'Prime Target' Just Doesn’t Add Up

Watching a TV series means wholly leaning into the willing suspension of disbelief. Characters on TV wake up with perfect makeup and hair. They live in beautifully furnished apartments, and their salaries would never allow them to afford. They never seem to have to go to the bathroom or worry about childcare. They always find parking right in front of where they need to be. I could go on and on. Usually, I don’t mind and am happy to go along for the ride; however, occasionally, a TV show comes along that tests my patience. 

Apple TV+’s new drama Prime Target, which premieres with two episodes on January 22, is one of those shows. The eight-episode drama follows PhD student Edward Brooks (Leo Woodall), a brilliant mathematician who doesn’t use a computer for his calculations because “they’re not fast enough.” Ed sees numbers everywhere. He looks at a flock of starling birds and knows there’s a sequence to their movements. He’s researching a prime number pattern because he believes numbers might not behave as people assume. 

However, investigating prime numbers is dangerous because they are “the basis of all digital security.” A quick Google search for “prime numbers and digital security” reveals this to be true. This premise makes the dialogue very exposition-heavy, especially in the early episodes. On the one hand, kudos to series creator Steve Thompson for coming up with an innovative premise. On the other hand, when characters say things like, “Right now, math nerds are probably the most dangerous people on the planet,” it seems silly. 

Ed’s professor, Robert Mallinder (David Morrissey), does not think it’s silly. When Ed shows him his research, Robert freaks out. “You need to drop this. You need to drop it now,” he tells his protege. It turns out that Robert had a student 30 years ago doing very similar research, and things did not work out so well for her, as we see in a series of flashbacks.

Meanwhile, Robert’s wife, Andrea Lavin (Sidse Babett Knudsen), a history professor, is excited about “House of Wisdom,” a labyrinth of symbols revealed underground after a gas explosion in Baghdad. It appears to be the same research that Ed does, but just nine centuries apart. 

NSA agent Taylah Sanders’ (Quintessa Swindell) job is to track Ed’s every move; she knows something is wrong. Ed is in danger. Her boss, Ricky Olson (Tom Stourton in what appears to be a surprisingly bad wig), wants her to stay in her lane. “Just don’t make problems for me. I like my job,” he tells her.  When multiple tragedies strike, Ed and Taylah finally meet, and the thrust of the series begins to take shape. The problem is that it takes over two episodes to get to that point and for the action to take off.

The other issue is that since the main plot point involves math and computer surveillance, much of the early action involves characters intently staring at pieces of paper or computer screens. In another willing suspension of disbelief moment, for two people sitting around looking at computers and math problems all day, Tayla and Ed are surprisingly fast runners and very strong. What’s easier to believe is how sloppy they are sometimes with their supposed covert work. In one scene, Ed is trying to hack into a computer, but he’s in an office with glass windows and leaves his computer facing the windows. 

Things get more interesting (thank goodness!) when Martha Plimpton (The Man Who Fell to Earth) arrives as NSA chief Jane Torres. Plimpton makes everything she’s in that much better (see The Good Wife, Raising Hope, et al.) and doesn’t disappoint here. Jane is a complex character whose motivations and allegiances are constantly shifting. Introducing her character earlier may have been the wiser choice. 

The other key aspect working in Prime Target’s favor is that Ed is not your stereotypical action hero. He’s unemotional and able to disengage from what’s happening. Even when people are dying around him, he doesn’t get too worked up about it. The only thing he’s truly passionate about is numbers. “Numbers are out there just waiting to be found like vast hidden continents,” he says. 

Woodall plays him just right. In the first episode, Ed meets and spends the night with bartender Adam (Fra Free). Adam thinks Ed doesn’t want him to meet his family because they don’t know he’s gay. ‘I’m not anything,” he tersely tells Adam. It’s so refreshing to have a series that doesn’t have a will they/won’t they underlying tension between the two leads. Ed and Taylah develop a fierce alliance, but it never borders on becoming romantic. We all know men and women can be friends, but it rarely happens on TV. 

Ultimately, what makes Prime Target feel more like a final you must study for than a TV show to enjoy is how convoluted the converging plots become. If I were grading on a pass/fail, it would pass, but if it were getting a letter grade, it would only be a C+. 

Prime Target debuts on Apple TV+ on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, with two episodes. The series will stream one episode a week on Wednesdays through mid-March.