‘Splinter Cell: Deathwatch’ (2025) Netflix Series Review - An Adult Animation Made for Children

I have played only one Splinter Cell game (it was either Splinter Cell: Blacklist or Splinter Cell: Conviction), and that too for no more than five or ten minutes due to bugs. Based on my limited experience, I can say that the game looked promising as a stealthy adventure. The man in the green-colored suit, wearing green-colored goggles, used shadows as a cover for infiltration and execution. It was fun for those 5–10 minutes, and that sensation somewhat returned as I watched the opening scenes of Splinter Cell: Deathwatch. I prepared myself for a thrilling set of episodes as Zinnia McKenna (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) emerged from the shadows and silently took out the guards. Unfortunately, that promise, that excitement just kept on disappearing as the series moved forward. When Season 1 finally ended, I wondered whether it wouldn't have been better if Ubisoft had simply made another video game in this franchise instead of attempting to revive this series with a lackluster Netflix production.

Deathwatch is a short animated series — its eight 20-minute-long episodes whoosh past you like air. What this also means is that the series feels weightless. The story? So forgettable and inconsequential that the dramatic beats don't matter. The characters? They come with a lot of "heavy aura," which means they're afflicted with sadness and trauma, but their feelings, alas, get little room to develop or grow, as everything is merely reduced to plot points moving the mechanical wheels of the show. Deathwatch is about a watch, a song, and a tooth — three items that, when combined, become a key to a puzzle revealing a grand evil scheme involving a CEO. That CEO's personal life is compared to a Shakespearean tragedy at one point (her father is murdered by her godfather), and she goes out with a Shakespearean sort of betrayal. However, what's missing is the Shakespearean emotion. Deathwatch cuts down its characters' desires, goals, ambitions, and quest for vengeance into small, easily digestible bites fit for fast-food-like consumption. While it may be labeled as "adult animation," its oversimplified treatment of themes and characters makes it feel more akin to "children's animation."

Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times