Apple TV+ has been on a roll in the past year, with shows including “Severance,” “Slow Horses,” “Bad Sisters,” and “Black Bird,” and so I was eager to see the streamer’s new British-French thriller, “Liaison.” The six-parter, which premieres on Friday, promises some tightly wound espionage, dangerous chases, political intrigue, and cyber crimes.
I was disappointed, for the most part. The series features a pair of actors, Vincent Cassel and Eva Green, who each have plenty of charisma, and who have chemistry together. They play former lovers who are thrown into each other’s orbit after many years. He’s a tough guy for hire who has been commissioned by the French government; she works for an important British minister. Both are looking for a pair of missing hackers from Damascus who’ve found evidence of upcoming terrorist attacks in London.
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Or something like that. For all the potential in “Liaison,” including not just the actors but the international locations, it’s at times confusing and consistently half-baked, with dialogue that rarely rises above plot signposts. There are so very many twists, and interested factions, and betrayals, and negotiations, it’s hard to maintain a reasonably solid understanding of what’s happening specifically. At least it was for me.
Sure, you can glide along, not thinking too hard, and generally enjoy the settings and the fast pace. But you may end up cross-eyed. “Liaison” acts like a complex, smart suspense drama, but it doesn’t really have the goods to back it up.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at matthew.gilbert@globe.com. Follow him @MatthewGilbert.