Here’s my big confession—I might actually be starting to enjoy Hostages. I’m kind of wallowing in the ridiculousness of it all. And, I’ll admit, the deaths in “Loose Ends” shocked me. This may be the episode where the drama should switch over from “so bad” to “so bad it’s good.”
But let’s start off with the preposterousness that pervades every episode, ranked in order of ridiculousness.
• There appear to be only two Secret Service agents investigating the President’s medical issue, and one of them is dirty. Since protecting the President is the primary job of the Secret Service, you would think, oh I don’t know, at least three agents would have been assigned.
• Agent Hoffman (who I was so rooting for) doesn’t tell the President he thinks he’s in immediate danger. Wouldn’t that be the first thing he would do?
• The bad guys keep killing people. This seems like a poorly thought-out long-term strategic plan. Wouldn’t they have just come up with a different way to kill the President by now? I love how all the characters keeps saying the President’s murder is a done deal and everything is in motion when the entire thing is crumbling around them.
• Is the show actually trying to sell us on a love triangle between Sandrine, Kramer and Archer? How do I put this delicately? NO ONE CARES.
• The big reveal of the night is that Duncan’s wife is the President’s daughter. His bone marrow could save Nina’s life. That actually is an interesting and unpredictable plot twist. My issue is that CBS blew this big reveal—the whole reason Duncan is doing what he’s doing—in last week’s previews. In an era when viewers are so afraid of being spoiled, Hostages spoiled itself.
The show really want us to see Duncan as a good guy doing the wrong thing for the right reason. He goes to extraordinary lengths to save Agent Hoffman. But to no avail. Hoffman and Chief of Staff Quentin are both murdered.
We barely saw Morgan and Jake, which definitely helped the episode. Although I’m sure they’ll be back in full force next week. At some point somebody has to notice Boyd is missing, right? Also Morgan tries to tell her mother that Duncan saved her. She’s clearly suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
Vanessa, who is an ambassador for an unnamed country, appears to be trying to kill the President so she can be First Lady someday. Or maybe because she’s still upset over the death of her brother? Or maybe she’s just jealous of her sister?
The episode ends with Duncan telling Ellen that if the President knew Nina was alive, he would kill her. I think we are supposed to be curious about this. Are you? I am. Promise not to tell anyone.