User Reviews

As I've watched each episode I've come to realize that the acting is reasonable, but that each of the main characters lack any real morals. Ironically, as of the most recent episode (Season 1, episode 11), it appears that the husband, Bryan Sanders, is the only character showing showing any real moral fiber. Everyone else is ready to "willy nilly" do in the president, for whatever reason. If everyone in society acted like these characters, chaos would be the order of the day. Given the behavior of each character, I wouldn't put it past the writers to have the brother kill the sister, just because she doesn't go along with her mom wanting to kill the president.

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!

Even before our story takes hold, Toni Collette, who plays a surgeon assigned to operating on the president of the United States looks troubled. This is even before the story comes out where she and her family are taken hostage and she is ordered to kill the president, otherwise the family will be wiped out.

In the interim, we're finding out that her husband has been unfaithful and that their son and daughters have some issues by themselves.

This becomes another story where no one basically can be trusted and it looks as though as Toni will have to bide her time. It also appears that a rapprochement among the family shall have to take place.

After watching episode 5, I have no choice but to quit. I didn't want to do it, but the writers have forced my hand. This is an intricate thriller. Once the characters become idiots, there is no recovering from that.

Duncan Carlisle (Dylan McDermott) is a rogue FBI in a vast conspiracy to assassinate the President. With his shady ragtag team, he kidnaps Dr. Ellen Sanders (Toni Collette) and her family to blackmail her into murdering the President during his surgery.

Whenever there is a vast and hidden conspiracy, the writing has to be impeccable. Any plot holes or logic problems will shine a glaring neon sign on the show's problems. Seeing how the creator Rotem Shamir has already made the same show in Israel which I have not seen. I would hope that the writers have everything squared away and tight. Despite some clunky moves in the first 4 episodes, I was willing to go along with it. After all, they have Toni Collette, Dylan McDermott, and Tate Donovan. They're terrific experienced actors.

It never made sense that the kidnappers would allow both of the kids walk out of the house. Even if they don't want the secret service to be suspicious, one sick kid at home can't be out of the ordinary. Have one be home sick for a couple of days, then the other. Then kidnappers would have at least one kid at home easily for one whole week. The kids are the ultimate anchors against the parents. No way they let them walk off even with the most powerful tracking devices.

Then episode 5 went off the tracks. When Dr. Sanders was at the bus station, why wouldn't she go talk to her kids? It probably takes as much time to do that than to drop off the package at the info desk. Why? Because if she actually did that, then something even stupider couldn't have happened.

Why would Jake call home? What kind of idiot is he? Is he 5? How big of a pussy is he? The corollary of this-show-can't-be-stupid is that the characters can't be idiots. And calling home???? Where the kidnappers are???? WHY????? While I understand why the writers would want the family together at the house, there were much better ways to achieve that. Sandrine could have easily caught them at the bus stop. They could have made a really fun exciting action sequence out of it. She could easily tranq or tased them. Stuff them in the trunk. It's not that hard.

I gave this show two tries, the pilot episode and the following one. The pilot wasn't the worst pilot I've ever seen, but at the very end of it, how could the doctor (Toni Collette) legitimately, possibly think that by not going through will killing the President during surgery, this would save her & her family from being killed? WHAT possible logic could she have at that point?

She returns back home, what would have stopped the assassins/crew from just wiping them all out??

There is no reason. Not a logical one. This plot, this show is SUPER CONTRIVED. I hate things that are super contrived. Allow logic to enter your brain, and the whole house (show) collapses.

Then it gets worse in the next episode. Now the whole assassination plot must be delayed, and magically the lead assassin (Dylan McDermott) is so well prepared, that he had with him GPS devices that can be implanted in each family member, to watch/track them for the next 2 weeks (until the president perhaps goes into surgery again). REALLY? You just happened to have planned for this contingency? LOL. I call bull crap. Particularly when his crew only expected this to be a 24-hour job and it would be over. And a crew that not one of them knew they'd be involved in a plot that would kill the president?

