Butterfly (2025)

Butterfly may not be the mind-blowing spy thriller you expect when you first turn it on, but it'll win you over with its heart.

Butterfly does a few things quite well. Its action scenes are consistently compelling, its six fast-paced episodes fly by, and the cast is solid from top to bottom. (It's great to see Kim front and center.)

“Butterfly” interjects a wee bit of dark humor that works and features some risky moves in its final episode. If it embraces that dark side more, it would give the series more edge and would give it more kick. As is, it’s a middling watch with a good performance from Kim.

We’re liking some of the spicy international flavor Butterfly is featuring amid its central dispute between spy world adversaries Daniel Dae Kim and Piper Perabo. But we’re also looking for the actual action in this action series to really establish itself. Butterfly is a tentative Stream It.

The series, which is no worse and somewhat better than “perfectly fine,” certainly has its points, Kim and Hardesty not the least among them. Would I prefer to watch them in an episodic procedural as father-daughter investigators solving crimes from week to week, or doing spy stuff, or cooking together? Yes, I would like that very much.

Despite its efforts, Butterfly plays it too safe. The first half of the season is more of a fugitive series, while the second half is a proper spy thriller. Yet, even as it strives for some big twists, they're too easy to predict ahead of time.

Viewers just looking for an easy distraction might find that this version goes down easier than a darker, sharper series might have. But in letting its promise so far outpace its execution, the six-episode season struggles to take flight.

“Butterfly” doesn’t exude the crackle of tension that compels us to keep watching. Although you could find me watching it on a sleepless night or a lazy Sunday. In the end, “Butterfly” looks good and never stops moving, but it doesn’t make my heart flutter.