edward Tavner, John’s older brother who also happens to be a Congressman from Texas. Chernus possesses the kind of easy-going charm as an actor that makes him instantly likable, and even if it seems a bit out-of-character for him to play a Congressman, he makes it work. His sense of naturalistic humor works quite well for this character, but he’s more than just comic relief. Chernus really brings it, emotionally speaking, during a touching scene between him and his secret son (Ryan Shears), a young boy who also happens to be African-American. We really hope we get to see how his storyline plays out.

Our Call: Stream it! Please stream it! If this goes to series, it could easily hop into our shortlist for the best shows on streaming.