'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.