Haaretz: One show that is decidedly not taking the Iranian nuclear threat seriously is “Patriot,” produced by Amazon Studios. It feels like it was written by John le Carré on magic mushrooms, with a screenplay from a post-nervous breakdown James Bond.

A swirling, intoxicating and somewhat surreal experience, “Patriot” – the brainchild of screenwriter Steven Conrad – ostensibly tells the story of a calamitous American plot to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. While this might induce an overpowering sense of déjà vu in some viewers, what follows is original, dark and painfully sharp.

The man responsible for the plan – which involved bankrolling the election campaign of an Iranian moderate opposed to nuclear weapons – is Tom Tavner (played by Terry O’Quinn), the director of an unnamed United States intelligence organization. His go-to agent is John Tavner, his son.

But there’s a problem with John. On his last mission, he accidentally killed an elderly hotel cleaner, instead of the Egyptian physicist he had been dispatched to, well, dispatch. Now he’s hiding out in Amsterdam, “getting baked” and writing plaintive folk songs about his missions.
skip - Amazon Prime's "Patriot"

John, played by New Zealand-born actor Michael Dorman, is recruited for one more mission by his father – a mission that entails assuming an NOC (non-official cover) and masquerading as a mid-level executive at a Milwaukee piping firm.

The plan is simple enough; the United States will bankroll the election campaign of a moderate Iranian politician who openly opposes his country’s nuclear program. But the money falls into the hands of a hardline cleric, also running for the presidency, who wants nothing more than to forge ahead with said nuclear program >>>