The original post: /r/television by /u/In_1871 on 2025-08-23 05:51:06+00:00.
It’s been a long time since I saw a big show as it dropped so thought I’d get in early with Hostage. I really wish I hadn’t.
The acting was mostly fine and the actress who played the French president had some good standout scenes. Sadly this is where the positivity stops.
From a technical standpoint the show was fine. However, it was shot incredibly blandly and the soundtrack was straight up bad in my opinion. In fact a few songs, the last one in particular, nearly made me laugh. The song choices almost made this feel like a parody of cliché movies or soap dramas.
Then there’s the story. Again, I struggle to find any positives. The idea was great and with a good director and writer we could have had a brilliant thriller. Sadly we got none of that.
Every single twist was beyond predictable and I laughed at some of the ridiculous flaws. I can suspend my disbelief most of the time but this show asks too much. Someone got a laptop bomb into a building that contained a prime minister, French president, and a cabinet of politicians. No screening, no x-ray machines or any other type of security. Then to end the show, the pm, who was the victim of a coup, was allowed to travel alone to visit her family in hiding. Those were only the main points of ridiculous too.
This is one of the biggest wastes of 5 hours I could ever imagine. 3/10