SERIES REVIEW – Liaison is a six-part spy thriller that premiered on Apple TV+ in February 2023. The series stars French enfant terrible Vincent Cassel and James Bond movie diva Eva Green from Casino Royale as former lovers who work together as British secret service agents to prevent international cyber-attacks. The series looked promising for its actors and genre, but unfortunately it did not live up to expectations. Liaison’s story is at times a little draggy, at other times often clichéd or discredited and it can’t decide whether it wants to be an action movie or a romantic drama.

 

 

Gabriel Delage (Vincent Cassel) is a French agent trying to rescue Syrian hackers from Damascus. Alison Rowdy (Eva Green) is a British agent working in London under Richard Banks (Peter Mullan). Alison and Gabriel used to be together, but broke up because Gabriel lied to her about his past. Now they meet again when information from Syrian hackers reveals that someone is planning large-scale cyber attacks against the UK. The rest of the episode follows Alison and Gabriel’s investigation and relationship as events unfold in Brussels, Paris, Berlin and London.

 

 

What should I call you?

 

The biggest problem with Liaison is that it can’t decide what kind of series it wants to be. On the one hand, it tries to be a thrilling action film, full of explosions, shoot-outs and chases. On the other hand, it wants to portray deep emotions and feelings between Alison and Gabriel, who are still attracted to each other but don’t trust each other. However, the two lines do not fit well together: the action scenes are exaggerated and implausible, and the romantic scenes are boring and clichéd. The series fails to capture the viewer’s interest in either the story or the characters.

Liaison might have worked better if he had been more clearly committed to one direction or the other. If it had wanted to be an action film, it should have paid more attention to the details and consequences of cyber-attacks, as well as the motivations and conflicts of the characters. If it had wanted to be a romantic drama, it should have given more depth to Alison and Gabriel’s relationship and their past and future. However, Liaison’s treatment of both lines is superficial and clichéd throughout the six episodes, failing to achieve either excitement or emotion.

 

 

You can’t go bad with star actors like that… Or can you?

 

But Liaison does have some positives that should not be overlooked. The series is set in several languages (English, French, Arabic), which gives the story authenticity and variety – I particularly enjoyed it because of my French language skills.

The actors deserve credit, as Vincent Cassel and Eva Green are excellent in the lead roles and show their talent and charisma. Still, unfortunately, the characters themselves are not interesting or sympathetic enough. The relationship between Alison and Gabriel does not come across as convincing or passionate, rather annoying and contrived. The two main characters, Vincent Cassel and Eva Green, are great actors but they don’t bring out the best in each other and there is not enough chemistry between them. Cassel is too cold and aloof, Green too hysterical and sentimental. Although they seem to be experienced actors, it’s not so much a problem with them as with the inconsistent direction and poor script.

The supporting cast is not much better, with Peter Mullan as the heavy-handed boss and Gérard Lanvin as the leader of the mysterious French spy team. Both are pretty clichéd characters, and even worse, they don’t get much backstory or motivation – even though they are true cinematic legends.

 

 

Ian Fleming would just wink

 

And the story is full of logical lapses and clichés. The motivation and purpose of the cyber attacks remain vague until the very end, and don’t seem very threatening or realistic. The characters’ decisions are often nonsensical or self-contradictory. For example, Alison repeatedly betrays her own boss or country for Gabriel’s sake, but then gets angry with him anyway when he lies to her.

And Gabriel sometimes helps Alison and sometimes works against her, depending on which side has more information or money. The end of the series fails to resolve any mysteries or conflicts, but only raises more questions. And the ending feels as if the makers didn’t know how to conclude the story or were hoping for a second season.

 

 

The atmosphere is okay, though

 

Perhaps the only really obvious strength of the series is its visuals and atmosphere. The script uses European locations well and presents beautiful images of cities and landscapes. The music and sounds are also well suited to the thriller genre and add to the excitement, which is one of the reasons why Liaison achieves the atmosphere that a good spy film should have.

So Liaison is not a completely bad series, but it is not a particularly good one either. It is a very mediocre spy thriller, with the usual thrills, twists and turns and generally good performances, but also with brutal logical lapses, clichés and poorly explained story elements. Although this six-part thriller sometimes achieves the atmosphere that a good spy film should have, it more often than not disappoints the viewer. If you like Vincent Cassel or Eva Green, or have nothing better to do, you may give this “relationship” a chance, but beware, it could quickly turn into a break-up!

-BadSector-