Critic Reviews

It is derivative, preposterous, utterly unbelievable and great fun. It’s got confidence and style and is here to deliver escapism to the power of pi cubed, or something, and it does. Prime ridiculous entertainment.

A barmy but entertaining thriller.

What “Prime Target” adds up to is an engaging, entertaining mix of scholarship and skullduggery that ultimately won’t do anything to convert those of us who thought math would be bad for our health.

The twists and turns of Prime Target defy explanation yet are delightful to unspool. .... I wasn’t sure if Prime Target had enough of a premise to sustain so many hours of viewing, yet I gleefully clicked through all eight screeners.

Ultimately realism isn’t the strong suit of “Prime Target.” .... A show about smart people that still allows you to turn down your brain and have a good time.

At times, the series could attempt to stand out a little more from the crowded pack of the spy genre, and it is also in periodic need of clarity over which force is in play for what reason, but overall, Prime Target is a well-performed, capably written, and well-structured spy thriller.

The best parts of Prime Target are entrenched in the intellectual mystery of the plot, which brings out a heady conspiracy narrative somewhere between The Bourne Identity and National Treasure.

Even though it telegraphs its “surprises” way too often, it’s always entertaining — even as it gets tied up into plot knots by its end. As a bonus, Martha Plimpton co-stars and Stephen Rea appears in a smaller role. They get to chew a bit of the scenery, and it’s a welcome addition to this passable thriller that’s elevated by its lead star.

While the show offers moments of brilliance, especially in its early episodes, it ultimately fails to deliver on the grand potential of its ideas, leaving a story that feels more like a tantalizingly unsolved equation than a world-changing mathematical breakthrough.

Basically, “Prime Target” is an engine to set two attractive young people on the run through a number of set pieces, interspersed with arguments about transparency and responsibility and whether there is such a thing as pure science in a dirty world.