Ivan Radford | On 26, Feb 2023

Have you ever noticed that Christoph Waltz is very good at being very creepy? Amazon Prime Video certainly has, because, after a string of smiling-but-sinister overly polite villains, he’s cast in The Consultant as a smiling-but-sinister overly polite villain. He plays Regus Patoff, a consultant who unexpectedly arrives at a company one day and starts taking over. Is he as evil as he appears to be? Is there something diabolical behind his pristine shirt and tie? These are the kind of questions that The Consultant asks but doesn’t like to answer.

The company, CompWare, is founded by Sang (Brian Yoon), a video game prodigy who is hugely rich and influential, despite only being in his early 20s. When a school visit goes awry, Regus enters the picture and promises to steer the firm forward in a profitable direction – raising alarm bells with assistant Elaine (Brittany O’Grady) and her work BFF Craig (Nat Wolff), one of the coders.

What ensues is a darkly comic thriller, albeit one with a disappointing lack of comedy and thrillers. Based on the novel by Bentley Little, the series sets its satirical sights on a raft of targets, from the gaming industry and tech start-ups to work-life balance and exploitation of power. But the more the show goes on, the more scattershot its aim becomes – we move from gun laws and working hours to anti-discrimination practices and meaningless job titles, while also dipping a toe in apocalyptic visions, kidnapping and possible murder.

Writer and showrunner Tony Basgallop is in similar territory to Apple TV+ drama Servant, which thrives on sitting in a limbo between the known and the unknown. Where that show finds tension in the resulting ambiguity, The Consultants unearths tedium in the vagueness, unable to find enough teeth or purpose in its satire and unwilling to drive its narrative forward with enough focus.

Brittany O’Grady (The White Lotus) and Nat Wolff (Death Note) are a likeable double-act, the former curious but too cautious when it comes to risking her promotion, the latter excited about being recognised but uncomfortable with responsibility. And the visuals – thanks to a directing team that includes WandaVision’s Matt Shakman – are impressively slick, sleek and shady, with almost every scene laced with a shot of blood red. But Christoph Waltz is the reason to tune in, and his eager, grinning, unnerving brand of intimidation is too familiar to have much of an impact. Is he more devilish than just a ruthless capitalist? The Consultant, you begin to suspect, either doesn’t know or doesn’t want to know. When it comes to mysterious satires of the modern workplace, this candidate is several rungs down the ladder from Severance.

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