For the first couple of episodes of Apple TV+'s Liaison, the sparks between Eva Green's Alison and Vincent Cassel's Gabriel appear to be reason enough to forge ahead. It's easy to forgive a lot in a romance if the chemistry is strong enough. It doesn't really matter if we don't know much about the international conspiracy that brought these ex-partners back together or what happened between them all those years ago. Even though they are only exchanging a silent gaze through a window that is splattered with rain, the smolder that exists between them draws us in.

Smolder is about as far as it goes, however, in the absence of sufficient fuel to start a fire. By the time Liaison comes to a screeching halt, any glimmering signs of potential have long since vanished due to inept storytelling and an extended running time.


The narrative has both a broad scope and a narrow focus at the same time. Ollie Butcher and Virginie Brac are credited as co-creators.) In the first few minutes, two Syrian hackers—Aziz Dyab's Samir and Marco Horanieh's Walid—discover a sinister plot that has significant repercussions for several European nations' cybersecurity. Alison, a worker at the Home Office, is tasked with bringing the situation under control for the United Kingdom, whose systems have already been compromised. Gabriel, an activist turned mercenary, outsources their own efforts to their French rivals by pure coincidence.

The flight to freedom of Samir and Walid, an investigation by a tenacious British detective (Olivia Popica's Hobbs), and a few shady government types (including Didier, a French official played with skin-crawling odiousness by Stanislas Merhar) complete the formula for a fast-paced thriller. However, regardless of whether the characters are in Brussels, London, or Paris, its priority remains the same: This is primarily about Gabriel and Alison, who haven't seen each other in years because of a shocking betrayal that ended their passionate affair.

At first, Liaison benefits from its tendency to conceal the background of its central couple. Through sheer force of their charisma, both actors are able to convey the depth of their characters. Alison's expression is weighed down by years of compounding regret from Green, who has, more times than I can count, been the best part of a bad project; Cassel tempers his character's world-weariness with just the right amount of humor to make fun of an old coworker or a cute baby. They treat each other with such tenderness and fury that it is hard not to be curious about them.