The rise in popularity of spy thrillers on streaming platforms, like Netflix's The Night Agent and Apple TV's Prime Target, mirrors current societal tensions. As public trust in governments wanes and global relations sour, audiences turn to these shows for insight into an uncertain world. Writers like Joe Barton highlight how these dramas reveal secrets and explore complex moral dilemmas, challenging clear distinctions between good and evil. Additionally, viewers seek to grasp the workings of the 'deep state' amid intensified political narratives since 2016.
What these shows do is let us in on secrets and peek behind the curtain... it gives the illusion that we might occasionally understand how the world works.
For all their plot variations, the current slate of spy shows have one thing in common: they interrogate binary notions of good versus evil.
The world feels very uncertain to a lot of people right now, and if there's one thing human beings really can't stand, it's uncertainty.
Audiences wanted to understand how the deep state might operate because political and media narratives about it have ramped up since 2016.
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