What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2023
Where’s it showing? Paramount Plus
Creators Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (I Love You Phillip Morris, Focus) helm this new series on Paramount Plus that follows John Weir (Kiefer Sutherland), a private espionage operative who’s especially adept at orchestrating complicated plans rife with deception. The series’ nonlinear plotting keeps viewers guessing as the story moves back and forth in time, revealing that what we think happened was in fact another ploy orchestrated by Weir and his team.
By the third episode, Weir’s father, Dr. Ben Wilson (an always welcome Charles Dance), a CIA spy long thought dead, shows up, leading to an already paranoid Weir growing ever more suspicious. We get a love interest in Hailey Winton (Meta Golding), who may or may not be who she says she is.
Part of the fun of the series is its connection to real world events and its general sense of cynicism, paranoia, and the belief that sinister forces are at work manipulating our world. When Weir is framed for murder, the story kicks into high gear. You could argue there are too many needlessly complicated twists, but considering the series’ title, the shoe fits. (eight 44- to 56-min. episodes) Δ
This article appears in Apr 20-30, 2023.
Rabbit Hole is complex but compelling. Kiefer Sutherland just manages to hold it all together and whilst not exactly realistic it is thrilling and deserves a comfortable four stars for entertainment. Odds on you’ll binge at least some of it and rest assured you’ll get lost in the rabbit holes more than once. It’s a must see but it is also a must read for espionage aficionados. It’s based on a play of the same name published in 2006 by David Lindsay-Abaire. The play is a suspenseful, cloak and dagger affair about a corporate espionage expert who hits the big time and applies his skill sets to win the USA for some ne’er-do-wells. You will be forgiven if the name Trump springs to mind when watching this.
If you liked Bill Fairclough’s epic fast fact based complex spy thriller Beyond Enkription in The Burlington Files series about Pemberton’s People in MI6 you should like this no matter what the format. In real life, Fairclough was one of Pemberton’s People in MI6 and worked with the CIA, real SAS Rogue Heroes and other ungentlemanly officers as explained in a news article dated 31 October 2022 available from TheBurlingtonFiles website. Once you are irretrievably immersed or stuck in the Rabbit Hole you should enjoy it just as you did The Burlington Files and vice-versa.