Amazon’s Patriot isn’t bad, except for from an SEO perspective (“oh, here I am all of a sudden being reminded of a woefully inaccurate historical drama starring the very gross Mel Gibson or reading reviews of the 2017 Jeep Patriot, ‘the best priced SUV in America.’”). Created by Steve Conrad (the writer behind The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Pursuit of Happyness), it’s a competently written dark comedy about an off-color intelligence officer with a hot wife and a weird dad who talks about international conspiracy as if he’s mulling over buying a new tractor for the family farm. If you watch it, you’ll probably be fine. Content, even.
if you watch this show you’ll feel fine
The lead actor is charming, for sure. Michael Dorman, a New Zealand-born actor who’s done mostly Australian TV until now is a younger, more attractive Michael Shannon and a funnier, more physical Michael C. Hall. He truly is the next great Michael, and I believe that. The rest of the cast is a bunch of faces you probably recognize from somewhere or other (Orange is the New Black’s Michael Chernus, Lost’s Terry O’Quinn, That ‘70s Show’s Kurtwood Smith). But if you stick with this show, you are probably watching it for Michael Dorman.
Dorman plays a spy named John (get it? he’s classic!), who has a dark sense of humor and puts on a great “who me?” face when he’s called upon to violently murder someone as a scene’s punchline. He is, of course, tortured. Reluctant. Not sure he’s into it. Bound by familial obligation (his dad is his spy boss and his brother is a Congressman). Way more into his wife than he is murder (his wife is played by the basically unknown Canadian actress Kathleen Munroe, who is of course sitting down to drink tea in her underwear when he gets home from his first bizarre spy task). Oh my goodness, what a lot of challenges he faces.
It’s so hard to have feelings
He’s also a stoner and folk singer, and takes several breaks in the first episode to croon out exposition like “I’ve just been getting paid for looking up at birds wondering why there aren’t male hotel maids in other countries you never see that” and “I’m showing increasing signs of mental instability.” The soundtrack of the episode is mostly John’s own folk music stylings, mixed up with some Townes Van Zandt.