Today, Stan releases the newest original in the Assassin.
The titular character is Julie (Keeley Hawes), a middle-aged, retired assassin who’s enjoying the Greek life when we meet her while awaiting the arrival of her adult son, Edward (Freddie Highmore), a journalist who is visiting his mother. The two haven’t seen each other in a few years and Julie’s gone out of her way to make an effort cooking wagyu beef, but Edward remarks he’d like to try except he’s now a vegan.
Edward has his reasons for seeing his mother, most notably wanting to know who his father is, his trip is just beginning when Julie is contacted by her old handler, who offers her a fat contract to assassinate a young woman on a nearby superyacht. Fortunately, Julie’s razor sharp instinct sees her not complete the assignment.
The following day all hell breaks loose at a wedding and only Julie, Edward and local butcher Luka (Gerald Kyd) survive, leading to a mission for answers.
Along the way we discover Julie’s not the only one keeping secrets, with Edward being engaged; Kayla (Shalom Brune-Franklin), her brother Ezra (Devon Terrell), and their dad Aaron Cross (Alan Dale), an Australian mining billionaire, are all hiding secrets of their own. To complicate things more, there’s also imprisoned IT specialist Jasper (David Dencik), and Marie (Gina Gershon), an odd woman who knows her way around some art supplies.
Hughes and Highmore are captivating in the six part series penned by Harry and Jack Williams, which is full of twists and turns right till the closing credits.
4 stars
The Assassin is now streaming on Stan