I'm sorry, but if you take criminals who have some semblance of a brain (as some of his crew displays), and all you tell them is they're committing blackmail for 24 hours and the job is over... yet then they learn it's NOT blackmail but murder, and not just a murder but murder of the highest order -- you're telling me the WHOLE CREW is going to stick around and see this out?? NO FRICKIN' WAY.

Bottom line, the writing is so bad and so trite, that various characters' motivations make NO sense, yet we the audience are supposed to believe them, because it's written that way. Who the hell are these writers? And why has Bruckheimer sunk so low, that he's producing (or his name is on) such a crap show? That's what I'd like to know.

This show will not last long.

This far fetched fun TV melodrama keeps me on the edge of my seat. Even though the story-line is definitely in league with daytime soaps; the acting is excellent. I'm in for the long run. For the simple reason, I love a good thrilling drama. I cannot wait to see how the story is wrapped-up. Yes the script is incredibly contrived. Of course, right when Dr. Sanders (played effortlessly by Toni Collette) is about to get on the bus and escape -- oh no! A call from the evil, sexy, complicated, good looking kidnapper (played superbly by Dylan McDermott) to inform Dr. Sanders that he has her husband (Damages' solid actor Tate Donovan) and he is now in mortal danger. Of course she has to go save him. Therefore, Dr. Sanders does not get on the bus. Even though I was yelling 'get on the bus -- just get on the damn bus'.(Since her husband has been cheating on her for months). I love this kind of fun storytelling with good looking actors who know how to draw viewers into a far fetched complex story. I am a fan!

After watching the first 4 episodes of this farce I can only say that it was a waste of 4hrs of my life. I kept hoping for it to get better but the plot doesn't unfold, the characters are impossible to feel anything for and the script is so unbelievable that it's laughable. I'm sure that some network execs got together and said "Hey! Let's see how long we can string people along watching this crap" sort of like when you get a Troll on the phone phishing for personal info and you see how long you can have them sitting on hold while you "LOOK FOR YOUR CREDIT-CARD". (48 mins was my best so far) Anyway, avoid this convoluted load of cats vomit that the dog crapped on!

This is literally the most gripping, tense, detailed series I have ever watched. I find everything about the series fantastic, the cast, the characters, the story lines and everything else. I believe this show is a perfect balance between a real life situation and a CIA action thriller. The story lines had me glued to the screen each week and with every episode, I became more enthralled by the character's back story developments. It was even more intense with the complicated twists and turns that the plot took and how everything was interlinked in some way or another. The characters were also perfect, having a blend between a family and hostage takers and seeing them develop a strong relationship was truly captivating. This series gets a 20/10. Absolute Genius !!!

I had high hopes for this series: A one season and out action thriller with a unique premise. But like a fireworks display that starts out loud, bright and dazzling, its has fizzled away to nothing. I like Tony Collette, but she has been terribly miscast here. She is wooden and too unemotional. Although you would expect a topnotch surgeon to be somewhat less emotional than most, her portrayal is a major distraction to the premise of the show. She seems to be taking that fact that her whole family has been taken "hostage" in stride. Since more than one family member has been taken hostage, why would the "terrorists" not sacrifice one to keep her in line (as they attempted with the nurse).

The final straw was when, after the children successfully made it to a bus station, where the doctor observed her children waiting for her (as part of an elaborate plan formulated by the doctor and her husband to get the children and her to safety), the good doctor was contacted via her cell phone and watched as the terrorists shot her husband, who, as part of the plan, voluntarily ran interference to help the others escape. Instead of gathering her children and leaving as planned, she left them a note to take the bus without her and she returned home to help her husband. Did she think they would give him a spa vacation for helping his family escape? Why would she ruin everything her husband went through to help his family and reintroduce them all to the danger they so desperately were trying to flee from? How can such a respected surgeon act in such a foolish, irresponsible, and stupid manner? This was definitely foreshadow of things to come. The family attempting to escape, and stupid decisions preventing that from happening (because, after all, the show is over if the family gets away). I was hoping the action and suspense of the hostage situation would unravel differently.

And lastly, the father is having an affair, the teenage son is a drug dealer, and the teenage daughter has become pregnant by her loser boyfriend. Are we suppose to connect with these hostage characters?

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.