Splinter Cell: Deathwatch

When Castlevania first arrived on Netflix, the anime adaptation of Konami's iconic video game series felt like a breath of fresh air. After suffering through years and years of middling adaptations, this show came across as authentic and well put together, and naturally it seemed to be a good formula for Netflix and other partners to trend toward for the future. In the following years, we received adaptations of Tekken, Cyberpunk, Cuphead, Tomb Raider, Dragon Age, Dota, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, and even the Ubisoft-based Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. That latter project is an interesting example because while well put together in and of itself, like Ubisoft's rather familiar gameplay philosophy, now these Netflix anime projects are beginning to feel very much the same. It's treading into seen one, seen them all territory, and this is the case once again with Splinter Cell: Deathwatch.

This is a series that takes the source material and then puts its own spin on it. You don't need to be a Splinter Cell mastermind to understand the lore and narrative, it's quite straightforward and heavy with exposition, even if it does have a few nods to the original material. So it takes the basis of Splinter Cell and twists it into a story where the charm that made the games so iconic is pushed to the wayside. Instead of mostly watching Sam Fisher crawl in shadows and silently pick off enemies without arousing suspicion, we see him violently gunning down and beating opponents to death when in the heat of battle, with this polarised by conversations in hi-tech rooms illuminated by the blue light of monitors. It'd be like adapting the first few Metal Gear Solid games and framing them like a Mission: Impossible movie. It's entertaining for sure, but also somewhat misses the point of the original material.

But anyway this show isn't about Sam Fisher in his prime, so perhaps in his older age his tactical and combat technique has changed a tad. In fact, the story isn't even really about Sam but rather a younger Echelon agent called Zinnia McKenna, who gets wrapped up in a conspiracy that is far larger than anyone could have expected. It's an incident that sees Sam dragged back into action to help save the day, and this leads to a globe-(or well... mostly European)-trotting adventure where the pair gather intel and look to prevent a terrorist plot.

In the grand scheme of things it's a rather straightforward story and I will give credit to the few surprises and twists they introduce along the way. They are not at all as telegraphed as some twists in modern media, but they also don't hit you like a bolt of lightning. This is somewhat down to the generic theme of the series, which is quite subtle and lacking impact, ultimately meaning it's never edge-of-your-seating material or nail-biting tension. It's just watchable television that perhaps comes across as a bit more encapsulating for those who get a nostalgic surge whenever Splinter Cell is mentioned in a sentence.

The point is that writer Derek Kolstad has some narrative ideas that work in this show and the general plot development is entertaining enough. But the action sequences don't always feel very Splinter Cell, the dialogue and performances are so apathetic and cold (as trained killers probably should be) that there's never much emotion shining through, and the animation technique and the way the whole show is put together is now so familiar that it's becoming harder and harder to distinguish between this and Tomb Raider, for example.

It's not that this is a bad show at all, it's really simply fine television, but that's also the point as it's never anything more. It's familiar and predictable, watchable but not impressionable, and while it gives a bit of a new lease on life for Splinter Cell as a franchise, it's really not the return to form that many would hope. Watch it or don't watch it. This isn't a must-watch series and neither is it bad enough to avoid at all costs. Perhaps that level of mediocrity is a sin of its own...