Citadel Season 1 Review

Citadel is a 2023 Amazon Prime Series about a spy agency, Citadel, that is brought down after an elite crime organization by the name of Manticore instigates a far-reaching attack, taking out most of Citadel's agents. Citadel's remaining agents have their memories cleaned and they go on a journey of trying to save the world while discovering their true selves.

💡 This post is both a summary and a review of Citadel Season 1. That is to say, it may contain spoilers.

Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh

Mason Kane, played by Richard Madden, is a top Citadel agent who together with his partner Nadia Sinh, played by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, are caught up in an attack on a train in Italy. They are sent to intercept a seller carrying enriched Uranium, only to find that it is a setup and that he is one of Manticore's agents. The two are blown away and end up in the river. Mason survives but the fate of Nadia is unknown.

New Family New Life

Mason wakes up in the hospital without his memories. He has retrograde amnesia and goes on to build a new life for himself and have a family. He lives a normal life for eight years as he and his wife Abby, played by Ashleigh Cummings, raise their daughter Hendrix. When Mason woke up, he had been on a cover identity, Kyle Conroy, and couldn't find information on who he was. Things, however, turn for the worst when he and his family are abducted by a man and gassed in the back of the vehicle.

Bernard

The man who abducts Kyle and his family is Bernard Orlick, played by Stanley Tucci, a super-nerdy techie who is a spy from Citadel. Bernard tells Kyle that he was and could still be Mason Kane and enlightens him on Manticore's far-sweeping attack on Citadel.

While this is happening, Manticore, with instructions from their boss Dahlia Archer, played by Lesley Manville, steals the X-Case which contains Citadel secrets, including the launch codes of the global nuclear arsenal. Bernard is clear that for Kyle to save his family, he has to rediscover himself as Mason Kane and help him stop Manticore.

The Silje Twins

Dahlia sends the Silje twins after the X-Case. The twins, Davik Silje and Anders Silje, both played by Roland Møller, get the case and take it to a lab in New York where they try to open it. Kyle and Bernard swoop in and steal it, however, prompting a mad chase that ends in Bernard getting shot. Kyle, still retaining Kane's strength and fighting skills, manages to escape.

She's Alive!

The X-Case is also the only tech that can track the whereabouts of any remaining Citadel agents and Kyle discovers that Nadia Sinh is still alive. She is in Spain and he heads there to seek her help in stopping Manticore. The twins, having placed a tracker on the case, follow him there.

When Kyle gets to Spain, he finds Nadia who is at first hesitant to accept that she is a Citadel agent. Kyle shows her Nadia's file in the X-Case and gives her a vile that would help her recover her memories. She injects it into herself and recovers her memory while also rediscovering her strength and fighting skills. The two battle one of the twins and manage to escape.

Patched Up

Dahlia manages to patch up Bernard and tortures him to give her the password to a nuclear cache-tracking AI that he had designed for Citadel. Bernard is hesitant but Dahlia eventually gets her way. She gets the location of a Russian submarine with 5 nuclear warheads and is out to get them and please her bosses. At its core, Manticore is led by a group of the wealthiest families in the world who use the organization to instigate, often damaging, events that bolster their wealth and power.

Love and Lies

As Kyle and Nadia get reacquainted, Nadia, who has all her memories back unlike Kyle, tells him that the two had a love affair that didn't last long. Kyle has little recollection of his life as Mason Kane and doesn't make much of it.

Turns out that they were actually in love and had broken up after Kyle lied to Nadia about Celeste. Celeste had been an agent that was recruited to Citadel who was a close friend to Nadia. Mason Kane had backstopped her, deleting her memories irretrievably, as he'd thought she is a mole. He kept this from Nadia and she wasn't at all pleased when she found out and broke up with him.

Carter Spence

Carter Spence, played by Osy Ikhile, is another Citadel agent who survived the attack, and he is now being held at a Manticore black site facility. Nadia and Kyle see his mayday messages on the X-Case and decide to go rescue him. When they get there, Carter is reluctant to come with them and reveals that Nadia was the one who betrayed Citadel and gave the list of all its agents to Manticore.

