Pops Watched TV: THE CONSULTANT

Prime’s THE CONSULTANT stars the always-mesmerizing Christoph Waltz as Regus Patoff, the mysterious titular businessman, who takes over running a mobile game company after its young CEO is murdered by a child. Ruling with an utter ignorance of the field, Patoff institutes some harsh and Machiavellian practices, zeroing in on a few employees in particular, but with an unforeseeable endgame. 

The series is based on a book by Bentley Little, so I don’t know if the source is meatier than the show, but after a promising start, THE CONSULTANT wraps up feeling like there are three or four missing episodes…. Without giving any spoilers, Patoff (also, “Regus Patoff?” Really? Wasn’t that a character in ROCKY & BULLWINKLE? Who was fooled by this?!?) has a sinister side that is never fully explored (and there’s a physical explanation for his inability to climb stairs that is so ridiculous on its face that it almost killed the whole thing for me). The series could’ve benefited from leaning a lot harder into some creepy surrealism rather than mostly feeling like an industrial espionage thriller. If there’s a second season, I’ll probably tune in again, but I really hope it gives us more substance.

Originally posted on social media, March 27, 2023