Becoming The Muse

Rabbit Hole is an American spy thriller series created by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra. The series premiered on 26 March 2023 on Paramount+ and ran for eight episodes. The series stars Kiefer Sutherland as John Weir a corporate espionage expert.

The premise of the show follows John Weir a consultant who dabbles in corporate espionage who finds himself spiralling down a rabbit hole of conspiracies that threaten the very nature of democracy.

The Good

When I reviewed The Night Agent, I mentioned that it gave me a feel of the action series of yesteryear 24, well, Rabbit Hole stars Kiefer Sutherland channelling a Jack Bauer sort of performance; somewhat weary, slightly flustered and muttering under his breath like fate of the world depends on it, while navigating from one crisis to another, to save the world of course….

Naturally, it’s a high-tension sort of faced past plot that will have you on the edge of your seat or rather holding on for dear life as it feels like the rug got pulled from beneath your feet and you are falling down the rabbit hole alongside John Weir, because just when you think you understand whats going on, you realise you know nothing…

Its quirky and it will keep you guessing and second guessing along the misdirections and red herrings right along its paranoid protagonist who is bundle of nervous energy and lot of childhood trauma with abandonment issues…

Charles Dance as Dr. Ben Wilson is quite the enigmatic character who is like a glue who holds the fragmented plot like a compass that never points north but shows you where you want to go.

The Bad

It starts off in one direction with an interesting premise of the dodgy world of corporate espionage and then the plot gets rather loopy from there into something that cannot decide how seriously it wants to be taken, is it a goofy kind of show or a serious no-nonsense spy thriller?…

The show’s pacing is also disorienting, it unfolds like a fast paced plot with a slow burning script, you get a sense of time running out while being two steps behind and everyone is plotting something.

Suspension of disbelief… for a character who will be most wanted John Weir spends a lot of time moving freely  in public without disguises just vibes and sunglasses and no one even notices. This one time John he walks right into a building with federal agents easy as you please…

The Ugly

The plot isn’t the most coherent to follow along as you get some of the back story revealed in flashbacks that can be anything from moments earlier to days or even years earlier. I am guessing the fragmented narrative is supposed to be a reflection of John Weir’s precarious mental state but unfortunately as we never get a detailed answer as to what exactly ails him, its hard to properly contextualise.

The series seems to be hinting at some grand message on big data, surveillance and how all that can be used to manipulate how you behave or vote… but it kinda drfits over our heads….

Final Thoughts

Rabbit Hole is the kind of series that doesnt take itself too seriously and neither should you, you’ll see that the cast had fun doing it and that kinda makes up for what it lacks.

After all the twists and turns, it ends on a predictably unpredictable note which leaves room for a second season… While the show received good reviews, it’s not yet known if Rabbit Hole will have a season 2.

Have you watched this… is it something you would watch?

~B