I was watching Tik Tok one day where a woman - who claimed to be a "TV addict" and "watched just about everything" highly recommended this show on the basis that it was like "nothing she'd ever seen before," and "had her jaw on the floor multiple moments throughout the series."
I now sort of suspect she was a plant by Amazon, coincidentally drumming up hype the DAY this show was released in its entirety. I think this, because this show is kind of lame. Like, I genuinely don't think it'd have ANY hype at all without Christoph Waltz's involvement and probably wouldn't solicit such an endorsement from anyone.
I'll give the show this: the first episode is a banger. It's really good at hooking you in and making you interested in what's going on. While the momentum from the shocking first episode (which I will admit, had my jaw on the floor multiple times) keeps the train running for a bit, eventually a story has to pick itself up and deliver SOMETHING interesting.
There's so much just...underwhelming about The Consultant. I hated how the story was told, it was needlessly long, with too little material to justify its eight episode length. There are so many plot elements that are just dropped for no reason or introduced so late that they don't really have much of a point. Characters are introduced and nothing really happens with them and I genuinely have forgotten what happened the last episode and I saw it a couple days ago.
I think the problem here is that this was pitched as "Christoph Waltz plays Hans Landa except now he's a consultant for a tech company and probably Satan." That conceit doesn't go anywhere and the writers seem so scared of disappointing viewers that they bafflingly decide not to answer any of the juicy questions. The show keeps piling on mysteries and I suspect there are no satisfying answers.
I did like Natt Wolf and Britanny O' Grady's characters and performances, but even they seemed to lack the electric chemistry they should've. They're past lovers who don't seem like they've ever even held hands, if you get what I mean. And yes, Waltz is fine. He's doing his thing, but I frankly got tired of it half way through. There's only so much ambiguity a show can pile onto a character until it becomes tired.
You'd also think a show like this would have a colourful and interesting cast of side characters - it being an office and all - but unfortunately, it even falls flat there. We get glimpses of other people, but in reality its the Regus (Waltz), Elaine (O'Grady), and Craig (Wolff) show. Very disappointing, especially when the show hints at a broader exploration of how leadership transforms an organization and how access to power corrupts. (Anytime I can get a sociological story, I want it, and when I don't get it, it really hurts)
I did like the design of the office a lot and there are some cool locations and visual ideas presented in this show as well. I feel like it was a fun show to watch, for that reason.
I've heard this is supposed to be a multi-season project, I hope they can do it and it can be satisfying. As of now, "season 1" of The Consultant is an utter bore and a big missed opportunity.
