Treason episode 1 review: How well did the new Netflix series kick-off?

Netflix came out with another thriller series titled Treason on December 26, 2022, adding to its already rich holiday slate of binge-worth shows. Matt Charman's new spy-thriller show has some serious James Bond-esque aesthetics with Charlie Cox, the literal Daredevil, at the center of the drama as an M-16 spy.

The series has only five episodes and is rather quickly paced with a plot that can get predictable at times but has enough twists and turns to keep viewers hooked. If the pilot of Treason is any indication, the show has a lot of potential, as it had everything a successful pilot should have, including a strong hook.

Read on for a detailed review of Treason episode 1.

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Treason season 1, episode 1 review: In the right direction, so far

Treason was not one of the shows that a lot of people were looking forward to. While the premiere episode will determine how many viewers will commit to the rest of the season, it's safe to assume that not everyone will tune in to this middle-of-the-road addition to Netflix's library.

This was pretty much the focus of the first episode, which began with a rather unexplainable scene at the very onset. As is common with many such shows, films, and novels, the next title indicates a five-day rewind, possibly pointing us toward the thrilling events depicted in the first 15 seconds of the first episode.

The introduction that follows is more conventional, with Cox's James Bond-ish spy, Adam Lawrence, being introduced at the earliest. It is clever how the script emphasizes the character's softer nature, something that is not conventional among the hardened spies we've seen in spy fiction over the years.

From there, things move along at a leisurely pace, with a remarkably seamless crime, the introduction of Russian spy Kara Yerzov (Olga Kurylenko), and some background information on Kara and Adam's shared past. Despite the presentation suggesting that these occurrences were mysterious, they were quite predictable, rendering the well-hidden dialogues and the constantly booming soundtrack largely ineffective.

One of the things in the first episode that stood out was the smooth character introductions. All the characters were introduced with a certain panache without any deliberation or haste. This made Treason quite easy to delve into.

However, with an overburdened soundtrack and often over-the-top camera angles, it seemed that the show was trying to push viewers towards the more thrilling parts of the episode. Perhaps a subtle scripting could have worked better in this case.

Anyhow, the ending was also aptly satisfying with Adam's daughter being kidnapped by an unknown assailant, leaving open a box of mysteries that will likely form the backbone of the rest of the series.

The rest of the series will hopefully follow this pattern and deliver a satisfying conclusion to the mystery that began in its premiere episode.

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All the episodes of Treason are now streaming on Netflix.