Amazon’s ‘Patriot’ lightens up in move to Paris
He’s neither a suave James Bond nor the ruthlessly efficient Jason Bourne. Instead, John Tavner, the intelligence operative at the heart of Amazon’s “Patriot,” is a spy defined by who he isn’t.
The emotionally damaged American agent finds himself in familiar spy terrain, enmeshed in dangerous undercover work as a “non-official cover” as the critically acclaimed and darkly funny drama that returned Friday for an eightepisode second season.
“He defies the action hero, the idea (that) they can do anything. ... He’s not an action hero at all,” says Michael Dorman, who plays the spy who would rather be a folk singer.
John’s reluctance and offbeat nature aside, “Patriot” checks off many boxes of the spy genre. It tells the story of a secret mission – John takes a cover job at a Milwaukee piping company with an overbearing boss (Kurtwood Smith) – to prevent Iran’s development of a nuclear bomb. (The plan goes woefully awry.) Shot primarily on the streets of Paris, the second season also conveys the genre’s international allure.
But the series differs in other ways, says creator Steve Conrad.
“It fits under suspense thriller, those sorts of movies and TV shows that try so hard to be cool. But I’m just really down on cool. … I see John as anti-cool, maybe that he’s anti- those other” spies, he says, pointing out one superficial signal: His hero spends most of his time in a ratty green sweater.
“I wanted to write about (someone) who might find themselves sacrificing but didn’t get a lot of girlfriends or gadgets out of it. The set of principles that motivate this person are worth writing about, but the superficiality is embarrassing.”
To that end, John, who has the dangerous tendency to reveal secret information in his autobiographical songs, is based on the late singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, whom Conrad describes as “supremely intelligent (with) some psychological trauma.”
“Patriot” also tells a family story: John’s real boss is his father, Tom (Terry O’Quinn), an intelligence chief, and is aided by his congressman brother, Edward (Michael Chernus). As with “The Americans,” the familiar challenges of family relationships are aggravated by the exotic pressures of spy work.
Tom set “Patriot” in motion in the series premiere, asking his son to take on the Iranian mission. That spun out of control when John lost a bag of money meant for the anti-nuclear operation, leading to a cascade of problems that continue to bedevil him in Season 2.
“That’s the biggest battle for Tom: What is this doing to (John’s) mind and heart?” O’Quinn says. “The physical dan- ger is one thing, but what is it doing to your son when you instruct him to kill someone? ... The consequences of this mission failing are far greater than how it’s going to affect me, my son or any one family. It could affect millions of people.”
“Patriot” is “a story about this one man’s soul being extinguished, and can the people who love him save him in time?” Conrad says. “It’s so antithetical to other (espionage) shows, where you cheer for the hero to succeed. In ‘Patriot,’ you cheer for him to quit.”
As Season 1 ended, John had an exit strategy from his job if he gave the money to a European detective investigating him for a homicide. But family obligations force him to continue.
But there are differences in Season 2: John is out in the open, and he gets help from fellow operatives, both professional and amateur, in Paris. “So, you’re going to see his friends come back,” Dorman says. “You actually get to see him enjoy himself in moments. You might get to see him smile, or laugh even.”
And you might get to see more of “Patriot”; Conrad and Dorman would like a third season. Says Conrad, “There are 10 more hours of things I want to say and do.”