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\u201cPrime Target,\u201d an eight-episode thriller premiering Wednesday on Apple TV+, has the juicy vibe of a novel you might pick up at an airport and rip through in a single flight. It has an outlandish premise, beautiful people, and it ends on a cliffhanger every episode.<\/p>\n
After an opening scene in Baghdad, where a gas explosion unearths an ancient site, the series really gets underway at the University of Cambridge, in England. That\u2019s where we meet Edward Brooks, a brilliant young mathematician played by Leo Woodall.<\/p>\n
Despite good looks that would make him welcome at any college rager, Edward is a loner who spends his days scribbling in his notebook, hard at work on a theorem involving prime numbers. (He doesn\u2019t use computers; what he\u2019s doing is too advanced for those silly things.) When his professor (David Morrissey) gets wind of the puzzle Edward is trying to solve, he panics: Basically, it\u2019s a formula to pick any digital lock anywhere. Oops.<\/p>\n
Because of the volatility of his research, Edward ends up in the cross-hairs of the U.S. National Security Agency, which has been spying on high-level mathematicians in case they stumble across the next big weapon. Luckily for Edward, a rebellious agent named Taylah (Quintessa Swindell) becomes his ally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cPrime Target\u201d doesn\u2019t try too hard to explain the equations Edward is doing, which is fine. It would go over my head anyway. Instead, we get a globe-trotting adventure in which Edward and Taylah are constantly on the run from people who want to kill them because of Edward\u2019s math.<\/p>\n
And ultimately realism isn\u2019t the strong suit of \u201cPrime Target.\u201d Woodall became a television heartthrob playing charming cads in Season 2 of \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d and in Netflix\u2019s \u201cOne Day.\u201d He isn\u2019t the first person you think of to play a shy, conflict-avoidant mathematician. Still, he has a sheepish appeal that works well in this context. And Swindell, stomping around in leather jackets, baggy jeans and motorcycle boots, makes for a cool surveillance expert. The character\u2019s tragic back story is vague, but her fashion sense is kicking.<\/p>\n
All of this makes for a show about smart people that still allows you to turn down your brain and have a good time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n