Hostages

CBS, Mondays 10/9 Central

Sep 23, 2013 By Cody Ray Shafer Issue #47 - September/October 2013 - MGMT

The CBS thriller-drama Hostages starts off with an engaging and clever premise—an FBI agent (Dylan McDermott) takes the family of a surgeon (Toni Collette) hostage while he entices her to kill the President in a routine operation—but frankly it is hard to imagine how the series can carry on after the initial conflicts are fully explored and resolved. It might not be fair to judge a show based on its potential (or lack thereof), and after its first episode, Hostages seems to have a pretty good idea of where it is going. But that can still be a little nerve-wracking.

Other than a few other corny ideas (the whole Presidential assassination trope is a little cliché), Hostages delivers a compelling plot with enough tension to keep viewers interested for 45 minutes. The idea of seeing Toni Collette in another lead role on a weekly series (after United States of Tara) is exciting enough and Dylan McDermott is a perfectly cast foil for Collette's strong performance. (www.cbs.com/shows/hostages/)

Author rating: 6/10