As the three escape the facility, they are met by Manticore agents who hand Kyle a listening device. On the other end is Dahlia who tells him that she wants to trade with him.

Asha

Turns out that Nadia and Mason had a daughter by the name of Asha. Nadia had been known to be in cahoots with an insurgent Rahi, played by Paul Bazely, and were speaking about a package in Valencia, Spain. Nadia reveals that Rahi is her father and that whatever secret they were holding was that she'd had Mason's daughter. Kyle is taken aback by this and is surprised. Dahlia tells him that she's abducted Asha and offers to trade her in exchange for the 5 nuclear cores in the Russian submarine. Dahlia sends Kyle, Nadia, and Carter to retrieve them.

Defiant

Mason had put a bio-lock on the sub's security system and was the only one who could unlock it. This had been a measure he'd taken against his orders which were to put a lock on the sub that could be unlocked by any Citadel agent. He'd done this to retaliate after he felt that Nadia's location was being kept from him when she left after their breakup.

The Sub

On getting to the sub, one of the twins Davik, turns on Kyle and blackmails Dahlia. Dahlia had killed his brother Anders earlier after Bernard talked Anders into freeing him, promising to take him to his girlfriend who was still alive.

Celeste had been sent undercover by Citadel to Anders to retrieve a device, oskey, that had the capability of hacking a country's entire infrastructural systems. Things had turned for the worse, however, after Davik caught her stashing the device. When Mount sent a team to bring her in, the oskey had gotten lost. Davik was now vengeful and told Dahlia that she would only give her the nuclear cores if he got a seat at the table.

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Kyle manages to get into the sub and tries to stop Davik. Carter urges him to fight back saying that it is only his memory that is lost and not his skills. Kyle manages to overpower and kill Davik and Nadia goes into the temperature-controlled room where the nuclear warheads are. She injects a vile into herself that will raise her body temperature and bypass the room's security system and manages to retrieve all five cores. She is in a bad state, however, as her body becomes too hot and Kyle has to inject her with another vile to stabilize her vitals. They then head to the exchange point to hand over the cores and get her daughter back.

The Exchange

During the exchange, Carter positions himself somewhere high with a sniper rifle. Kyle and Nadia have the nuclear cores and their daughter is held on a high point by one of Manticore's agents. Carter takes the agent out and Kyle and Nadia manage to take out the other Manticore agents. Asha almost falls but Kyle catches her. She is saved and Nadia is super grateful and very emotional on seeing her daughter all grown up. She'd left Asha with Rahi when she was just six months old.

Back to HQ

When the three head back to HQ, they discover that the place is torn apart. Kyle is delighted to see Abby and Hendrix and the family embraces. Nadia is, however, not so happy as she sees that Celeste, after being backstopped, had become Abby and Kyle's wife. Carter finds a way to make a vile that recovers Mason's memories and they inject it into Kyle. Kyle gets his memories of his life as Mason Kane back. He is taken aback.

Conspiracy

Turns out that Mason was the one who'd helped Manticore bring Citadel down. He discovers that Dahlia is his mother and she'd managed to convince him to leak the list of all Citadel agents. Even more, Mason had known that Nadia was pregnant after asking Bernard to look for her. He'd known that Nadia had had a baby but chose not to go to her and to stay out of the baby's life.

Our Rating

Perhaps the best series we've watched this year, Citadel is a whirlwind of an impeccably thrilling spy series. That is no surprise, however, as it is produced by the Russo brothers. We heavily enjoyed watching Citadel and it is just one hell of a blockbuster series. Therefore, we give it a 9.8/10 and recommend that you do watch it. You'll intimately enjoy!

FAQ

Will there be a Citadel Season 2?

Yes. Season 2 of Citadel will be forthcoming after it was greenlit even before Season 1 came out. Turns out that the team behind Citadel knew it was going to be a hit and had managed to get a sequel approved.

What is Citadel: Diana?

Citadel: Diana is an offshoot series that is part of the 'Citadel Spyverse'. It will be released in 2024. Citadel: Diana focuses on a Citadel agent by the name of Diana and her exploits in the spy world. Watch the official teaser for Citadel: Diana below.