Ok, I have to show you an excerpt from my notes I took for the second episode of Hostages.
12:03:15: Finally, a flashback.
12:03:27: Worst. Flashback. Ever?
Seriously, guys? You finally do a flashback that could give us a hint into the motivation of Dylan McDermott's character, and all it does is establish that the people in the room now have met before? Good heavens. There's holding your cards close to your vest, and then there's just plain ridiculous.
That right there is evidence that I have been pulled into at least one element of the plot, which is a welcome relief considering how much I am still on the fence in a number of different areas. But, I cannot say that Hostages is playing fast and loose with information. In that area, it's got the pulse on how to build a tight, tense show. However, they could really use some help in the character building department.
I know that holding hostages is wrong and all, but the complete moral vacuum that the son, daughter, and father all live in is making it really hard for me to sympathize with them. I get they were going for a layered, more edgy look into the "perfect family," but I feel like the creative team overshot the mark by quite a bit. For instance, the only person who has any trepidation about killing a person in exchange for personal safety is Toni Collette's character. Every single one of her family members have already urged her to just off the President of the United States already. They took our iPods, Mom. There are limits to the indignities we'll put up with before we beg you to pump him full of blood thinners.
The family has completely lost my interest and empathy--the only moment of true emotion the family inspired in me was the utter horror of watching Toni be distraught about her husband as he keeps a tryst with his mistress. So, in order for me to really care about this show, I need them to step it up with the hostage takers. I need to care about and cheer for those who want the President dead, or this show is just too much soupy grey without any compelling emotion attached to it.
Also, if they were really going for a no-one-is-safe feel, they should have offed one of the family members instead of the strategically placed nurse (by the way, totally didn't buy that friendship, since Grey's Anatomy has taught me that nurses and doctors never ever build lasting friendships. Nurses are only to be used as filler relationships before the surgeons get back together). I really wouldn't have missed it if they had killed off the drug-dealing son. Him liking his dog isn't enough for me to care about his well-being.
Three sidenotes:
1) Seriously, Toni, what did they do to your physique?! What kind of brainwashing did they do? Every time I saw her sub-zero sized silhouette I wanted to cry. It just made me want to watch Connie and Carla over and over until she gained some weight back.
2) I cracked up when she asked Dylan McDermott how he knew so much about polygraphs. The number of episodes in The Practice where polygraphs played a huge role was just too present in my mind.
3) I almost cried when I saw they cast Hilarie Burton as the mistress. Hilarie, whyyy? My OTH comrades will understand why it was so jarring and heartbreaking to see her in such a seedy role.
Peyton is so much classier than that.
12:03:15: Finally, a flashback.
12:03:27: Worst. Flashback. Ever?
Seriously, guys? You finally do a flashback that could give us a hint into the motivation of Dylan McDermott's character, and all it does is establish that the people in the room now have met before? Good heavens. There's holding your cards close to your vest, and then there's just plain ridiculous.
That right there is evidence that I have been pulled into at least one element of the plot, which is a welcome relief considering how much I am still on the fence in a number of different areas. But, I cannot say that Hostages is playing fast and loose with information. In that area, it's got the pulse on how to build a tight, tense show. However, they could really use some help in the character building department.
I know that holding hostages is wrong and all, but the complete moral vacuum that the son, daughter, and father all live in is making it really hard for me to sympathize with them. I get they were going for a layered, more edgy look into the "perfect family," but I feel like the creative team overshot the mark by quite a bit. For instance, the only person who has any trepidation about killing a person in exchange for personal safety is Toni Collette's character. Every single one of her family members have already urged her to just off the President of the United States already. They took our iPods, Mom. There are limits to the indignities we'll put up with before we beg you to pump him full of blood thinners.
The family has completely lost my interest and empathy--the only moment of true emotion the family inspired in me was the utter horror of watching Toni be distraught about her husband as he keeps a tryst with his mistress. So, in order for me to really care about this show, I need them to step it up with the hostage takers. I need to care about and cheer for those who want the President dead, or this show is just too much soupy grey without any compelling emotion attached to it.
Also, if they were really going for a no-one-is-safe feel, they should have offed one of the family members instead of the strategically placed nurse (by the way, totally didn't buy that friendship, since Grey's Anatomy has taught me that nurses and doctors never ever build lasting friendships. Nurses are only to be used as filler relationships before the surgeons get back together). I really wouldn't have missed it if they had killed off the drug-dealing son. Him liking his dog isn't enough for me to care about his well-being.
Three sidenotes:
1) Seriously, Toni, what did they do to your physique?! What kind of brainwashing did they do? Every time I saw her sub-zero sized silhouette I wanted to cry. It just made me want to watch Connie and Carla over and over until she gained some weight back.
2) I cracked up when she asked Dylan McDermott how he knew so much about polygraphs. The number of episodes in The Practice where polygraphs played a huge role was just too present in my mind.
3) I almost cried when I saw they cast Hilarie Burton as the mistress. Hilarie, whyyy? My OTH comrades will understand why it was so jarring and heartbreaking to see her in such a seedy role.
Peyton is so much classier than that.
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