Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
pookster-772-31441
Absolutely listen to the naysayers. They are spot on. This show is terrible. Like, truly terrible. It's a shame because the actors are good actors, they were just given awful writing to work with. The whole idea of the show is ridiculous, none of it would EVER happen, and I'm actually mad that I wasted 13 hours watching it all happen. It was kind of like a car crash that I couldn't help but stare at in disbelief.
Jackson Booth-Millard
The trailer for this television series made it look gripping, I recognised the lead actress and one or two supporting cast, and critics were calling it the new Homeland, so I was hoping it would live up to my expectations. Basically the series centres around Dr. Ellen Sanders (The Sixth Sense's Toni Collette), who is due to perform surgery on the President of the United States, President Paul Kincaid (James Naughton), but the day before it happens, her family are taken hostage. She, her husband Brian (Hercules' Tate Donovan) and their teenage children, daughter Morgan (Grounded's Quinn Shephard) and son Jake (Mateus Ward) are being threatened by rogue FBI agent Duncan Carlisle (Miracle on 34th Street's Dylan McDermott) who is working for a higher power, along with a small team of assistants, Archer Petit (The Lost World: Jurassic Park's Billy Brown), Sandrine Renault (Sandrine Holt) and Kramer Daly (Rhys Coiro). The kidnappers want her to kill the President during surgery, and only then will the family be released, but the day of the operation Ellen deliberately sabotages it, so it is rescheduled for a later date, so the family will remain hostages until the surgery is completed. As the series goes on we find out more about the problems within the family, the personal problems of the kidnappers, and the conspiracies and corruption within the presidential headquarters, and of course the family try to find ways to get out of their situation, and the kidnappers find ways of stopping them from doing so. This includes Ellen trying anything to find a way out and getting to know more about Duncan and his wife, Duncan himself trying to stop authorities finding out about his scheme and most of all trying to find a cure for his sick wife, Brian trying to find ways out also and found out to be having an affair with his assistant Samantha (Hilarie Burton), the children going to school and trying to act normal during the situation at home, and the team members having their own individual troubles with family and money. It is unclear if there will be a continuation, but in the final episode the operation was completed on the President, his bone marrow was stolen and given to Nina, the President is warned by his wife, First Lady Mary Kincaid (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), that he will pay for his crimes, who is his secret daughter and is an almost perfect blood match, the dangerous people are eliminated, and Duncan releases the family and hands himself in to the police. Also starring Paul Calderon as Secret Service Agent Stan Hoffman, Jim True- Frost as Secret Service Agent Logan, Brian White as Colonel Thomas Blair, Joanne Kelly as Vanessa Moore, Jeremy Bobb as Quentin Creasy, Chief of Staff, Lola Cook as Sawyer Carlisle and Larry Pine as Burton Delaney. The acting of the programme is really good, especially from the always reliable Collette and a good choice with McDermott who I have usually seen playing nice guys, the scripting is well written, and the tension in many of the episodes really works with the atmospheric music and occasional violence, I don't think there is to be any more, so in the fifteen episodes it lasted it was a great drama. Very good!
bashleyf2000-604-821567
It says a lot to me when I dislike every character on a show yet eagerly tune in each week to see what happens. I dislike every character on this show, especially the female lead (the doctor). I can't stand her. Yet I have no problem admitting that I love this show and can't wait to see what happens. When it first started I wondered how this is a TV show. Surely it would be better as a movie. How long can we keep watching these hostages week after week? As I watched more and more unfolded. It turns out to be much more complicated than you would originally think. Now that the first season is over I wonder how in the world they will keep this up. I still don't understand how they made an entire season revolving around 1 single event (the president's surgery). Somehow they did it though, and they made an excellent first season. I will eagerly tune into season 2 and see if they can keep the magic going.
quercus1776
I watched a couple of episodes. One would have thought that the writers would have done a bit of research. First off the SS would never have had a strange MD operate on the President without full vetting. With that vetting, the son's drug dealing, the husband's affair and the daughter's romance would have all been discovered. More then likely the MD would have been passed over on those issues alone. Even if there were not these family issues, more then likely the SS would have at least been watching them 24/7 until after the surgery.The show is contrived and not very realistic. Waste of good acting talent.
